Sermon of July 11, 2004 delivered to LaAnna UMC.

Good morning again.  Pray with me.  Dear Lord, thank You for allowing me to come back to speak with this wonderful group of people who have come here this morning to worship You and praise You.  You know us all.  You know that we each have different needs.  Listen to our needs and our praises this morning as we bring them to you in our silent prayer. . pause. .  Continue Your work in this church Father and direct this body of Yours in the path You have chosen for them.  Heal the wounds and calm the angry seas that rage about them.  Hear us O Lord as we pray in the manner you have taught us. . .  Our Father . . . . .

Sermon 7/11/04

From The Gutter

Our first scripture reading this morning is from Amos 7:7-17. I will be reading from the Living Bible.

 

Then he showed me this: The Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumbline, checking it with a plumbline to see if it was straight. 8And the Lord said to me, "Amos, what do you see?"

I answered, "A plumbline."

And he replied, "I will test my people with a plumbline. I will no longer turn away from punishing. 9The idol altars and temples of Israel will be destroyed, and I will destroy the dynasty of King Jeroboam by the sword."

10But when Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, heard what Amos was saying, he rushed a message to Jeroboam, the king: "Amos is a traitor to our nation and is plotting your death. This is intolerable. It will lead to rebellion all across the land. 11He says you will be killed and Israel will be sent far away into exile and slavery."

12Then Amaziah sent orders to Amos, "Get out of here, you prophet, you! Flee to the land of Judah and do your prophesying there! 13Don't bother us here with your visions, not here in the capital where the king's chapel is!"

14But Amos replied, "I am not really one of the prophets. I do not come from a family of prophets. I am just a herdsman and fruit picker. 15But the Lord took me from caring for the flocks and told me, 'Go and prophesy to my people Israel.'

16"Now, therefore, listen to this message to you from the Lord. You say, 'Don't prophesy against Israel.' 17The Lord's reply is this: 'Because of your interference, your wife will become a prostitute in this city, your sons and daughters will be killed, and your land divided up. You yourself will die in a heathen land, and the people of Israel will certainly become slaves in exile, far from their land.'"

Our New Testament reading is from Luke 10:25-37.  I will be taking this scripture from the New King James Version.

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 26He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" 27So he answered and said, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.' " 28And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." 29But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.

34So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' 36So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" 37And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

May God add His blessing to the reading of the scripture.

How many times have we heard and talked about the story of the Good Samaritan?  There’s this Jewish man who is beaten and left for dead by a group of bandits.  Every time I hear this story, I picture this man, beaten and hurting lying in the gutter next to the road.  We know he was near death.  A Jewish priest crosses to the other side of the road to avoid having to deal with this homeless looking creature in the gutter.  A Jewish temple assistant walked over and looked at this person lying on the side of the road, then walked on by without even a question.

Then along comes this Samaritan.  History tells us that the Jews and the Samaritans hated each other.  They would have nothing to do with one another, but here we see a Samaritan stopping to try to help a Jew.  Generally we focus on the Samaritan and are told to try to follow his lead.  But today, let’s put ourselves in the position of the Jew in the gutter.

Imagine yourself in a time of trouble either spiritually or physically.  Imagine lying at the side of the road of life, in a gutter, feeling hurt and alone, afraid of what may happen next.  Then imagine seeing your pastor walking down the street.  Your heart begins to beat a little faster.  Here comes hope and help.  Spying you, he quickly turns and walks to the other side of the street in order to avoid you.  Think about how you would feel.

Now picture the Lay Leader of your church walking up to where you are, looking at you, shaking his head and moving on without a word, without regard to how you felt or what pain you may be suffering.  How would you feel?

These are two people you have always respected and thought were true leaders of your church and true men of God.  But when you needed them most, they just walked by.

I am not saying that your pastor or Art Frey would ever do this to you, I just want you to understand how it would feel to lie there in that gutter and how disappointing it would feel if that happened to you.

-Leave pulpit and head for front pew.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the Eastern Penna. Conference and had the privilege of hearing Bishop Peter Weaver speak.  I am going to share some of his message with you because as he spoke his words became mine.

He told about a great gathering he had attended in Philadelphia, representing the United Methodist Church as Bishop.  There were representatives from nearly every denomination.  They participated in a parade that included the Mummers and marched into this great cathedral to hold a worship service.  Seated in the front rows were bishops, rabbis, pastors, priests and all the upper crust of religious leaders.  As God would have it, Bishop Weaver was to sit in the very front pew and at the end of the aisle. 

  - Sit in front pew at end.

The service was elegant and progressed ever so nicely when, suddenly there was a little commotion in the back.  Bishop Weaver turned to look back and saw this woman hurrying up the aisle toward the altar rail. (Keely to walk up aisle, carrying bag and other items).   She was juggling a blanket and some other clothing and was dropping various items from her arms as she went up the aisle.  Tears were streaming down her face and she reached the altar rail and bowed down on her knees.  Bishop Weaver stared in shock.  What a disruption to this wonderful service. 

He sat there frozen.  What seemed like many minutes passed by until a security guard entered and whisked this woman away. (Art Frey to enter and whisk Keely away).  She was crying out, saying she needed to be near Jesus and that she just wanted to pray. 

Bishop Weaver looked down the row of other religious leaders in the pew with him.  They all had the same look of bewilderment.  They all sat, frozen, afraid to move and all began shaking their heads in disbelief that someone could interrupt such a nice worship service.

As he sat there, Bishop Weaver began to think about what had just happened.  The worship service became less important.  He tuned out what was being said.  Here was a woman in desperate need.  She staggered up the aisle to fill a need she had to be close to Christ.  And he along with all the other religious dignitaries, just sat there.  No one offered her a hand.  Every one of them walked around to the other side of the street to avoid her.  And a security guard took her off.  A security guard took her from the altar of life and threw her back into the gutter at the side of the road.

Imagine if you were that woman and needed just to be nearer to God that day for comfort and love.  Then you were dragged away

Bishop Weaver began to pray.  He apologized to God for not realizing this woman’s need and coming to her aid.  He asked for forgiveness.  He asked for the strength to be able to step in and be able to help the next time.

Stand and slowly walk towards Keely and Art.

Bishop Weaver, relieved that the service was finally over, started the long walk out to his car, trying hard to find it in a vast sea of vehicles.  He was still thinking about what had happened in the cathedral.  As he got closer to his car, he noticed the security guard and the woman from the cathedral leaning up against a car.  His car.  Of all the thousands of cars in the parking lot, they were leaning up against his.  A little panic set in.  What should he do?  He began to think about his prayer and bolstered up enough courage to approach the woman.  He asked the security guard if he could talk to the woman.  The guard stepped aside. (Keely to stand).

Bishop Weaver looked at the woman and asked if he could pray with her.  She looked at him for a moment, then said, “No.” with great emphasis.  “You are one of those.”  She shouted and moved away from the car.

  -Long pause.

-Return to pulpit.

This is where Bishop Weaver’s story became mine.  I wondered how many times I had just stood by and watched when someone was in need of help just like those religious leaders did in that magnificent cathedral.  I wondered how many times I had walked across the street to avoid talking to someone that may have needed just a kind word or a smile just like the Priest in the story of the Samaritan.  I did not want to be “One of those!” just like Bishop Weaver did not.  But it is hard.

It’s hard to be like the Samaritan.  For many of us the person in the gutter may represent a person of a different race or color.  They may represent a type of people that we dislike immensely like some homeless person or some drug addict or an alcoholic or even some very successful, rich person.  But this story tells us to get over it.  Get over whatever feelings we have towards this person and try to help.  Try to heal their wounds.  Try to offer comfort.

But what about you?  What if you were the one in the gutter?  It would be easy to accept the help of your pastor or the lay leader or some friend if they came to you.  But what if the help was being offered by someone you disliked or even hated.  How humiliated would you feel?  Would you be able to accept their help or would you turn them away and wait until someone else came along, if they came along?

There’s the old story about this Christian man who was living in a nice home and had a nice life.  There came a great storm and a flood and his house was being threatened by the high water.  A policeman came by and warned him about the chance of flooding and instructed him to get out of his house and leave before something terrible happened. 

The man said that everything was OK.  He knew God would take care of him.  Well the storm raged and the waters began to rise and his house was starting to flood so much that he had to go to the second story.  A boat came by with rescue workers and they asked him to climb into the boat.  The man looked at them and said no, that everything was OK and that God would take care of him.  The water raged and the boat had to move on to keep from being hit by all the floating debris.

Still higher the water came and soon the man found himself on top of the roof, barely above the raging water.  A helicopter flew overhead and dropped a line to the man.  He just shook his head and shouted that God would take care of him.  Everything was OK.

Soon the water covered the house and the man was swept away by the current.  He drowned.

When he woke up, he stood there and saw God standing in front of him.  He asked God why He had not lifted him from the water and saved him.  God looked at the man and said.  When the rain began, I sent a policeman to warn you to get out of your house.  As the water began to rise, I sent some men in a boat to help you escape.  You refused.  So, I sent this helicopter to you and had a rope sent down to rescue you from the water.  Still you refused.  I did not know what else I could have done.

You know, God works in some mighty funny ways sometimes just to teach us a new lesson that we need to learn.  Sometimes He sends the most unlikely person in the world, just when we don’t want to see them, to help us through a time of trouble or hurt.

Just like the scripture says in Amos.  God is patient.  But there will come a time when He will say that He will no longer turn away from punishing us.  He will measure our acts with a plumb line to see how we measure up.

We focus on how hard it is to help someone we don’t like.  But think about how difficult it would be to accept help from someone you don’t like.  Think about the Jew lying in the gutter, passed around by those he liked, just to be helped by a Samaritan.  By a person he truly hated.

Now the story does not go on to tell us about what the Jew thought, but I can guess what happened.  I can guess that the Jew was truly humbled.  I can guess that his hatred of Samaritan people in general was lessened.  I can guess that he began looking at things a little differently.  And I can guess that he thanked God that there was at least one of those horrible Samaritans that was willing to help.

Take a look at the Samaritans that you may have around you; those people you really don’t like.   God may be using any one of them to help you out right now.  God may be using them to show you that help can come from any direction.  God may be trying to show you how to accept help from those you don’t even like.  So, before you shake your head and say No Thanks, think about what God may be trying to do in your life.  And think about how, like the Samaritan, you must set aside your feelings and offer help to all who need it.  Think about how you will measure up to God’s plumb line.

Amen.

Benediction:

Grant, O Lord, that what has been said with our lips and what we have heard with our ears we may believe with our hearts, and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.