John 16

Verse 7 “It is for your good that I am going away.”

Jesus is still telling the disciples that he is soon going to be dead. The disciples, for a number of reasons, are freaking out… They don’t want him to go.

A couple months ago, I visited one of our members just before her death. She was at peace with what was about to happen, but her children weren’t. She tried to comfort them, but they were devastated… If you’ve ever been there at the end for one of your loved ones, you can relate to how they were feeling.

Jesus was about to die a terrible death, and here he is trying to comfort his disciples. So often, it is the dying who try and give comfort to the healthy, which doesn’t make a lot of sense.

 It must be all about perspective.

The perspective of someone that is dying is very different than that of someone who is healthy. The dying realize they aren’t going to live forever, which makes all the other stress of life seem irrelevant.

In the days before his death Jesus wasn’t worried about interest rates, an election or a football game... He wasn’t worried about the non-essential realities of life. He was worried about his friends and family.  

I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t care about interest rates, elections or football games, but I think we would be well served to change our perspective a little. If interest rates go up or my candidate loses it’s not the end of the world. My life may become harder, but it’s not over.

Until it is…

And when it is, Jesus’ death will be all that we have; it will be our only comfort as we take our last breath.

It is for our good that he went away.

John 15

Verse 13: Jesus said "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."

I have a pretty good life. I have a great family, an amazing wife and a job that I love. I have great friends scattered around the country and I am surrounded by a loving community of believers. I live in a country where I am free to speak my mind and preach the gospel. I have enough money to pay my bills, eat good food, have a little fun, and support my church and other organizations that make the world a better place. I have a good life, which I’ve worked hard for.

But I realize that others around the world work hard too, maybe even harder, yet their lives are not as easy. Maybe they live in places that have been devastated by war or natural disaster, maybe they do not have the freedoms that I do, or maybe they just don’t have a loving support system.

I’m lucky… I realize that more now than I ever have. Some people would say that I’m not lucky, I’m blessed. Yes, I am blessed, but I’m lucky too. I think I’m lucky and blessed, and yes, I think there is a difference.

I’m lucky because of where I live. I’m blessed because of God’s love. A lot of people in America are lucky, but they don’t realize how blessed they are. And a lot of people around the world are blessed by our loving God, but they aren’t as lucky as I am.

I’m both blessed and lucky because people gave their lives for me.

As we celebrated Veteran’s Day in worship on Sunday, I was humbled by this thought: If men and women didn’t fight and die for my religious freedom, I wouldn’t be able to be a pastor... I wouldn’t be able to worship God. After I realized this, Veteran’s Day meant something totally different to me. It’s not a day to just thank a veteran, but it’s a day to crown them with honor them for their willingness to die for me. I am lucky to live in this country, made great by its veterans.  

Everything else I have is a gift from God. I’m here because of Him, I breathe because of Him, and I am loved because of Him.

I am free to live the way I do because millions of men and women fought and died for me.

I live the way I do because Jesus died for me.  

John 14

Jesus knows that the end is coming soon and he has to share this reality with his disciples. He tells them that he is going to the Father, and that he will prepare a place for them there. They ask him, "how do we get there?" Jesus then told his disciples, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." (Verse 6)

This must have been crushing news to the disciples. They had left their lives behind to follow Jesus and now he was giving up, he was leaving. Maybe they thought he'd become king, maybe they thought they'd became wealthy or famous because of him... Either way, this isn't what they bargained for. day after day, year after year they worked for Jesus, they traveled around the country by foot proclaiming the good news. But now it was all going to be over.

What would they do now? Where would they go? What would they put their hope in? They needed direction.

I think when Jesus said "I am the Way," he was giving them direction for the rest of their lives... Actually, he was giving us all direction for our lives.

Last night America re-elected Barack Obama to serve as our president. A lot of my friends are very excited, and a lot of my friends are frustrated and sad. Now that the election is over, I think both sides are looking for whatever might be next.

Like the disciples we have to ask ourselves, what do we do now? What do we put our hope in?

Jesus said he is the way, so we go towards Jesus.

When we don't know where to go, go towards Jesus.

When we don't know what to do, go towards Jesus.

When we don't know where to put our hope, go towards Jesus.

Every day of our lives we should go towards Jesus because he is the best way through this life.

When we go towards Jesus we will find love instead of broken promises and half-truths. We will find unity instead of division.

When we go towards Jesus we will find that we have all won, because He lost.

Jesus and the Election

Yesterday I was asked, “Who would Jesus vote for?” I know, without a doubt the answer to this question. After all, I went to seminary for four years and have been working as a pastor for over two years. So I, without a doubt can answer this question; I feel like I know Jesus.

So here is the answer… Jesus would vote for neither. He wasn’t a citizen of the United States.

What if Jesus was a citizen? Well, then I don’t know.

Here is what the bible says:

Jesus was a carpenter, as was his father Joseph. They probably owned a small business in Nazareth and made just enough money to live on. Maybe they hired a couple people to help with deliveries, who knows? As a small business owner, he probably worked very hard to provide for his family, especially after his father died.

But then he stopped working… One day he just quit the family business. He decided instead to walk around and tell people that the “Kingdom of God has come near.” He lived on the generosity of others and his enemies called him “a glutton and a drunkard” (Matthew 11:19) He was called a fat, lazy, drunk by those who opposed him; there must have been some truth to what they said or they wouldn’t have said it. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that read “You are not entitled to what I earned,” yet Jesus lived on what others earned.

But he did live on the generosity of others; he didn’t rely on a program. The people that helped Jesus chose to do so; they were not forced to do so. But when a rich man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus said "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21)

Jesus was born in Israel to Jewish parents. All of Jesus’ family members, friends and disciples were Jewish. Israel was God’s chosen people, and Jesus came for them. In Matthew 15:24-26 Jesus has the following conversation with a non-Jewish woman, “He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.’ The woman came and knelt before him. ‘Lord, help me!’ she said. He replied,  ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” He called her a dog! Clearly Jesus must be pro-Israel.

But Jesus was betrayed by Judas, who was Jewish. He was arrested by the Jewish leaders and it was the Jewish high priest Caiaphas who begged Pilate to crucify him. While he was hanging on the cross Jews would walk by and mock him.

As far as taxes go, in Matthew 22:21 Jesus said we are to “give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

I could do this all day, but I’m going to stop. I haven’t attributed any of these bible stories with a political party; I’ll let you do that. But as a pastor, here is what I believe:

I believe our parties are full of people, and people are beautiful, and broken, and sinful. No party falls in line with the Jesus we know in the bible. No party gets it all right and no party gets it all wrong. They both stand for good things, and can quote the bible if they choose to.

I believe you have to decide which candidate you think is best for you, and which candidate is best for America… and be open to the possibility that the guy who is best for you may not be the guy that’s best for America.

I believe that Jesus rejoices in our system of government and the freedom that we have to elect our leaders. He was not so lucky.

I believe that no matter who wins, Jesus would want us to respect, support and pray for our leaders; Lord knows they will need it.

I believe that no one person can make America great; America is at its best when we are all at our best.

I believe a third of America will be happy tomorrow, a third will be frustrated and a third won’t care. I pray that we all show respect, grace and peace no matter what side we are on.

And finally, I believe that Jesus died for us all, Republicans, Democrats, Tea Party folks, Libertarians, Independents and everyone else. His love is our true hope.