Christ Memorial Lutheran Church - Houston TX
CMLC 2024-09-29 Sermon (Contemporary)
Well, howdy. I was really tempted to go with the gospel message today and have a bunch of one-eyed people trying to escape from hell, but you know, next time, next time, we'll tackle that one. You know, I wanted to look a little bit at the epistle lesson, you know, being able to see James. This is our last time of looking at James this time around. And it reminded me of the idea of hanging out with people, hanging out with friends, hanging out with acquaintances, throwing parties at your home. And I know that all of the introverts are having heart attacks as I say that. But, you know, oftentimes we find opportunities to be able to spend with each other. And it's always fascinating what ends up happening whenever you're spending time with people that you know. I've found it interesting some of what has happened at times whenever I might have a party or hanging out at my place. I've had two friends decide that they were about to have a fist fight in a den. I've had people tell me that they had feelings for me, not all women. I've had times where I will come back later and discover things are missing. There's a straw hat that my grandfather left me that I still cannot find. And two of my DC comic book figurines have been missing for like a year now. Batman and Mr. Freeze are fighting somewhere. And, you know, it's anybody's guess whether or not like who like unwrapped the ping pong paddles that I had in there. I have no idea. Or whether or not at the end of the night, anybody will be helping to clean the dishes or not. The thing is is that whatever may end up happening, that's not really the focus of being there. You see, having that time with people, it's not really about trying to figure out if something happy is always going to happen or you're going to somehow fix things, but rather just being in that relationship with people. That's what ends up mattering the most. Because hanging out parties, it's not for some selfish benefit or because of the activities that you do. I used to think that. I used to try to set up game stations around my place all the time thinking this is going to make the best party. But in reality, it was always just about the relationships, the people, the connections. And what's interesting though, whenever you spend time hanging out with people and you have those connections, what's interesting is all the things that end up happening while you're there together. Sometimes you end up discovering different types of restoration, new ideas that you had never thought of until you talked to your friends, new friendships that you made because somebody brought someone that they know, new plans for what you all want to do together in the future, or even times where you discover that either you need to forgive somebody else or you need them to forgive you. And all because whatever situation we may be in, we're there restoring that relationship. Because that's the thing about relationship, is that it isn't based on one type of situation, it's there no matter the situation. But whatever situation we do find ourselves in, are we willing to still do the same with God? Are we willing to come to God in all circumstances? Whether we pray, whether we praise, whatever it is, are we always willing to come to God with whatever we are experiencing in our life? See, different people will oftentimes have different things that cause them to think about coming to God. There are those who want to spend their time just venting at God, to God. Oh, I can't believe all that you did, and oh, I can't believe that you failed me in these ways, God. Because somehow everything is God's fault, and they want to somehow have somebody to blame. There are those who are always thinking about what they need, I need this, I want this, give this to me God. Or even the ones where they can only go to God when things are good, and they can only seem to talk to God whenever everything seems to be fitting into place. But the trouble is, is that when we only focus on one part of our relationship with God, we end up not only losing a part of that relationship on our side, but we end up distorting the parts that we do have. If we end up spending all of our time trying to figure out what God can give us, then do we take God away from being somebody that guides us, leads us, and shows us who are meant to be, and just turn him into a vending machine? If we end up spending our time just venting about things, do we somehow lose the sense that we need to take responsibility for life, but also realizing how many blessings God has given us, and the times when he wants to restore things? Or the times whenever all we can do is think about the times that are joyful, and whenever things are not going the way we hoped, somehow we don't seem to think that there's a relationship with God whenever things are not going well. But that's the thing about relationship, is that it exists throughout all of these. I've been seeing a lot of this, experiencing this, but what brought it to mind was looking at the way that James put things in his epistle, because what he ends up doing is he keeps throwing in there, praying for healing, along with finding forgiveness, and starting to realize you look at all the things that he's listing about the different reasons to come to God, and realizing that they do all end up coming together. And I've seen that a lot more especially lately because of things with my sister. The cancer came back. They found it very small. It's in the lungs now, but they've removed everything that they've seen so far. One of the things that's been hard with this is the times whenever she's asking questions that I don't have answers for, because oftentimes we may end up struggling to deal with that relationship because of what we end up seeing. See, there are times whenever struggles can end up causing doubts in our faith. Things aren't going the way we were hoping, and maybe we end up seeing, did somehow, did all these things are happening? Does God actually still care? Is he still there? Do I still have a part in his plan when this is happening? Or sometimes even wondering, did I not believe enough? And did I end up causing something because of something that's my fault? Or even wondering, is the world just broken? The fact that we are in a place where we can't seem to exist without polluting everything, we can't seem to ask questions of what we should do in our world instead just asking what we can get paid for, or times whenever we just hurt each other just because we can. And then other times when there is no answer, and that's so hard because in reality, nobody knows. Nobody knows why these things happen, and in these circumstances, how do we respond? One of the things with it though is that the first time seeing what was happening with my sister to this time has been drastically different. And why is that? Because time and time again, what we end up hearing from her over and over is whatever it is, whatever it will be, God will bring me through. That's something that we take for granted until we're facing it. And sometimes we may face something at first and we don't know how to say that. But then sometimes God still allows us to hear that message loud and clear. All these things that are happening, no matter what, it's still this point of are you willing to come to God? Not just for the idea of healing. We hope and we pray for the healing. We have every reason to trust that it will happen. The doctors are on top of it. The treatment is being planned out. But also more than that is that we do know and believe that God has purposes for her. And more than that said he is still her hope of salvation. But you see in many ways we as the church, we forget that the way to be affirmed in that is through each other. James brings us out very very clearly and he points it out to us and that's something that we cannot take for granted. You know whenever we try to bring somebody back to God is that there are different ways that that may need to be faced. Sometimes we emphasize the men and the women and the different opportunities there are for fellowship just to gather together because spending that time with each other, reconnecting, is a chance to speak into each other's lives, to strengthen each other, to encourage each other and to hear what is happening at times when maybe we don't share it otherwise. But also it may turn out that we needed to be restored to our friend that we didn't even realize. The times whenever we emphasize our small groups because if we're not spending time in God's Word it is amazing what we kind of make up in our heads about who we think God is and what we think God is doing. But when we spend time with each other reading through God's Word and seeing what it is that he says we see that he reveals himself in all of these circumstances. Whatever they may end up feeling like, joyous or struggling. But another thing is that we've had to refocus what we do with our care, with our elders, with our spiritual welfare, to know that there are people that will check up on you to make sure that there are deacons who will check to see, "I haven't seen where you are in a while. How are you? What's happening in your life? Talk with me." But also to know that there are elders because for whatever reason y'all ended up calling a sinful, fallible person to be your pastor and as hard as it is to believe. If it's just me by myself I do not always make perfect choices. So having people that will talk things through and try to keep me in line a little bit. But all of that together is this is also why we commune together. See the thing is is that when people come together to commune it's not because we've gotten it all figured out and we're now at the highlights of our relationship with God but rather is because Christ Jesus has come to restore us and that whatever place we may find ourselves in we are all at this table together and that's the idea of what we want to do when restoring somebody else. Because what I always found interesting in this passage is the idea of saving someone's soul and covering over a multitude of sins. Why is it that that stands out to me? Because I always wondered whose soul it truly was. It says let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. And you may think hey you've helped to restore the person who had walked away from God and you're helping them to find their place of forgiveness. But I always wondered are we really sure that his is that sinner or could it be ourselves that James is referring to? Because oftentimes in the restoration is that we oftentimes face that we were the ones who stumbled the most. We were the ones who failed them in the first place. I was listening to some people with Link Houston. It's connected with entrepreneurship through the Lutheran Church and one of the people at the meeting was talking about having food services as a part of their ministry and she said whenever we cook then we are not mad at each other anymore. Because it's amazing that when we eat together, when we work together, when we serve, when we spend that time is that maybe the thing that we were so upset about wasn't really that big of a deal. And the water just flows under the bridge or other times with that person right there, we are willing to come up and say I need your forgiveness because I failed and then to be restored again with that person. So that's where we find ourselves as we come to the end of our time with James. Faith is not just something that we keep in our head. Faith is in how we live. It's in everything that we say and everything that we do. And so as we come together, may this be a time where we are restored with one another and that we are strengthened not just to walk alongside each other and to help with the times of healing and strength that they may need but also that together we come back to the cross to say God I am a sinner and I need your forgiveness today as always. Thank you for restoring me to yourself and to your people in Christ Jesus. Amen.