*** Please note that this sermon was edited during its presentation due to time issues... The second video clip was not shown
(Slide 1) This morning, we begin with a brief clip of two young men discussing the origins of a popular snack food.
(Slide 2) (Video clip from Bluefish TV ‘Drive-in faith’ is shown)
So: (Slide 3)
• What do you choose to believe about the origins of the Corn Dog? Was it alien in its origins and did some farmer get rich from his encounter of the third kind? Or was it the result of a surprise development in somebody’s kitchen?
• What do you choose to believe about the origins of the universe? Is all of this real or an illusion? Is it merely the end as well as the beginning?
• What do you choose to believe about what is right and what is wrong? Are there absolutes or is right and wrong a matter of ‘it depends?’
• What do you choose to believe?
But more important this morning is the question, (Slide 3a) ‘What kind of a God do you choose to believe in?’
The kind of God you believe in is the kind of God you follow. And are you following the right kind of God? Last week, I showed a video clip of several persons being interviewed as they responded to various questions regarding Easter, the cross, and heaven. Let’s look at it one more time with the question in mind, ‘What kind of God do they believe in?’
(Slide 4) (Video clip from Bluefish TV, “What comes to mind when you think of the cross?’ is shown)
What kind of God do they seem to follow? It seemed to me that there were different kinds of god that people believe in and a few who did not believe in God or a god at all.
We live in a day and age in which there are many faiths and beliefs to choose from and we do choose. Confusion, sometimes, seems the order of the day.
There was confusion after Jesus was resurrected and we walked through Luke 24:36-38 last Sunday and noted the confusion that the disciples and other followers had when Jesus appeared to them. But, they believed and continued to believe and when the Holy Spirit filled them on the day of Pentecost, they began to talk about a God that was worth following.
Before we move to our main text this morning, I want to read 1 Corinthians 15:13-20 about the key importance of the resurrection and as a backdrop to our main text:
For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished! And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world. But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again.
What kind of a God would do this? Let’s take a look at our main text of Psalm 103 to see how the Psalmist answers this question:
‘Praise the Lord, I tell myself;
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, I tell myself,
and never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
He ransoms me from death
and surrounds me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things.
My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
The Lord gives righteousness
and justice to all who are treated unfairly.
He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious;
he is slow to get angry and full of unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He has not punished us for all our sins,
nor does he deal with us as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our rebellious acts
as far away from us as the east is from the west.
The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he understands how weak we are;
he knows we are only dust.
Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
But the love of the Lord remains forever
with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
of those who are faithful to his covenant,
of those who obey his commandments!
The Lord has made the heavens his throne;
from there he rules over everything.
Praise the Lord, you angels of his,
you mighty creatures who carry out his plans,
listening for each of his commands.
Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels
who serve him and do his will!
Praise the Lord, everything he has created,
everywhere in his kingdom.
As for me—I, too, will praise the Lord.
Do you like this kind of God? I do! And I believe, and so have millions of other people down through the centuries, too!
This is the God who sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and failures.
This is the God I choose to follow for the following reasons as stated by the Psalmist:
(Slide 5) He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. The God I choose to follow is one who is forgiving and healing.
This God, my God whom I choose to follow, is in the restoration business. It is His intent, I believe, based on what the Bible says, to change me for the better.
Now, many people don’t like the word ‘change’ and they don’t like changes to take place. But, if I choose to believe in my God, who forgives and heals, then change is not option for me.
In John chapter 5, there is the story of the paralyzed man who was lying near the Pool of Bethesda, a place that was believed to contain miraculous healing powers. He had been sick for 38 years (probably since birth) and someone, based on his statements to Jesus about his lack of help getting into the pool, had brought him to the pool but did not help him get into the pool. Ever wondered why?
Now I heard from somewhere that the waters stirred only at certain times and it was believed that during those times the healing power was released. Why did’nt the person or persons who laid this man there in the first place take the time to get him into the pool? Maybe they did not have the time. Maybe they could not do so because something kept them from doing it. Maybe they just wanted to be rid of him and said, ‘now you’re on your own.’
Whatever the reason, the man did not make it into the pool... for a long, long, time. But then Jesus showed up one day and healed him without any natural or human help!
What this says to me about the God I choose to follow is that when we hit our limits as to our ability to change, Jesus steps in and makes it happen. I have seen this in my life and the lives of others. But it requires a surrender of our efforts and will to the will of God who forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases and as a result, ‘He ransoms me from death
and surrounds me with love and tender mercies.’
(Slide 5a) He has not punished us for all our sins, nor does he deal with us as we deserve.
There have been many times in my life when I have sinned and there have been many times when I have asked God, ‘Why am I still here and why am I still a pastor when I am flawed and broken and so imperfect?’
Sometimes, He has responded in ways to affirm His love of and for me. At other times, He has said nothing and that has been hard to take. But, over a period of time, I am able to see how His silence speaks of His love and mercy for me. This aspect of the God I choose to follow is called ‘mercy.’
In one of my sources that I consulted in preparation, it linked mercy, along with compassion and pity to the goodness of God which I remind us this morning is one of the Fruits of the Spirit and thus a key characteristic of us as followers of Christ.
Have you ever been shown mercy? Does a teacher come to mind? How about a time when your parent or parents were compassionate and showed mercy?
I remember 9th grade geometry and how I struggled through that class and got a D- for the year. I think that it was because of the mercy of my teacher that I got it!
I remember President Gerald Ford’s address to our county 34 years ago when he pardoned Richard Nixon. In his speech he said, ‘I do believe, with all my heart and mind and spirit, that I, not as President but as a humble servant of God, will receive justice without mercy if I fail to show mercy.’ Many believed (and still do) that his actions spared our nation from experiencing a great national conflict.
In Matthew 18 there is the story of two servants that Jesus tells to describe the importance of forgiveness and mercy. He tells it in response to Peter’s question of ‘Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?’
It is believed that the teaching of that day was to forgive only three times. Peter brings up the number of perfection, ‘seven’ and Jesus says, ‘seventy times seven’ which according to some translators is really rendered 77 not 490.
But then Jesus tells a very vivid story about the importance of forgiveness as a Kingdom of Heaven value. It is the story of two servants who are deeply in debt.
The punishment for unpaid debts in that day was imprisonment, some times for life. The first servant is given mercy for a very large debt, translated today as millions of dollars, and leaves the presence of the king with deep gratitude… or so it seems.
But in verse 28, he seeks out a man who owed him a few thousand dollars and demands payment. Unable to get the money and impatient, he has the man arrested. This troubles the King’s servants who tell the king who then throws the ungrateful and unmerciful debtor into prison to pay his entire debt.
And Jesus then pointedly says, “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters in your heart.”
Mercy and forgiveness is often a very hard thing to do because we are very much like the first servant who seeks ‘to get what is coming to me no matter what.’
How many here this morning watched the Dateline special on Friday night when Matt Lauer interviewed the two Taylor University families whose daughters’ identities were mixed up after the terrible accident in 2006?
What struck me was how grace filled and thankful the Cernak family was to the Van Ryn family for caring for their daughter while the Van Ryn’s thought it was their daughter in that hospital bed. To me their Christian faith shone brightly throughout the interviews even when Lauer asked how the mix up could have taken place. Forgiveness and mercy not bitterness and resentment are part of this moving story. Their God is the God described in Psalm 103. Though they most likely had their moments when grief and its deep pain and hurt created the conditions for anger and bitterness, they asked the Lord for strength to get through those many difficult moments, especially when the terrible reality set it as to Whitney’s identity.
There is more that could be said, but the Psalmist says it well and I invite you to read and re-read and meditate on this Psalm as it has many important things to say about this wonderful God.
But on this first Sunday after Easter, what kind of a God do you choose to follow? Is your God a healing and forgiving God?
Is He able to save you and heal you of not just your physical pain and discomfort; but also your mental and emotional pain and discomfort? Is He a God who is merciful and who has not punished you for all your sins or dealt with you as you really deserve?
To me, this God is the God of Easter Sunday and every Sunday; in fact He is the God of every day of our lives. Where is this God in your life? Is He here (mind) and here (heart)?
Has this wonderful and gracious God made a difference in your life and is He continuing to do so? I pray that it is so. Amen.
Ford speech is quoted from www.Watergate.info
Power Points for this sermon are available by e-mailing me at pastorjim46755@yahoo.com and asking for ‘slides’ Please note that all slides for a particular presentation may not be available.
