Sermons | New Bethel Baptist Church

In our scripture today, we have four gathering events.

First, it is the Sabbath. Jesus and others had gathered at the synagogue and Jesus taught there.

Second, after worship, Jesus and a few others immediately—one of Mark’s favorite words and as some translations say—gather at Simon Peter’s mother-in-law’s house for food and fellowship, for rest and relaxation. They aren’t able to do that, however, until the mother-in-law is healed of her fever. Jesus heals her, and she begins to serve them.

You know that for Simon Peter to have a mother-in-law means that Peter has a wife—right? This is a detail we can easily miss. The usual way of life would have been for Peter and the other males to be married, so this isn’t exactly news, but it is something to remember. While they journey with Jesus, they have lives and personal relationships and family responsibilities—pretty much like us.

As an aside, some women read this text as an insult. Some women feel as if the only reason Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law is so that she—the woman—can cook for them and serve them.

Yet it is important to remember that in Christian thought, it is an honor and privilege to offer hospitality to others—sort of like how it is an honor and privilege to open the church on Sunday mornings, make the coffee, and set up for Fellowship Time.

Additionally, cooking and serving others was the “norm” for women, and all of us like to do our “normal” or usual things, and we don’t like it much when, because of age or illness or distress, we can’t do those normal things. Jesus returns her to her role as main hostess—he gives her normalcy.

The third gathering is later that evening when everyone is at the door to the house.

The people have needs and they want them met, and they believe that Jesus is the one who can do that. They have seen Jesus’ power and authority—they are drawn to it. Their response to Jesus is clear. They are astounded and amazed at his teachings, and they know he has power to heal. He’s got something they want.

They have expectations—and hopes and longings. They are anticipating the healing that Jesus can bring. Perhaps they have some anxiety—perhaps some fear and trepidation—perhaps some desperation.

Fourth, early the next morning, while it is still dark, Jesus gathers with God. All is quiet—no sirens or televisions—no talk radio—no telephones. Jesus and God have a conversation—talking, listening, talking, listening. Based on how the next gathering goes, Jesus seems to be re-centering himself on God and God’s agenda and God’s desires.

Prayer does this for us, too. It helps us keep our eyes focused on Christ as our light. It helps us live and be the gospel of love, even in difficult situations; it charges us and fills us with God’s Spirit. It centers us on what is important—on those things we must take care of to ensure that all other things fall into their proper place—and not proper as in “prim and proper” but proper as in abundant life, grace-giving, blessed peace and shalom. Prayer is good.

Fifth, while Jesus is in that deserted place, and likely after daylight since apparently the entire town is up and awake and searching for Jesus, Simon and his companions have also gathered to hunt for Jesus.

When they find him, their language is akin to finding a lost child—“where have you been; everyone has been searching for you.” First a touch of anger and then a touch of relief or vice versa.

This last gathering event sounds a bit desperate, doesn’t it? They are hunting for Jesus—can you hear them: “where is he; where is he; why isn’t he where we want and need him to be anyway—doing exactly what we want and need him to do? Doesn’t he understand the impact of his actions on the people? He has momentum for this new movement—he should take advantage of that.”

The people have expectations; the disciples have expectations. And they really want Jesus to fulfill them.

But how does Jesus respond?

“No more healings for now, folks. Show’s over. I am called to preach the message, first. If I can do some healing along the way, that’s great, but I can’t be and my message can’t be reduced into a miracle-healer headline.”

We can find several themes and ideas from this story. One is that whenever we humans gather in an attempt to control or contain God or God’s work—it all falls apart.

And this story begs a question of us. How do we gather in Jesus? In what manner are we drawn together as a Body of Christ in Jesus’ name—in worship and study and meetings and during our food and fellowship? Do we come with hopes and expectations—fear and trepidation—anxiety—longings—anticipation? Are we really centered in God or do we just bring God along for the ride while we make plans?

From a different angle: Are we even aware of all the emotions, ideas, concerns, and agenda items pressing on us when we gather in Jesus’ name? Do we know the voice of our own desperation? Do we hear the voice of our neighbor’s desperation? Are we willing to let God be free to work through us? Are we willing to speak and listen and speak and listen?

It is clear that Jesus will not be put into a box, even to do God’s good healing work. It

doesn’t take much imagination to see the disciples and the larger community as upset, disappointed, disgruntled, and even angry when Jesus didn’t do as they wanted and hoped and expected.

As one scholar says, “if we try to turn Jesus into our own private

mascot, if we make Jesus all about us and our personal agendas, if we think Jesus exists mostly to solve just this or that one thing, we fail to recognize the enormity of his true plans and purposes.”

Jesus is looking at the big picture. He has a larger divine, God-inspired agenda to pursue.

Jesus had to move on. And we should be glad he did; otherwise, he would have set up a Miracle Clinic and never made it to Jerusalem. He knew the danger of the folks’ adoration of his healing miracles—he knew the danger of their relentless pursuit—he knew their desperation.

The message we have to proclaim and to embody is the same now as it has always been. It is the message of Jesus: God’s gospel of abundant life for the entirety of creation is at hand. It is not just for me or you—it is for the entirety of God’s creation.

Today as much as ever, this is a world that needs to know that abundant life is real and available. Others need to see the joy and the possibilities of that life in us—and my guess is that they will make that decision that based on, especially, how they see us gather.

It matters how we gather—with what attitude we gather—how we greet one another and our guests—our attitude before worship, for example, directly affects how we experience God and how we experience worship. Part of the reason I encourage Sunday School is that it helps get you ready to worship. It puts your hearts and minds on God and on your brothers and sisters in Christ before you even get to worship.

It matters more how we gather than if we get all our business done or how long it takes to tend to whatever is at hand or whether we make it through the Gospel of Matthew or Mark or Luke in record time or before the next millennium. It matters more how we gather . . . in what kind of spirit we reflect and embody when we gather.

So may we always gather as God’s children—made in God’s image—full of hospitality for others like the hospitality God has shown us—proclaiming the grace—being humble—loving—patient—kind—forgiving—seeking justice—trusting God and God’s promises—loving God with all our soul and mind and strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves—listening and speaking to God and others—ever seeking to let God be free to work in our lives—to be free to build up this Body of Christ that we may be a force for all that is good and right and Godly.

“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21).

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2 Corinthians 9:6-15 The Message (MSG)

6-7 Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.

8-11 God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,

He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.

This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.

12-15 Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they’ll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!

Here in II Corinthians, Paul is referring to a specific set of events that we can track pretty well via I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Romans, and Acts. The event is a special offering that Paul is encouraging, promoting, and securing from some mostly Gentile Christian churches for the mostly Jewish-Christian church in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem church is having financial difficulties, so Paul is doing a bit of fundraising here by asking primarily Gentile Christians to provide money to primarily Jewish Christians—people they don’t know, people they will likely never know, and likely people don’t agree with theologically.

This offering does a couple of things. First, of course, it provides much-needed financial help to fellow Christians. Two, this offering reflects and demonstrates the unity of the Body of Christ, the Christian church, regardless of how the people came to faith or where they started.

Here Paul begins to wax philosophically and theologically to explain and teach why this offering is so important, and his points are clear.

First, the harvest only equals the seed that is sown—no more, no less; therefore, sow a little, reap a little; sow bountifully, reap bountifully. In other words, wild and crazy generosity leads to wild and crazy blessings.

This may remind you of the “Karma” concept, which is Hindu and Buddhist thought. But Karma is a reward and punishment system that directly impacts one’s future incarnation. And this isn’t really what Paul is saying.

Here, Paul is speaking relational, and his words are reality based.

It is a reality that stingy = stingy, and lavish = lavish. It is akin to knowing that if you don’t have a rose bush in your yard, you are not going to have blooming roses in your yard. If you plant tomato plants, you will get tomatoes, not asparagus. Some things are simple facts.

Relationally? Are we one giant human race or a bunch of little human races? How about fences? Are fences to keep other people out, or do fences actually keep us in? What kind of relationship are you trying to have with your neighbor, asks Paul.

As Frederick Buechner puts it:

Avarice, greed, materialism, gluttony, piggishness, and so forth are all based on the mathematical truism that the more you get, the more you have. Jesus says that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). This is based on the human truth that the more you give away in love, the more you are. It is not just for the sake of other people that Jesus tells us to give rather than get, but for our own sakes, too.

Second, however much you give, say Paul, it is on you, and it should reflect who you are and what you prioritize. Give what is in your heart to give—not from guilt or shame or in an effort to bribe God or compete with someone else or one-up someone else. Give of yourself real and take responsibility for it, says Paul.

My guess is that while Paul is clearly encouraging people to give and be generous, Paul is also encouraging folks to be authentic, to give from what lives within them, and to be prepared to accept responsibility for their actions and whoever they are.

Third, Paul has no doubt that God’s grace is poured out in abundance that we may have sufficient material needs as well as feel full in living a Christ-like life that gives large and lives large in righteousness and generosity.

If God provides for us in abundance, then we need not worry about our needs being met, which means that we can more than afford to be generous and give abundantly. Think what Jesus says about the lilies of the field in Luke 12:27: "Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.”

Lastly, Paul prays for the Corinthians, and by extension, for us, reminding us that God is the supplier of all our need. In other words, for people of faith, we need to recognize and remember that for us, there is no such thing as a self-made man or self-made woman.

Paul writes in Romans (14:7-9)

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Everything we are, everything we have, and everything we ever will be is all about God’s grace, grace which has always been, is now in the present, and always will be into eternity.

Paul further reminds us that our generosity blesses God and cause others to bless God as they see us act in generosity and with God’s abundant grace, which is our witness to the gospel we claim to believe and say we will live via when we are baptized.

There was an abundance of food yesterday for the Huddleston family, which was a beautiful sight to see. I wish you could have heard all the lovely comments folks made about the spread that you all provided.

People remember generous actions, and our generosity makes a difference, especially when folks are hurting and traumatized and wounded. Well done, thy good and faithful servants.

According to Paul, and I happen to agree, you gave God and this church some really good press—not fake news—yesterday. Yes, God got some really good press because of your generosity.

Four times a year, we are asked and invited to collect a special offering that extends far beyond our Wanamaker borders: One Great Hour of Sharing, which typically goes for helping those affected by natural disaster; America for Christ, which stays in the United States and supports existing and new ministries in churches and community centers; World Mission Offering, whose funds are used in other countries around the world to support their ministries; and the Retired Ministers and Missionaries offering that provides love gifts to retired ministers and missionaries or their spouses.

You are probably aware that January has been the month we have collected for the Retired Ministers and Missionaries offering.

Some of our special offerings are akin to the one that Paul is soliciting—the funds go to people in need, people we don’t know, in a place we have never seen, and likely never will. Most of the time, we write checks for our special offerings, and we may or may not know for months how those funds were spent. We trust that our funds are being used wisely, of course, and that these special offerings give God and the Christian church good press.

Additionally, we trust that these special offerings unify us as a church, as a denomination, and because other denominations participate in some of the same special offerings, these special offerings unify us as Christians around the world and send a very clear message about the lavish generosity our God and the lavish generosity of God’s people known as Christians.

As far as I know, and I think I am right about this, the Retired Ministers and Missionaries special offering is limited to American Baptists. Our churches collect funds, send them to our national headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and there they are distributed to American Baptist retired ministers, missionaries, or their spouses.

The Retired Ministers and Missionaries Offering is also different because we have a real live retired minister in our midst. And we are fortunate and blessed to hear from Rev. Jim Waters and hear his gratitude for the love gift that he receives as a result of our giving, just as Jim shared a couple of weeks ago. Here we can learn exactly how our funds are being used, which I think is a blessing.

I ask and invite you today to give generously to our retired ministers and missionaries. Why should I, you ask? Here’s why:

8-11 God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,

He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21).

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