Ya Gotta Hold Your Mouth Right - message given on 8/26/07
Let us pray: Almighty and gracious God, as we come to worship you in your house, let us be open to your leading. Free us from the bondage of our own desires-the desire to never change, the desire to be in charge, the desire to control everything, including you. Change our hearts to be compliant rather than stubborn, meek rather than arrogant, open rather than rigid. I pray that each heart here be open to your word this morning and that my words become truly yours in spirit. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight oh Lord our rock and our redeemer. AMEN
Many of you have met my grandson Dylan. He’s the kid who comes up for the children’s moment who doesn’t know the meaning of a rhetorical question. He likes to learn new things and will tell you all about them. But his favorite thing is electronic games. It doesn’t matter whether they’re on the computer, on the TV or in a handheld game. He loves them all, and he can’t rest until he’s mastered a new game. Last year at Christmastime we were with the family, and Dylan was struggling with his new handheld game. His Aunt Gretchen thought she’d have a little fun with him. She explained that he was having trouble because he wasn’t holding his mouth right. She showed him how to make the weirdest face imaginable and convinced him he had to hold that expression in order to master the game. (demonstrate expression) To this day, whenever Dylan plays the game he assumes the hideous facial expression. I don’t think it’s helped his game. He’s doing better in spite of “holding his mouth right.”
Sometimes we also get caught in doing things more for the form than the substance, more for the process than the result. That can be OK if our form and process is the best. But it rarely is. And even if the way we’ve done something in the past worked, it doesn’t mean that it will work best forever, especially if we concentrate on the process more than the outcome.
Here’s a practical example. Wade, our associate pastor for youth and young families, might appreciate this. That’s because he, Bill and Gardner regularly go golfing on their days off. The trouble is, Wade is a new golfer, and Bill and Gardner beat him like a drum every time. Anyway, there were these two guys who had a regular golf date each week. The one could never quite beat his friend and he lost quite a bit of money to him on the golf course. (He obviously wasn’t a good Methodist!) He tried and tried to improve his game; but nothing seemed to work. Then one Christmas he gave his friend a book on how to improve his golf game with a new method of gripping the club. His friend read the book and began concentrating so much on how he was swinging his club that he added five strokes to his game! Wade, I’ll get you the name of that book after worship!
Jesus recognized that we can get caught in the trap of concentrating on the form rather than the substance. Let’s listen to our Scripture lesson for this morning.
Luke 13:10-17 NLT
10 One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, 11 he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are healed of your sickness!" 13 Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised and thanked God! 14 But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. "There are six days of the week for working," he said to the crowd. "Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath." 15 But the Lord replied, "You hypocrite! You work on the Sabbath day! Don't you untie your ox or your donkey from their stalls on the Sabbath and lead them out for water? 16 Wasn't it necessary for me, even on the Sabbath day, to free this dear woman from the bondage in which Satan has held her for eighteen years?" 17 This shamed his enemies. And all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did.
The Word of God, written for the people of God - Thanks be to God
This passage has a multifaceted message. First, let’s look at the woman. She’s a hunch back. She’s been that way for a long time, but wasn’t born that way. Can you imagine what kind of discomfort she must have been in? Obviously, at one time she could have stood up straight; but something happened and for eighteen years she’s been bent over. I imagine she went to the doctors. She probably got the priests to pray for her. Perhaps she even made special sacrifices at the altar. But after all that, she’s still bent over.
Many folks would have become sour on religion after eighteen years of such a malady. Yet this woman was still coming to worship in the synagogue. There’s no indication she came seeking out Jesus for a cure. She was merely worshiping on the Sabbath day. Maybe she had given up trying to find a cure and had moved on with her life.
Then Jesus called her over to him. How do you suppose that went over? No self respecting Jewish man would initiate conversation with her. That wasn’t done-I mean, unless he was married to her. What do you suppose was going through her mind? I suspect she wasn’t aware of Jesus’ healing power. Otherwise she surely would have been following him around, begging to be made whole. What would have been her reaction to this man? He was an unauthorized teacher in the church. In our setting, he wouldn’t have been the pastor or the associate pastor. He wasn’t even a lay speaker. He certainly hadn’t been selected as a Saturday School teacher. The folks in the church might have thought He was some Johnny-come-lately who had overstepped his authority. So here he was calling for her.
Most women would have quietly made their way to another corner of the church and avoided any contact with him. But this woman was different. Maybe her long disability had caused her to understand that the usual way of doing things might not work for the best. Maybe in her desperation she had developed an openness to new ways of doing things. Maybe a call from the living God was inviting enough for her to put aside the conventions of the day. Maybe she just actually came to worship each week with a hopeful expectation that something wonderful would happen.
And now, her hope would be fulfilled. She stepped out of her comfort zone and came to this beckoning stranger. Then Jesus touched her and spoke healing into her body. Miracle of miracles! She was immediately healed. She stood up straight! She praised God! Can you imagine her response to the healing? After eighteen years of being stooped over, her stiff body had unbent. She was standing as straight was when she’d been a young girl. I can just see her dancing around the synagogue in fit of praiseful ecstasy! What a commotion!
The leader, hearing all the ruckus came over, indignant. What was this? Why was this woman upsetting the decorum of the worship service? Then he must have spied Jesus, that old trouble maker. Immediately he must have suspected that the ersatz prophet was the cause of the disturbance. He rebuked the woman to the crowd, “There are six days of the week for working. Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”
But Jesus came to her defense. He turned the rebuke back on the hypocritical leader. And the people rejoiced! The leader couldn’t care less about this woman, her eighteen years of suffering and pain. All he wanted was for the rules to be followed. The woman came in a broken person, bent over with affliction. But she was open to the possibilities of God. The leader wanted to channel God into the right days of the week. He wanted to put God in a box. But Jesus broke the rules, and a woman walked away from the worship service healed.
That’s a great story. But what has it got to do with us? We’re people of the faith. We’re worshiping God. Surely our rules are OK. What does it matter if we’re set in our ways? We’re doing good. We’re even holding our mouth right! But the question is this. If Jesus called us over this very day to do something out of our comfort zone, to do something against the rules, to start something that wasn’t in the budget from last year, how would we react? Not everything from God comes in the way we planned or expect. In the name of the father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
MAY WE PRAY? Most gracious, powerful and living God. While we are running our lives the way we want, you come to us and require that we do something different. We want the comfort of familiarity; but you work best when we are off balance. Help us to be open to what you would have us do, even if we have to break a few rules. In Jesus’ name AMEN.
Many of you have met my grandson Dylan. He’s the kid who comes up for the children’s moment who doesn’t know the meaning of a rhetorical question. He likes to learn new things and will tell you all about them. But his favorite thing is electronic games. It doesn’t matter whether they’re on the computer, on the TV or in a handheld game. He loves them all, and he can’t rest until he’s mastered a new game. Last year at Christmastime we were with the family, and Dylan was struggling with his new handheld game. His Aunt Gretchen thought she’d have a little fun with him. She explained that he was having trouble because he wasn’t holding his mouth right. She showed him how to make the weirdest face imaginable and convinced him he had to hold that expression in order to master the game. (demonstrate expression) To this day, whenever Dylan plays the game he assumes the hideous facial expression. I don’t think it’s helped his game. He’s doing better in spite of “holding his mouth right.”
Sometimes we also get caught in doing things more for the form than the substance, more for the process than the result. That can be OK if our form and process is the best. But it rarely is. And even if the way we’ve done something in the past worked, it doesn’t mean that it will work best forever, especially if we concentrate on the process more than the outcome.
Here’s a practical example. Wade, our associate pastor for youth and young families, might appreciate this. That’s because he, Bill and Gardner regularly go golfing on their days off. The trouble is, Wade is a new golfer, and Bill and Gardner beat him like a drum every time. Anyway, there were these two guys who had a regular golf date each week. The one could never quite beat his friend and he lost quite a bit of money to him on the golf course. (He obviously wasn’t a good Methodist!) He tried and tried to improve his game; but nothing seemed to work. Then one Christmas he gave his friend a book on how to improve his golf game with a new method of gripping the club. His friend read the book and began concentrating so much on how he was swinging his club that he added five strokes to his game! Wade, I’ll get you the name of that book after worship!
Jesus recognized that we can get caught in the trap of concentrating on the form rather than the substance. Let’s listen to our Scripture lesson for this morning.
Luke 13:10-17 NLT
10 One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, 11 he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are healed of your sickness!" 13 Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised and thanked God! 14 But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. "There are six days of the week for working," he said to the crowd. "Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath." 15 But the Lord replied, "You hypocrite! You work on the Sabbath day! Don't you untie your ox or your donkey from their stalls on the Sabbath and lead them out for water? 16 Wasn't it necessary for me, even on the Sabbath day, to free this dear woman from the bondage in which Satan has held her for eighteen years?" 17 This shamed his enemies. And all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did.
The Word of God, written for the people of God - Thanks be to God
This passage has a multifaceted message. First, let’s look at the woman. She’s a hunch back. She’s been that way for a long time, but wasn’t born that way. Can you imagine what kind of discomfort she must have been in? Obviously, at one time she could have stood up straight; but something happened and for eighteen years she’s been bent over. I imagine she went to the doctors. She probably got the priests to pray for her. Perhaps she even made special sacrifices at the altar. But after all that, she’s still bent over.
Many folks would have become sour on religion after eighteen years of such a malady. Yet this woman was still coming to worship in the synagogue. There’s no indication she came seeking out Jesus for a cure. She was merely worshiping on the Sabbath day. Maybe she had given up trying to find a cure and had moved on with her life.
Then Jesus called her over to him. How do you suppose that went over? No self respecting Jewish man would initiate conversation with her. That wasn’t done-I mean, unless he was married to her. What do you suppose was going through her mind? I suspect she wasn’t aware of Jesus’ healing power. Otherwise she surely would have been following him around, begging to be made whole. What would have been her reaction to this man? He was an unauthorized teacher in the church. In our setting, he wouldn’t have been the pastor or the associate pastor. He wasn’t even a lay speaker. He certainly hadn’t been selected as a Saturday School teacher. The folks in the church might have thought He was some Johnny-come-lately who had overstepped his authority. So here he was calling for her.
Most women would have quietly made their way to another corner of the church and avoided any contact with him. But this woman was different. Maybe her long disability had caused her to understand that the usual way of doing things might not work for the best. Maybe in her desperation she had developed an openness to new ways of doing things. Maybe a call from the living God was inviting enough for her to put aside the conventions of the day. Maybe she just actually came to worship each week with a hopeful expectation that something wonderful would happen.
And now, her hope would be fulfilled. She stepped out of her comfort zone and came to this beckoning stranger. Then Jesus touched her and spoke healing into her body. Miracle of miracles! She was immediately healed. She stood up straight! She praised God! Can you imagine her response to the healing? After eighteen years of being stooped over, her stiff body had unbent. She was standing as straight was when she’d been a young girl. I can just see her dancing around the synagogue in fit of praiseful ecstasy! What a commotion!
The leader, hearing all the ruckus came over, indignant. What was this? Why was this woman upsetting the decorum of the worship service? Then he must have spied Jesus, that old trouble maker. Immediately he must have suspected that the ersatz prophet was the cause of the disturbance. He rebuked the woman to the crowd, “There are six days of the week for working. Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”
But Jesus came to her defense. He turned the rebuke back on the hypocritical leader. And the people rejoiced! The leader couldn’t care less about this woman, her eighteen years of suffering and pain. All he wanted was for the rules to be followed. The woman came in a broken person, bent over with affliction. But she was open to the possibilities of God. The leader wanted to channel God into the right days of the week. He wanted to put God in a box. But Jesus broke the rules, and a woman walked away from the worship service healed.
That’s a great story. But what has it got to do with us? We’re people of the faith. We’re worshiping God. Surely our rules are OK. What does it matter if we’re set in our ways? We’re doing good. We’re even holding our mouth right! But the question is this. If Jesus called us over this very day to do something out of our comfort zone, to do something against the rules, to start something that wasn’t in the budget from last year, how would we react? Not everything from God comes in the way we planned or expect. In the name of the father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
MAY WE PRAY? Most gracious, powerful and living God. While we are running our lives the way we want, you come to us and require that we do something different. We want the comfort of familiarity; but you work best when we are off balance. Help us to be open to what you would have us do, even if we have to break a few rules. In Jesus’ name AMEN.