We Have Peace With Christ-Based on Romans 5:1-8

This morning’s message is a personal message and one that I have talked about many times before, but I feel the need to share it with you yet again to make a point. Finding peace in our life is difficult, but finding peace with God, at times can be a serious struggle. This is my story at finding peace.

Ten years ago this past March, my life was changed forever when my mom called me and told me she left my father. I was in the middle of college and doing well, but knew the home life wasn’t the greatest for my mom and sister. They decided to move in with my grandmother at the time and try to see if the situation could work itself out. Now, there are some of you here who already know the story, but I want to say it again, because the scripture ties in to this experience. Through the whole separation and divorce situation, I saw my father become remorseful and angry. Early on in the separation, he wanted the family to be together and promised he would try to get help for the multiple issues in his life. The next day would be different where he would blame everyone except himself for the problems of the family.

My mother, sister, and myself had an important decision to make, and that is where should we go from here. After prayer and deliberation, we made the decision to start all over again in life and find a new road to travel. I tried throughout college to stay in contact with my father and to maintain some kind of relationship. Sometimes it was good, and sometimes it was awful. I knew things would head south when graduation approached and dad was non-committal in coming. Even when I returned home, he still said some evil things towards me and everyone else in my life. I finally had a decision to make and that was to try and make peace with him. One day, I ventured over to his house and it was about a month after we had a huge argument and my heart was heavy with pain and sadness. As I knocked on the door, I wanted to run. He answered the door, and I told him that I was here to make peace with him and to try to work out any differences we might have. I wasn’t quite ready for his response, because he told me that he didn’t want anything to do with me, and then proceeded to slam the door in my face. That was five years ago.

Since that time, I have reinvested my life into the church and rediscovered my faith after straying away from it for some time, and I feel more alive than I ever have. All of this is due to the presence of Christ in my life and the sacrifice he made for us many years ago. Part of the reason I share this very personal episode of my life is that this was my time of personal sacrifice in order for me to be reborn into a new and improved person. It is also through this very painful period of life that I found peace with God for the first time. God has a way of leading us through times of trouble and knowing how to deal with those times of trouble is what makes us all the greater in our faith.

When Christ was sent to Earth, he was sent here to transform the lives of those who did not know God in their lives. He was sent, not to put a temporary fix on a wound, but he came here to solve our problems. When we go through life experiencing pain and heartache, we have different medicines to address those problems. Some people result to alcohol and drugs. Some people result to sex and violence. Others resolve their problems through their words and actions. Very few turn to the real answer and that answer is Christ. Christ poured out his blood for us at the Last Supper, which is also his love for all of us. When we are faithful to God, we are loved so much, that we find comfort in a world that is very harsh and mean-spirited.
Christ gives us the ability to share with others in our sufferings. I share this story not to show you my battle scars, but to tell you the wonderful power that Christ has in our lives when we believe in him. I would not be in the position I am today, had it not been for Christ stepping into my life and showing me the way. I would not have peace given the situation with my father, had Christ not entered my life and opened my eyes. My sufferings have not transformed me, but instead, Christ has transformed my sufferings. Every time I go through a challenging time, I have to rely upon my faith and common sense to make it through. I don’t personally suffer during major problems, but it is the sinner within me that suffers the most. To use the Star Wars lingo, my “dark side” becomes less and less visible. Christ is able to build endurance and character along the way. We are able to use those attributes in addressing future situations that come into our lives.

Christ came here to earth in order to bring peace to the earth. Along the way he is able to bring that peace, yet he died the most violent possible death and abandoned on the cross. He bears the brunt of our self-destructive nature. Everything he does is according to the father’s will, and yet it brings him more suffering on the road to his death. Paul states that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, but for Jesus the only thing suffering produced was death on the cross--or so it seemed! But, in fact, Christ's death on the cross won a victory over death that produced from the tomb resurrection into new life. And all for us!

So what do we do with this new found faith, peace, endurance and penchant for suffering? Our next step as a church is to go into the world and share the message with those who do not know the life giving spirit that Christ has for them. So many people in this neighborhood are in the throes of poverty. Some people are victims of discrimination, racism, and violence. There are others who once knew Christ, but all they know is loneliness. The lonely ones have been forgotten by: the church, friends, and sometimes even family members. There are others in this community who are the victims of broken homes and domestic violence. As a church, we need to share in their suffering and show them that there is the answer for peace in their lives and that answer is Christ. We are already addressing the needs of those who go without toys during the Christmas season, those who are unable to pay their bills, and even those who need basic toiletries, but our work is never done.

Just because you have found peace with Christ doesn’t mean that your relationship with him is the only one that matters. As a matter of fact, because you have peace with Christ, you should be the one standing on the frontline leading the charge towards those who need to know Christ’s peace. We have so many opportunities to boast in our sufferings and show others how Christ has worked through our lives to make them so much better. What makes our lives even more extraordinary is that we have each other in this room, ready willing, and able to lend a hand when the time comes for help. I cannot tell you how many times where I have been in a pinch and have been able to get help from a person who goes to Dover Place. As believers, we have a duty to one another to keep our faith up and to share the peace of Christ with others.

In closing, I feel blessed for going through a divorce and dealing with difficult situations, knowing that Christ is in my life. Even though I thought Christ may have abandoned me, there were still people around who guided me in the right direction. One person in particular tried to reach out to me and bring me back home, and that was Steve Earhardt, who is a former member of Dover. Steve bought me audiotapes of “Mere Christianity” which was written during World War II, while the British were being bombarded by the Nazis. I listened to those tapes every morning as I drove to school, and found myself again over a period of time. C.S. Lewis wrote this series of essays, as a way of boosting the faith and morale of the British people, while they were facing the greatest threat to their existence. What these essays did for me, was bring me back to having peace with Christ.

The past four years of my life have been some of the most exciting and peaceful years of living that I have ever had. I found new life in the church. I found new life in finding to woman of my dreams. And I found peace with Bert Flowers, who is the greatest step-father I could ever ask for. Even though he doesn’t say a whole bunch, he has brought stability and calm to a rather chaotic bunch of people. (The only time Bert isn’t calm, is when he is trying to study for school…Then you have to steer him into finding peace with Christ and everyone in the house!)
I encourage each and everyone of you to find Christ and find peace. Any suffering you go through pales in comparison to the suffering he did for us. Let us also reach out to those who are in need of knowing the peace of Christ and give them the support and love that we have received. Thanks be to God for the peace we have in Christ!

Follow Me...Everything Will Be Alright-Based on Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

Over the course of my very short life, I have found myself in situations where I was the one who stood out from others for obvious reasons, because I was a stranger. As a little kid, I found myself in North St. Louis on Ashland Avenue playing in the neighborhood, while my mom was having a baby shower. Needless to say, I was the only little white boy amongst the black children in the neighborhood. Some were quite surprised to see me there, but we managed to have fun anyway. In college, I was with a group of students teaching at an all Hispanic school in a border town in Texas. At different points in my life, I have worshipped with Jews, Catholics, Muslims, and Buddhists; yet all have been very welcoming of me. These experiences made me feel like a stranger in a strange land at times, but I was welcomed into these communities with open arms. Visiting Dover can be that way for people as well.

I cannot even begin to imagine seeing Jesus touch the lives of those around him in such a way that they are forever altered. To see Jesus take a tax collector and make him a follower must have been something else. Just the dinner conversation alone that evening must have been interesting as the other disciples would have met this man for the first time. Considering the other disciples came from reputable careers in fishing, to have a tax collector amongst them must have been a little “cheeky.” Consider the facts about a tax collector, here is a man who pays the Romans all taxes up front, and then collects an unlimited amount of taxes thereafter, making a hand over fist profit. People in the community are already jealous of this guy, because he has the ability to read and write, but they hate him even more because he works for the enemy and cheats them out of their very precious money. Here is a man who was hated and loathed by his own people, but is openly embraced by the Son of God.

The other miracle of faith here is the healing of the woman who had been bleeding for many years. A woman; according to the Jewish laws, who is unfit for social contact. This is a society that segregates itself based upon laws, and they are unaware of the issues those excluded from society are dealing with. Jesus knows that the woman is having problems, but he also realizes that she is a soul valuable to the community, regardless of her problem. Even though she has this problem, she is still valued to the kingdom of God. If you think about the segregation that takes place in our modern society, the caste system in India is a perfect example. You have the four levels of society, but at the bottom are the untouchables, who are people limited in income and job opportunities. Within our own history, we segregated our country based upon race.

Finally, the girl who was declared dead, found new life with a house call from the Great Healer. Jesus refused to believe that she was dead, but he acknowledged the fact that the faith of those around her was dead. They followed the law so closely, that they were blinded by the fact that anything new in their lives was possible. They had accepted death as the only option for their lives, not eternal life. For each of these cases, Jesus takes sick people and lets them know there is something in them that makes them a stranger to us no more, and that is their faith.

Jesus has entered your life for a reason. Most of us have been strangers to Christ at some point in our lives, where we came to him as sick souls in pain and desiring a cure for that pain. We found Christ at our most vulnerable times in life. I have friends in college who are in the accounting and business field, making almost six figure salaries, and yet they are unhappy and unfulfilled in life. They probably feel like Matthew the tax collector, in that they have these skills and they have money, but they have an empty life. Another friend of mine was a semester away from graduating from college, but got married and has basically wasted away in physical pain and mental pain ever since she got married. She is like the woman who was bleeding, and needs to know the healing power of Christ in her life. Another person I know is in the midst of killing herself slowly through her drinking, and she is someone who doesn’t know how important her skills are to the people around her. Her faith needs to be awaken and made vital again, instead of all the dead faith that surrounds her.

There are many strangers among our lives; that we have the ultimate task of making them realize that they have the cure for all their pain within them, and it is called their faith. Our faith was given to us, and developed by God, as a means of survival when we are sick. However, our faith cannot cure certain diseases or social situations, but it can help us through difficult times. People in our society need to hear that message of faith and be able to help themselves, rather than through artificial means.

I have to say though, the greatest image to me in this scripture is the fact that Christ welcomed the sinners and outcasts to his table for meals. Having a meal in those days was the ultimate welcoming experience. To have someone in your home and lavishing them with a meal was the ultimate sign of respect. To invite the unclean and sinner into your home, was really something special. Sometimes, churches forget their mission, which is to open their doors to all people. We are the place for everyone who is messed up in this world. People who experience broken marriages, diseases that are life threatening, the poor, the homeless, the families with messed up kids, and even messed up parents…they are all welcome here. If you have no car, if your home is roach infested, and you have flea bites…you are welcome here.

As a young child, I knew the importance of welcoming strangers into my home. My family has had the history in welcoming in people of all kinds of backgrounds for one reason or another, and it became second nature to me. Twenty years ago, I watched the Live AID concert on MTV and saw these megastars of music implore people to reach out to the people in Africa who were suffering from extreme poverty and famine. That kind of outreach showed me how important we are to one another. However, nothing compares to the outreach my mother did for a man she worked with who had AIDS.

AIDS in the 1980s was a scary thing as many of you remember. Nobody really knew whether or not you could catch it from casual contact or from someone sneezing. A young man by the name of Toby was the unit secretary for her floor and had contracted AIDS through unsafe sexual practices. He was the first person I knew who had AIDS. I had heard all of these horrible things about AIDS and couldn’t understand why my mom wanted to be around a man who had this fatal disease. When I would visit her at work on occasion, I would generally hide behind her and try not to even look at Toby. Toby knew that I was a naïve little kid, and he tried to explain his situation to me. He had enough compassion and faith to reach out to a little kid. As his condition deteriorated, the nurses who worked with Toby did everything they could to make him feel better. I remember mom making him food, because he used all of his paycheck for treatments. Toby died relatively quickly, but he has had a lasting impact on my life on how others should be treated.

We live among strangers and sinners in our world, but it s our mission in life to reach out to them and make them feel welcome at the table. We encounter some really interesting people and situations every day of our life, but what limits them from knowing God any better than we do? Some of the best places to find people new souls are in the places where Christians don’t like going, such as bars, nightclubs, ghettos, bus stations, street overpasses, and even third world countries. I am not like Johnny Cash, in that I have not been everywhere, but I have seen a lot of things in this world that can be changed. Sometimes we forget the words of Christ when he said, “Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.” There are no strangers among us, as we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. We are all sinners, but knowing our faith, is the cure for all of our pain.