Broadway Christian Church · Columbia, Missouri
Morning Worship · April 29, 2007
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Gracious and Loving God; you are our creator, redeemer, and savior. This morning, we ask that you be with us, filling us with your love, and guiding us with your gentle touch. For you, O God, are the one in control of our lives. Amen.
Scripture
Matthew 8:5-10
Jacob Thorne
My senior year in high school, I started to learn that ever so often in life, events can spiral out of control. One weekend I was home alone at my parents’ farm, and I became bored. When you get bored, you begin to think of creative ideas.
Around noon or so, I decided it was probably time for my Dad to increase the size of his cattle operation. I remember calling my Dad, but my Dad claims that I did not. Either way, shortly after lunch, I looked in the local newspaper and found an advertisement for an auction. I backed up the truck to the cattle trailer, and I took off.
When I arrived at the auction, everyone seemed to treat me with respect. I walked up to the trailer of the auctioneer, and I received a bidding number. Then I walked over to the barnyard to survey the cattle that were about to be sold. In my opinion, which really didn’t count for much, I thought the cattle looked good and healthy. I wasn’t really sure what to look for, but the cattle seemed friendly enough, and the other farmers gathered around were quietly talking to one another and nodding their head.
Pretty soon, the auction started. The auctioneer said a vet was supposed to check the cattle before the sale, but the veterinarian called and said he was handling an emergency. He wouldn’t be available for an hour or so. Looking back, I should have realized this was the first of the bad omens. But the crowd decided to go ahead with the auction and not to worry about the vet. Wouldn’t you know, the cows I thought were best were the first ones up for sale?
I never purchased anything at an auction before, but I knew not to start high. The auctioneer attempted to start the bidding around $600 a cow. Today, $600 for a cow may not be too bad of a price, but back then, I was convinced $600 was way too much. Before I knew it, the bidding had worked its way down to $200, and no one had raised a hand. I should have taken this as a second bad omen. Instead, I thought to myself, “What is wrong with these people?” Two-hundred dollars is a bargain, so I raised my hand and gave a little nod. I officially inducted myself as a full-out bidder. I quickly realized someone else was bidding against me.
I concluded I needed to be a smart bidder and try to appear uninterested. Before I knew it, the auctioneer had stopped talking. I was the only one still nodding my head and shaking my hand. I asked the guy next to me the final price. This should have been the third bad omen. It turns out that I bought, without realizing it, two cows for $400 a piece.
OK. Fair enough. I was there to purchase some cattle, and I did. I backed up the trailer and loaded the cows, which did not go smoothly at all. I then headed for home. By this time, my Dad was home. I wouldn’t say he was overly thrilled with my purchase, but he did take it in stride. He didn’t seem too upset.
We backed up the cows to the loading corral, and we let them out. For a moment, everything seemed really well. I even thought I might have made a good purchase. I was starting to feel good about things. Then the cows stuck their noses in the air. They let out a huge snort. They somehow lifted up those corral panels, which were bolted to heavy-duty posts. They crushed them, and they broke loose. They ran through our electric fence, through our barbed-wire fence, through our neighbor’s electric fence, through the neighbor’s barbed-wire fence, through their neighbor’s electric fence, and through their barbed-wire fence! You get the picture.
We took off in pursuit. It took me two weeks, and a lot of apologizing to neighbors, and mending fences, and a lot of heartbreak and frustration before I finally caught those cows.
I haven’t been back to the auction since. But those cows definitely taught me I was not the one in control of their lives. They had their own agenda. But I was a senior in high school, and I thought I was in control of their lives and my own life as well.
Today, as we celebrate Senior Recognition Sunday, we reflect on what it means for both the soon-to-be graduating seniors and ourselves to be in control of our lives.
When you are so close to graduating that you start counting the days, as I am sure many of our seniors are, you can almost taste the freedom. You can almost feel what it is like to make your own decisions, decide what you want to do, and be your own boss.
When we are in control of our decisions, there is the illusion we feel safe. There is the illusion we feel powerful. But in truth, I believe, the more we think we are in control, the more we actually lose power, feel worse about ourselves, and limit the possibility of God’s presence in our lives.
When we try to control our own lives without the help of anyone else, we disregard the understanding that God is the one in control. When you let God take control of your life, you have the possibility to experience a greater adventure than you’ve ever imagined. When you let God take control of your life, you have the understanding that God, not you, is in control of this world, the universe, and your life. This Sunday I ask you, “Do you express faith that God is ultimately in control of your life?”
The Bible is full of stories and examples in which God is seen as the one truly in control. This morning I am reminded of the opening of Psalm 3. The heading of Psalm 3 locates David in one of the worst times of his life. We’ve read the psalm of David when he has fled from his son. The complete story of David fleeing his son is found in 2 Samuel 15.
In a brief summary, you could say David is being pursued by his enemies. David faces much more than just the presence of his enemies. David’s predicament is actually an illustration of where we human beings regularly find ourselves.
David’s family and his administration were in shambles. David suggests that life is brutal, unfair, and difficult to understand. David also suggests ordinary life is accompanied by the antagonisms of others. It almost appears as if David tempts God, challenging God to prove God can be trusted.
The opening lines of Psalm 3 read:
O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me.
Many are saying to me,
“There is no help for you in God.”
But instead of giving up on God, David states:
But you, O God, are a shield around me,
I cry aloud to the Lord,
And you answer me from your holy hill.
David believed any accusation against God is false. God can be trusted, to not only protect us, but to listen to our prayers. Perhaps what is most striking is that instead of fleeing from his enemies, David decides to take a nap. In the face of danger, likely death, the psalm reads:
I lie down and sleep.
I wake again for the Lord sustains me.
The story of Psalm 3 is a good one. I don’t know if any of us would trust God enough to lie down and take a nap if our enemies were just moments away.
But what did Jesus have to say about faith and trusting God? In order for us to answer this question, I think it’s helpful to look at the word “amazed.” The word “amazed” occurs 17 times in the New Testament. Most of the time Jesus performs a miracle or teaching and the Bible reads: “and the people were amazed.” But Jesus was only amazed twice.
The first time occurs when he is rejected in his hometown of Nazareth. Mark says, “And he was amazed at their unbelief.” The second time we learn that Christ was amazed takes place in our reading from this morning, Matthew 8:5. In this story, set in Capernaum, Jesus has an encounter with a Roman soldier. The soldier sees Jesus, runs up to him and says, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed in terrible distress.”
From the very beginning, I believe, Jesus is impressed. After all, would it have been common for a Roman soldier to be overly concerned about his servant? Not so. So Jesus says to the soldier, “I’ll come and cure him.”
But the soldier insists that it is not necessary for Jesus to come to his house. He says to Jesus, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am also a man under authority with soldiers under me, and I say, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes.”
When Jesus heard what the soldier had to say, Matthew tells us, the one other time we hear it in the gospels: “Jesus was amazed.” Jesus was amazed because the soldier, perhaps more so than anyone else in the region, had power and control.
The Roman soldier, during the time of Jesus, was the bearer of authority and an individual in complete control. Yet, instead of sending Jesus on a journey to his house, he gives up the control he possesses. He places his trust and his power in Jesus. And Christ was amazed by the soldier’s faith.
I believe it’s easy to go through life without faith or even with a small amount of faith. It’s easy to go through the daily motions – work, school, church. Everything can run together and become a familiar pattern. But when things seem most familiar and most in control, we really may be losing out. Faith, true faith, is the trust that God is in control.
What does this mean for our lives? What if we truly accept the notion that it is not our life or our ministry, but God’s life lived through us and God’s ministry lived through us? Any ministry we do, whether it is the new buildings, or serving others, is a faith that we’ll do the possible and God will do the impossible.
Several years ago, in another time and another place, I met a woman named Frieda. Frieda was in the hospital, and she knew she was dying. Every day since she was a teenager, she had smoked two packs of cigarettes. The first morning we met, she shared with me her utter disgust for all the hospital tests, and the poking, and the prodding. She shared with me how worried she was about her children and their response to her impending death. She shared with me her fear that perhaps she was being punished by God. Then she shared with me she was tired of being in control of her own life. She was tired of relying on her own strength and her own will. She knew there must be something better, something larger, and something more powerful than her own determination.
That same afternoon, several hours after we had first met, surrounded by family and friends, we baptized Frieda in her hospital bed. Using a seashell, we poured water over her head and baptized her in the name of the Creator, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Before we were finished, Frieda asked to share a few words. She said she knew her life was not hers, but it was God’s. She knew God had forgiven her for her sins, and she knew God was in control of both her life and her death. She asked us to hang her baptismal certificate on the wall of the hospital room. Several days later, Frieda died.
That day in the hospital was a powerful day for everyone present. Frieda demonstrated that, sometimes when we try so hard to be in control, life just seems to be too much. Ultimately, we can’t deal with some events in life, and so we let go.
So, I ask you again this morning: “What do you need to let go in order to express your faith that God is in control?” We spend so much time worrying about our problems. We seek others. We seek specialists. We try various self-help programs, but how often do we turn to God? Do you spend as much time in prayer and conversation with God as you do with others when sharing your problems? What would happen if you spent 20 minutes in prayer each day, giving your life over to God?
For everyone here this morning, particularly our seniors who are close to graduating and beginning a new chapter in their lives, I encourage you to remember we don’t need mountain-size faith, but mustard-size faith. Life is full of difficulties. Life is full of antagonisms, and hurt, and joy, and pain, but we learn from the Bible, from the Word of God, that the more one lets God, and lets God take control, the stronger the presence of the Spirit becomes.
In Christ, we all say together… “Amen.”
Guiding Spirit; thank you for the way you gently lead us. Help us to let go of the things that keep us from turning to you. Give us great faith that all things are possible when we put our trust in you. Amen.
