April 28, 2002 - Lesson: Matthew 5.33-37

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A little boy was afraid of the dark. ⁽¹⁾

One night his mother told him to go out to the back porch and bring her the broom.

The little boy turned to his mother and said, "Mama, I don't want to go out there. It's dark."

The mother smiled reassuringly at her son. "You don't have to be afraid of the dark," she explained. "Jesus is out there. He'll look after you and protect you."

The little boy looked at his mother real hard and asked, "Are you sure he's out there?"

"Yes," his mother said, "I'm sure. He is everywhere, and he is always ready to help you when you need him," she said.

The little boy thought about that for a minute and then went to the back door and cracked it a little.

Peering out into the darkness, he called, "Jesus? If you're out there, would you please hand me the broom?"

MAIN BODY:

1. Is he out there?
1. Is there any question that Jesus is out there?
2. Is there any question that Jesus is in here?
3. He is not physically here, but the Holy Spirit and the heavenly agencies are here representing him.

¹⁵"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. ¹⁸"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."...²⁵"I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. John 14:15-21, 25-26 (NRSVA)

Jesus said in Hebrews 13.5 ^5B..."I will never leave you or forsake you."

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2. Paul writes that for us in him, that is in Jesus, every one of God's promises is a "yes!"

¹²Indeed, this is our boast, the testimony of our conscience: we have behaved in the world with frankness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God--and all the more toward you. ¹³For we write you nothing other than what you can read and also understand; I hope you will understand until the end--¹⁴as you have already understood us in part--that on the day of the Lord Jesus we are your boast even as you are our boast. ¹⁵Since I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double favor; ¹⁶I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on to Judea. ¹⁷Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to ordinary human standards, ready to say "Yes, yes" and "No, no" at the same time? ¹⁸As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been "Yes and No." ¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not "Yes and No"; but in him it is always "Yes." ²⁰For in him every one of God's promises is a "Yes." For this reason it is through him that we say the "Amen," to the glory of God. ²¹But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, ²²by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first installment. 2 Corinthians 1:12-22, NRSVA

1. This is also the way that Paul, himself, related to those whom he taught.
2. Because Jesus is a "Yes," and does not commit an action on an oath, he want us to do the same.
1. Now someone is going to being up Matthew 26.59-64
2. Does Jesus swear an oath in this passage?

⁵⁹Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death, ⁶⁰but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward ⁶¹and said, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.'" ⁶²The high priest stood up and said, "Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?" ⁶³But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to him, "I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God." ⁶⁴Jesus said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you, From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven," Matthew 26:59-64, (NRSVA)

1. You say so may mean agreement.
2. You say so means that I heard you say what you said and I am not responding to it in any way.
3. You come to your own conclusions.
3. Jesus takes this position because of the fickle nature of the human heart.
4. Jesus takes this position because of the weakness of human will.

Charlie Brown rests his head in his hands while leaning on the wall. He looks miserable, as usual.

Lucy approaches. "Discouraged again, eh, Charlie Brown?"

Charlie Brown does not even answer.

"You know what you trouble is?" Lucy asks in the second frame. Without waiting for a response, she announces, "The whole trouble with you is that you are you!"

Charlie Brown turns to her, "Well, what in the world can I do about that?"

Lucy replies, "I don't pretend to be able to give advice...I merely point out the trouble!"

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3. Jesus does more than point out the trouble, he offers concrete, practical and power-filled solutions to our troubles.
1. He does this first by providing us with examples from the past.
2. We do have clear and compelling examples in the history of God's people to demonstrate what has happened when life goes in the wrong direction.

¹I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ²and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³and all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. ⁵Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. ⁶Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, (NRSVA)

1. Israel entered into covenant relationship with God.

³Then Moses went up to God; the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: ⁴You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. ⁵Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, ⁶but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites." ⁷So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. ⁸The people all answered as one: "Everything that the LORD has spoken we will do." Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. Exodus 19:3-8 (NRSVA)

1. They proclaimed, "All that the Lord has said, we will do."
2. Then they build a golden calf and violated every word they had spoken.
2. This would be their history, as has ti been in may instances, the history of the Christian Church.
3. Then he offers examples from his present.
1. ³⁴But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God
2. ³⁴But I say to you, Do not swear at all, ³⁵or by the earth, for it is his footstool
3. ³⁴But I say to you, Do not swear at all, by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
4. ³⁴But I say to you, Do not swear at all, by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
4. Oaths were made over trivial things which made a trivialization of oaths.
1. The were meaningless.
2. They had no force of compulsion or completion.

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4. This does not need to be our history.
1. That is, it need not be our history if we accept and implement the words of Jesus to us this day.
1. What does he have to tell us?
2. Let your yes be yes, and your no be no!
2. Or in the words of Helga, If you say A, you must say B.
3. We are soon going to vote on a covenant.

We are banded together as a Congregational Christian Church to maintain the worship of God, to proclaim the gospel of Christ, to develop in men and women a consciousness of our relations and duties to God and our fellow men and women; and to inspire each other with love for redeeming truth, a passion for righteousness, and an enthusiasm for service. To this end we publicly pledge our personal loyalty to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and we covenant with God and with one another that we will strive to express his spirit in our lives, both as individual believers and as a church; to live together as Christian friends and to submit ourselves to the government of this church; always working for its progress, giving liberally of our means for its support, and praying for its increase in efficiency, its purity in life and purpose, its peace and fellowship in service, and seeking in every way to make it an influence for the building up of the kingdom of God.

1. This covenant will be our yes to God and to one another.
2. It is an agreement, not to be entered into lightly or unadvisedly, but solemnly and thoughtfully.
3. The reason why I say this is that the words of this covenant become the means of describing our relationship with God and with one another.
4. These words do not let us go our own way.
1. The spiritual integrity of the individual
2. The spirit of our community
3. The spiritual growth of our personal lives and congregations
4. And the positive advancement of the kingdom are part of what is being said.
5. All are dependent on one another; what we say and what we do.

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CONCLUSION:

1. God calls us to honesty and integrity.
1. If that is the case, then let our yes be yes and our no be no.
2. Anything else is profane.
3. A blot on our lives and a stain on our church.
2. We do not want to be found like the man who was visited by his friend and found him sitting on a shelf half-way up the wall.

"What is going on," the friend asked. "What are you doing up there?"

The reply, "She got the lower half and I got the upper."

Amen!

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ILLUSTRATIONS:

G. K. Chesterton tells the story of two men who were dissatisfied with England. They got on a boat and went off into the fog on what they thought was a far-off journey.

Finally, one day out of the fog an island emerged, and they went ashore.

They stepped aground and said, "What a beautiful island. We will make this our home."

A stranger came by, and they asked, "We've just landed here. Can you tell us where we are?"

And the man said, "You are on the north coast of England." They had come back home.

The two men were discontent with the source of truth by which they had evaluated their homeland.

They sought some other truth.

So they wandered around in a fog.

They were fortunate in their lost state to come again to their homeland.

It was only then that they appreciated what they had left.

They could then rejoice in what they had.

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²⁸"What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' ²⁹He answered, 'I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir'; but he did not go. ³¹Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. Matthew 21:28-31, NRSVA

1. Subject: Afraid of the Dark? Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 19:49:54 EST From: Sandy Marshall, S3marshall@aol.com

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