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Hard, but Necessary, Lessons.; sermon 3/14/10
Topic Started: Mar 13 2010, 12:11 PM (305 Views)
Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Joshua 5:9-12

The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.

While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.


=====

This is going to be a difficult sermon. it was difficult to write, and it will probably be difficult for you to hear.

I've always appreciated God's commissioning of Joshua, calling on him to be strong and very courageous, to follow God wherever God will lead, and that God would always be with him. I think about that passage often, because I realize that all too often, it's a pastor's obligation to say things to his congregation that will discomfort, and maybe even upset, the people in the pews - people who the pastor loves dearly. But it's in that spirit of love that we sometimes have to be honest, even if it may hurt, if we truly love one another.

This passage from Joshua tells about the Israelites, who have now ended their forty-year trek of stiff-necked rebellion against God, doing things displeasing to God - and who are now in the promised land. We read in this passage that now, the new generation of Israelites are starting fresh, in a new, more mature relationship with God. No longer are they going to be fed the manna provided by God. From now on, they're going to take responsibility for their own nourishment, and move on to more solid food - both physically and spiritually as they continue to develop in their relationship with YHWH, their God.

There's something important in this lesson for us. It's important for us to realize that following God means that sometimes, the rules will change. What was acceptable yesterday is not what God wants for us today, and what is acceptable today may not be acceptable tomorrow. It was true for the Israelites, and it's true for us, too.

We need to keep that in mind, because I think that there are several aspects of our faith that we need to consider in this light.

The first of these things is the way we look at the Bible. For years, Christians have looked at the Scriptures as if they were the divine Word of God - the actual words came directly from God, and that they could therefore never be altered, added to, or deleted from. In various degrees, this was the attitude throughout much of the history of the church.

But now, we know so much more about how the scriptures came to be. We know that these texts were written by very human hands, expressing very human emotions and ideas. They may, in fact, express God's intentions, but they are first and foremost the expressions of humans. We may see God in them, but we might find God just as much in many other non-scriptural sources - even in the scriptures of all other religions.

Just as the Israelites gave up their immature reliance on God for the manna - which, of course, is most likely a human invention - very poetic, and containing an important message of God's provision, but a human invention nonetheless - so too do we have to give up our excessive and unreasonable expectation that the scriptures are to be considered that, well, sacred.

I know that this is a bold thing to say, as a pastor, but I still say it to you today. For too many years, we Christians have used the scriptures in ways to persecute, oppress, and even kill other people, all the while basing it on the stance that the words of the Bible were uniquely and authoritatively given to us by God, and giving us cover to make winners and losers in society. This has all come about because of our unhealthy, and misguided, understanding of the scriptures. And i simply cannot, in good faith, stand here in front of you today, and say that I view the scriptures in that old, outmoded way. And I tell you that you shouldn't either.

We need to understand that the scriptures contain wonderful, profound teachings, beautiful poetry, and important moral stories. But we also realize that there's much in it that are nothing more than the terrible moral standards of human beings of a different time and place - standards that we would consider barbaric today. We need to accept that there are significant parts of the Bible that have absolutely no use to us at all today, and we need to simply reject them as having no message, and no relevance, to our lives today.

We have to grow up. We have to start taking responsibility for our own nourishment, and stop relying on a tradition that has often created so much trouble in human history.

I know that sounds extreme. And in all honesty, I didn't always think this way. But the more I learn from my seminary classes about the origins of scripture, I have come to this conclusion. And now I embrace it strongly, and I tell you all here today that you should come to this conclusion, too - for the good of the world, for the good of the faith, and for the good of the God whose true Word we can at least sometimes hear in the writings of parts of the human writings we call scripture.

I have to admit, I could easily have stayed in my unenlightened, uneducated state for the rest of my life. But this has come about as an ongoing process as part of the call to the ministry. I sensed this call in no small part thanks to some encouraging words given to me several years back by a friend, who is part of an online community. To be honest, I don't even know his real name. I only know him as "Jolly." But I'll always be grateful to him for helping me to discern my call to the ministry.

And a big part of that call is to be strong, and courageous. Jolly himself is a strong and courageous person, one who I've never known to shrink from a fight on matters of principle. In all honesty, it was largely thinking about Jolly's moral integrity and toughness, his willingness to take unpopular stands if they're the right stand, that inspired me to deliver this sermon.

I call on you to give up the old, outdated attitudes about scripture that have so badly hampered us from moving forward in the faith. This attitude has kept us backward, and seen as terribly out of date when viewing our faith from the standpoint of modern sociology, psychology, medicine, and so on. And it just doesn't need to be. We need to look at the scriptures in light of modern society, modern civilization - and to be willing to simply disregard those parts of scripture that are so clearly out of touch with our culture. Christ's gospel message will still be there, but now, it will still be relevant - it will bring more people to the gospel. Or if they don't come to call Jesus Lord and Savior, at least they'll see God's love in us Christians more readily when we're more tolerant, more accepting, more willing to grasp the knowledge that we have that wasn't available two or three thousand years ago- and when they see our love, it will make it all the more easy for them to find their own peace with their own God.

I'm thankful for having been called to the ministry. And I'm thankful that this lectionary text has come up just now, and that I've sensed a need to finally deliver a sermon about this subject, as difficult as I know it is to do. But I'm thankful too, for knowing my internet friend Jolly, who not only was instrumental in my entering the ministry, but whose example over the years has helped to give me the strength to tell you these hard truths about our faith. We need to learn these lessons. To be honest, I know that we aren't to judge one another, but I'll be honest - I've actually come to question, in my own mind, whether anyone who can't reject parts of the scriptures in the way I've described here, can actually be considered a true Christian. I know that sounds harsh, but I've really come to believe that God's message is all about the love, and very little about punishment - and that in the end, we'll discover that pretty much all of us - if not actually all of us - will be in heaven, because of God's predominant focus on love.

Friends, if we would be consistent in our desire to be the physical embodiment of that love, we need to be willing to alter the way we see the scriptures, and even the exclusive manner of Jesus being the only way to salvation, that has hamstrung us from being that love to the world for so long.

These are hard lessons. But it's time to give up the manna. it's time to move forward. These are lessons that we must learn. Thanks for a sound, eye-opening seminary education. Thanks to my friend Jolly for helping me to see this call, which led to my learning this truth. And most of all,

Thanks be to God.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Your best work ever! :clap: :clap: :clap:
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
I'm sorry I missed this earlier. Truly a masterpiece.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
I originally thought about preaching this in early April, or titling it "Does Anyone Actually Read These?"
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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LadyElton
Fulla-Carp
Beautiful. :hug: Thank you for sharing.
Hilary aka LadyElton
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blondie
Bull-Carp
Too bad he didn't bite.

I read these btw. On Sundays. Often when folks are in their churches.

I sometimes don't know how to respond but sure appreciate how you keep me thinking of God & my faith week to week.
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Thnx.

And yes, just for the record, I want to make sure that everyone realizes that it would be hard to pull out any ten consecutive words or so out of this sermon that I actually agree with. I do NOT believe that the scriptures are simply uninspired human writings, or that we can just throw out parts of them that we don't like; and I do NOT believe the concept of universal salvation played out in the sermon, and I do NOT believe that people who disagree with the content of the sermon aren't "real" Christians. The whole thing was an attempt to make Jolly's head explode if he didn't respond. It didn't work. Or I don't know, maybe he didn't reply because his head really *did* explode...
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Dewey
Mar 14 2010, 12:21 PM
Or I don't know, maybe he didn't reply because his head really *did* explode...
Or maybe he's in his car, driving, loaded for bear....
:hair:

What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
^_^
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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Tikhan
Newbie
Hey I love ignorant lies tell me more!
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Renauda
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HOLY CARP!!!
I sense a smelly sock in the drawer.
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AndyD
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Senior Carp
You can only see fairies if you truly believe in them
Every morning the soul is once again as good as new, and again one offers it to one's brothers & sisters in life.

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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
Dewey
Mar 14 2010, 12:21 PM
And yes, just for the record, I want to make sure that everyone realizes that it would be hard to pull out any ten consecutive words or so out of this sermon that I actually agree with. I do NOT believe that the scriptures are simply uninspired human writings, or that we can just throw out parts of them that we don't like; and I do NOT believe the concept of universal salvation played out in the sermon, and I do NOT believe that people who disagree with the content of the sermon aren't "real" Christians. The whole thing was an attempt to make Jolly's head explode if he didn't respond.
Whew! It almost made my head 'splode. :hair:

Next time, put a "j/k" or something at the end.

Did I ever tell anyone I can't stand practical jokes?
Edited by Kincaid, Mar 15 2010, 12:39 PM.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
P.S. I was also thinking 1) poor Dewey, his calling will be over before it even begins and 2) this almost reads like a Jolly-come-hither.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Heh, well Kincaid, I couldn't write "j/k" right away, or it wouldn't potentially work to flush Jolly out. In all honesty, I didn't like that "sermon" being out there for even a couple days, worried that someone would take it seriously. That's why I made a point of making the clarification, and posting the real sermon, pretty quickly. ^_^
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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brenda
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..............
Dewey
Mar 15 2010, 12:45 PM
Heh, well Kincaid, I couldn't write "j/k" right away, or it wouldn't potentially work to flush Jolly out. In all honesty, I didn't like that "sermon" being out there for even a couple days, worried that someone would take it seriously. That's why I made a point of making the clarification, and posting the real sermon, pretty quickly. ^_^
Yikes, Dewey! Glad I read this thread again. Thanks for the clarification.
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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