Stop Trying to Please Others - February 22nd, 2015 sermon

By Pastor Greg

This past Christmas I was able to visit with my aunt and uncle who had come home for Christmas.  As we sat around the table, my cousin Steve and I reminisced about dinners at Grandma’s house, and how the adults sat in the dining room while the grand kids sat in the kitchen.  Uncle Bob and Aunt Lois were privileged to sit with the grown-ups, and so Steve and I thought this was a great opportunity to ask a question that had been burning in our minds for decades.  We asked Uncle Bob just what Grandpa Burkholder said during his prayers.

In all those years, I never truly understood what my grandpa was saying while he prayed.  There are some who pray so the next door neighbors can hear, but not my Grandpa Burkholder.  As we sat around that table in the kitchen, Grandpa would almost mumble something that we could never quite make out. His tone would rise and fall rhythmically.  At the time, we grand kids would snicker at the unusual way Grandpa prayed.  But you know, as I’ve gotten older, I’m beginning to realize just how special Grandpa’s prayers really were.  As funny as it seemed at the time, I now know that Grandpa was praying TO God during those many meals we shared with him, we were just privileged to listen in.


My grandfather had learned a very important lesson; a lesson which comes through walking closely with God.  It is a lesson Jesus teaches on the Sermon on the Mount.

“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. ² When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. ³ But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. ⁴ Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
⁵ “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. ⁶ But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.


⁷ “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. ⁸ Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! ⁹ Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. ¹⁰ May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us today the food we need, ¹² and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. ¹³ And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.  ¹⁴ “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.


¹⁶ “And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. ¹⁷ But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. ¹⁸ Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you (Matthew 6:1-18).

Jesus teaches three important lessons here.  He says “Don’t show off when you help someone” (verses 1-4).  “Don’t show off when you pray” (verses 5-15).  And, “Don’t show off when you worship God” (verses 16-18).  Now, the reason Jesus was teaching this is because some Pharisees and many Priests made religion some kind of show.  These men wanted to be noticed.  They wanted to be recognized for who they were and for their “deep commitment to God”.  Actually, they were more committed to themselves than God.

Jesus was teaching His disciples to not follow the empty spirituality of these religious leaders.  They loved to pray standing in the synagogue (Matthew 6:5).  They loved the place of honor at banquets (Matthew 23:6).  They loved to be greeted by their official title of Rabbi, especially where everyone could hear (Matthew 23:7).  They loved to walk around in flowing robes; dressed to impress (Luke 20:46).  They loved the praise of men more than praise from God (John 12:43).  Jesus actually calls these men “whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27).  In all their desire to be approved before men, these religious leaders were nothing more than a grave that was painted white.  In might have been real pleasing to look at, but inside there was still death. 

The lesson Jesus is teaching here is that His followers need to be careful this does not happen to them.  A follower of Jesus needs to be careful that they don’t start doing things in the church just so people will sing their praise.Don’t be deceived.  This can be just as addicting as drugs or alcohol.  Once you get addicted to the praise of other people, it is difficult to stop.  And the sad part about all this is that no one will be able to please everyone all the time.  This truth applies to both the Christian and the non-Christian.  Somewhere and at some time, some person is going to be disappointed with you; either with what you do or with who you are.  And a person will drive themselves crazy trying to please everyone.  It’s just not going to happen.  A person will battle feelings of rejection and depression.  They will feel unloved simply because they were not able to get the approval they desired from the crowd or from some other person.

There is a big difference between pleasing men and pleasing God.  But unfortunately we have been lured into thinking we please God in the same way we please the people around us.  This is why this teaching of Jesus is so important for us.  As we consider all the lessons spoken by Jesus up to this point, the temptation is to see these as a list of ways we might make God happy.  If we learn to turn the other cheek, if we learn to pray for our enemies, if we learn to see others as someone of value and worth; if we do all these things then God will be pleased with us.  But that assumption would be wrong.  We learn to love others when we first learn the depth of God’s love for us.

My friend, if you learn nothing else from this sermon series, please learn this.  When we measure our worth as an individual based upon what others think of us or say about us, this thinking will affect our relationship with God.  And you can always tell when someone is living by some kind of performance standard.  They feel inadequate to serve.  They don’t feel qualified to pray.  They worry about what people will think or say.  They are crushed by the words of the critics.  When people are more concerned about what people might think or say, they refuse to serve or to pray or to worship even though this is exactly what God desires from them. 

Please hear this. You are valuable and precious to God, not because you earned it but because that’s how God sees you.  And as you walk more closely with God you will begin to see that His love for you never waivers.  His love never fails.  It never gives up.  It never runs out.

We’ve all run into Christians who can pray circles around us.  They can whip off a prayer that will forgive sins, heal the sick, and end world hunger in 30 seconds flat!  Our feeble stammering doesn't even come close.  Our service to the church seems pitiful when compared to some.  And in the Kingdom of God we live in the shadow of those more gifted than we are.  Why should we even try?  We’ll just embarrass ourselves.  Yet this is not how God sees us.  You see, God’s love for us is not based upon some performance standard.  God loves us and accepts us even when we fail.  And when you start walking more closely with God, you will begin to realize that He loves you just for trying.

Pray For Others - February 8th, 2015 sermon

By Pastor Greg

There was a little old lady who would come out every morning on the steps of her front porch, raise her arms to the sky and shout, "Praise the Lord!"  Well, one day an atheist moved into the house next door.  Over time, he became irritated at the little old lady.  So every morning he would step out onto his front porch and yell after her, "There is no Lord!"  Time passes with the two of them carrying on this way every day.  Then one morning in the middle of winter, the little old lady stepped onto her front porch and shouted, "Praise the Lord!  Lord, I have no food and I am starving.  Please provide for me, oh Lord!"  The next morning, she stepped onto her porch and there were two huge bags of groceries sitting there. "Praise the Lord!" she cried out.  "He has provided groceries for me!"  The atheist jumped out of the hedges and shouted, "There is no Lord.  I bought those groceries!"  The little old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted, "Praise the Lord!  He has provided me with groceries and He made the Devil pay for them!”

Don’t you wish you had that kind of spunk?  This is the kind of story people share on Facebook, celebrating this lady’s defiant attitude.  She didn’t let her neighbor’s criticism stop her from praising God.  But, if this neighbor is seen as her enemy, her response doesn’t quite follow the teachings of Jesus.  Oh, I’m sure this lady was very godly and that she had a deep respect for God.  But she had missed one very important lesson from Jesus.  It’s not that this lesson is difficult to understand, it’s just not a lesson easily learned.

As Christ continues to teach on this mountainside, His lessons seem to get more difficult to follow.  It is hoped these lessons draw the unbeliever to Christ, and help the Christian become more like Christ.  But sometimes these lessons seem impossible to follow.

In Matthew 5:38-48 Jesus teaches, ³⁸ “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. ⁴¹ If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. ⁴² Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.

⁴³ “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵ In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. ⁴⁶ If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. ⁴⁷ If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. ⁴⁸ But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect”.

Christ says we are called to pray for those who have hurt us or those who have taken advantage of us.  We are not to pray that God would avenge our wrong, but to pray for those who have hurt us. Christ calls us to pray for that atheist neighbor who constantly criticizes our relationship with God, not simply snap at them and call them the devil.  Our calling, as Christians, is to be salt and light, not judge and jury.

In an even deeper level, Jesus isn’t saying we react toward others in a Christ-like manner.  He says we are to act toward others in a Christ-like manner.  A Christian is called to be proactive in their love toward others, not reactive to the way they are treated.  Christ says in Matthew 7:12, “In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you,” not “Treat to others as they have treated you”.  Jesus says that when we demonstrate this characteristic, we not only walk more closely with God, but that we are demonstrating the very heart of God – the meaning behind Christ’s call to be perfect.

We read this section and think to ourselves, “What kind of person could love those who have taken advantage of them?  What kind of person could pray for those who persecute them?”  Indeed, this attitude of showing love toward those who have hurt us and those who hate us seems impossible, for even though we are Christians, we are still people with feelings.  We are still able to be hurt.  How then can we find the ability to do as Christ has taught?  How can we pray for the neighbor who harasses us every morning shouting “There is no God”? 

A Christian will find that they have the ability to forgive and pray because the Lord has given us His Spirit to overcome these times of hurt.  We love with a supernatural ability because God’s Spirit dwells within us.  But I believe there is a lesson here that is often overlooked.  As with any teaching of Jesus, we must do more than simply hear the lesson.  We must chose to put this lesson into practice.  We can decide to act this way ahead of time.  You see, forgiving others, loving enemies, and praying for those who hurt us is a choice we make in our lives.  Before we are hurt, before we are slapped, before we are swindled, before we are persecuted, we chose to “love others as we love ourselves”.  This is why Jesus tells us to treat others as you would want them to treat you - teaching us to take the initiative to love.

Everyone deals with hurtful and cruel people.  Everyone does.  But some days are harder than others.  Some days you feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.  And when you are hurt, slapped, and insulted, there is a chance you might slap back, seek revenge, curse, or call them the devil.  Later, after you regain your wits, you think back and realize you should not have reacted that way, and you vow not to react that way again.  But see, that’s the whole point.  It is a reaction.  That’s why Jesus talks about taking action here.  He talks about choosing to love, choosing to pray, and choosing to let go of the hurt.

A Christian who walks closely with God needs to be very careful that they are not drawn into the hating game; where those who are opposed to Christian values and morals are treated by Christians with the same contempt and scorn.  They hate us so we hate them.  They slap us so we slap them. Even though our society might look upon us with smug superiority and claim “There is no God”, we cannot return violence for violence.  Violence is born of weakness, not strength. It is the strong man who can love and suffer hurt.  To walk closely with God is to choose love.  And love is an act of the will, not a reaction to an emotion.

It seems an impossible task – this call to be perfect just as God is perfect.  But when we choose to love and pray for our enemies, we are doing the same thing God does.  After all, He made a choice to love us when we were His enemies (see Romans 5:10).

Learn to Value Others - February 1st, 2015 sermon

By Pastor Greg

A quick tour through my garage will reveal tools that are hung neatly on hooks or placed according to size in a tool box.  Nails and screws are kept separate according to size and use in brightly colored part bins hung on the wall.  I keep my garage this organized because I hate wasting time looking for tools; something I had to do often when I still lived at home. 

My parents never threw anything away, and in my father’s garage finding a tool was an adventure.  Oh, you might have been able to find what you’re looking for eventually, if you looked past the old toasters, 1974 newspapers, power tools that no longer power, and a dehumidifier that no longer dehumidifies.  Upon a crowded work bench could be the tools you needed ‑ underneath a conglomeration of items who’s use most of us would have assumed had expired long ago.  There’s an old can opener, several jar lids, a broken wooden spoon, a bent cheese cutter that makes funny shaped cheese, several almost dead batteries, snarled string, a Ping‑Pong ball, a pile of washers for the garden hose, several feet of extension cord with no plug and no outlet, an old set of Christmas lights, and too many old razor blades strategically placed next to the tools you’re looking for.  Rummaging through the pile is like playing Russian roulette, which is why somewhere in the garage there is an old box of band aids . . . somewhere.  Nothing was ever useless in my parent’s house.  Mom and Dad kept everything.  I’ve tried to keep this from happening in my garage, but if you look real close you will find a box marked “Think”.  It’s a box full of odds and ends that I “think” I might use someday.

In a throwaway society, people who keep odds‑n‑ends are a dying breed.  If the old toaster doesn’t work, just throw it out.  You can get a new one for less than ten dollars.  I know, I know, it’s only a toaster.  Most people don’t feel remorse over a discarded appliance.  But what about our personal relationships?  It seems to me that many in our society treat people like an old broken appliance.  If you grow tired of someone, just end the relationship; you can always find someone else.  And that’s just what happens too.  Friends grow apart without remorse.  Brothers and sisters go their separate ways never to talk again.  Employers use their employees until they quit, and then hire new ones.  Even husbands and wives learn to live apart under one roof.  And in the end we wonder why people feel worthless, used, and despised.

This attitude about personal relationships is nothing new.  Even in Old Testament times this was an issue.  Why else would God have to command His people to see another person as valuable?   God needed to establish a standard of conduct that was different than what Israel saw in Egypt and what they would see once they reached the land of Canaan (Leviticus 18:24).  In Leviticus chapter 18, God established sexual laws.  He placed restriction on who a person could sleep with.  They were commanded to have a high regard for others.  They were not to steal or cheat one another, defraud or rob their neighbor, and to not spread slanderous gossip among the people (Leviticus 19:11-16).  These laws applied to everyone in Israel, even the servant or foreigner who lived among them (Exodus 20:10).

Unfortunately, Israel did not take these commands very seriously.  And the men had little regard for the women among them.  Men were discarding their wives like yesterday’s trash.  Deuteronomy 24:1-4 becomes a concession because the men (and perhaps the women) of Israel had little regard for others (see Jesus’ comments on this in Mark 10:5).  The people of Israel could not let go of their selfishness, and instead succumbed to their personal desires.

I share all of this background so that you might better understand just what Jesus was saying in Matthew 5:27-32.  ²⁷ “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

³¹ “You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’ ³² But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery”.

We have a tendency to focus only on the obvious here.  But it is directly related to the attitude a person needs to develop in order to walk closely with God.  We lust for others because our needs and desires have become greater than our concern and love for others.  In just about every circumstance, a couple becomes unfaithful because personal needs have overpowered a commitment.  In just about every act of infidelity, that other person who has aroused the lust in you is seen as an object that can fulfill your needs and your desires.  These people are desired only for what they can do to you and for you.  Apart from that, we see no value in them.

Jesus has reminded us of God’s earlier commands.  We dare not view others as worthless junk that can be discarded when they no longer make us happy.  To walk closely with God we must value others, and in this case that attitude must infiltrate our sexual desires AND our commitment to marriage.

I know this passage raises a lot of questions about divorce.  It is still an unfortunate reality in our world today.  And I meet many people who are looking for answers.  If you want to talk in length, we can schedule some time together.  But the short answer to this deals with the law and with grace, not one or the other.  The Lord says divorce is a sin and that it is a sin to remarry.  He has, however, given a few provisions in the Bible - if your spouse has not been faithful (as we read here), or if you are married to a non-Christian who doesn’t want to stay with you (1 Corinthians 7:12-16).  But beyond those exceptions, Jesus speaks quite plainly about divorce and remarriage (see Mark 10:1-12).  That’s the law part.  The grace part is what comes next. 

As with any sin a person might commit, there is forgiveness.  Paul addressed this in Romans chapter seven as he struggled with sin even after becoming a Christian.  And he also confessed to finding forgiveness for that sin in Christ Jesus our Lord.  You see, the Lord does not look at a person who has sinned as worthless trash to be thrown away but as something valuable.  In our Father’s Kingdom, everyone is valuable.  This may not make sense to us, but I think that’s because we have not learned to value others the way God does.

The main point here is that when it comes to personal relationships, we need to move beyond the whole idea that we don’t do things or think things because they are sins.  We need to learn to see others as God sees them.  To walk closely with God is to recognize the value of other people.  And on that day when we start seeing other people as God’s priceless treasure, they no longer become some “thing” to be used for our personal pleasure then discarded.  In the end you will find yourself walking closely with God when you learn to see the value in other people.