Starting Blocks--Philippians 2:1-13. Sermon preached on September 20, 2026

            One of the unique themes that lives behind most of Paul’s writing is conflict. We know that the Christians living in Rome dealt with conflict daily; they struggled to survive each day under Roman Rule and Law. 

            A quick trip through the Epistles and we come to Corinth—a church so conflicted that Paul needed write them two letters to help them through their struggle. Order of worship, roles in leadership, even the administrator of the sacrament of the Lord, Paul had to teach on each of these because the Corinthian church struggled to put aside their conflict and Become the Church that God intended. 

            Travelling to the end of the Epistles, we learn of Philemon and his former servant, Onesimus—a man who ran away from this life. His missing presence was so significant that Paul needed to step in and speak on behalf of the runaway to ensure his safety. That’s conflict, I think.

            Even today, with Paul’s Christ Hymn before us, we should not forget that something had to prompt the Apostle to talk about the necessity of being of one mind, of being in full accord with one another. Something in his lived experience with these Philippians called to Paul to write in this way, and the name of that thing was conflict. 

            Regardless of our faith, regardless of how long we attended this, or any other church, regardless of how frequently we have read God’s Word and worked to assimilate it into our lives, conflict, and the feelings associated with it, enter our lives. Conflict enters our lives, and as it does, the feelings associated with the conflict color how we strive to be the people that God created us to be. 

            I wonder how will we organize our lives, how do we continue in our calling, when so many avenues exist to draw us away from God? The Apostle has an answer for this… 

Move 1- Starting Point: the Mind of Christ

            It does not matter who Paul writes to, the Roman Christians, one individual like Philemon, or if he writes to one church like in Corinth and today, Philippi, the resolution of these conflicts come only by having the mind of Christ. 

Paul wants each person individually, and each church corporately, to reflect Christ no matter what we face or who we face. It does not matter how tough the conflicted-moment feels, it does not matter who long we have lived with the conflict, we are to reflect Christ. Even when reflecting Christ is hard, and feels impossible, Paul calls us to this behavior. 

Now I know that this is a tall order. For if you agree with me that conflict comes in the community and in the workplace, if you agree with me that conflict can live in our homes confronting us as we enjoy our first cup of coffee in the morning, then being able to reflect Christ outward will be quite a challenge. But the Apostle gives us a way to continue our work of faithfulness. 

 

            In verse 1 there are four defining statements that Paul uses. Let’s look at them one at a time. 

            He starts by saying, ‘if there is any encouragement…” the root of this word is paraclete; it is the same word we have for the promised Holy Spirit by Jesus in the gospel and using the same root word hints at the importance of this idea for the Apostle. For Paul encouragement relates to ‘a call, an urging, done by someone close beside us.’ 

When we practice Paul’s call of encouragement, we see that there is a sense of intimacy here. We cannot urge someone onward who we do not have a relationship with. It is hard to encourage a total stranger. As we encourage one another, in Christ, our resolve, and their resolve, is strengthened. For we are all in this together and in this moment, we learn and experience this. But Paul offers more. 

            Next, Paul says, ‘any consolation from love…” In this clause we hear the same word as comfort and this word only occurs here in the New Testament. So whatever Paul is calling us toward, this consolation/comfort is unique and important. When we console one another a sense of soothing actions and words come along. We focused ourselves on being with the person who needs the comfort/consolation in their moment. I believe that this is an act of service. And again, there is solidarity in this posture and choice. 

            Think of who you have been close to, near, when they needed these first two ideas? Encouragement and consolation. They are not often total strangers but someone you value and someone who know God values them. Together you are doing something important to confront the conflicts of the day, but there is more in verse 1 to think about. 

            Paul then moves outward and says, ‘any sharing in the Spirit.’ Another word we often read in this place is: fellowship. This is where Paul grabs what is bouncing around in our hearts and minds, what we discern as God’s presence with us, and Paul calls us into action; into the work of community building. 

This is partnering and it creates a sense of fellowship and union as a group. The person we might have been in conflict with, or the person experiencing the conflict themselves, finds rest with us. Yet Paul does not limit this work to the church alone and he does not make it a social, political, movement either. There is mutual sharing, mutual affection for God in a single purpose. We are sharing something deep together.

            We end verse 1 with Paul offering words that help mend the conflict and bring us together: “compassion and sympathy.” In verse 1, we began in our mind with the call to encourage and comfort, we moved them into a place of partnering action, now we are back doing personal ministry. We cannot practice compassion, we cannot minister in a sense of sympathy, and not apathy, if we are not in a relationship with the people around us—even those we might initially feel we are living in conflict with. 

I hope that you see how following Paul in verse 1 alone makes us different from the rest of the people that we see. Following Paul in this way helps us locate the mind of Christ. 

Move 2- unity

            For the mind of Christ is the mind that recognizes that it will see and experience a lot—even conflict. There will be suffering, as Jesus suffered. There will be isolation and ridicule, as Jesus dealt with both. We will work hard to be the church, and like Jesus, we will feel rejected by those we are called to care for. 

But there is also something else: unity. 

            This is not unity as a social program or social gospel, but unity with us in Christ. When Jesus suffered and felt the conflicts of the day press down onto him, and they were many, He turned back to His Father and lean on their combined relationship, and this made the difference. 

            Jesus became humble; He became obedient to mission God placed before him (both ideas found in verse 8). He was first a servant and not a scorekeeper of wrongs (verse 7). Jesus came alongside of the people that God sent him to each day, and he listened and cared for them. He did not judge them even as they fostered a posture of conflict with him. 

 

            If our Savior could do this, if God revealed to Paul that this is how He wishes the Church to live and work, then I wonder what that means for our work and our interactions with people who we might feel conflict occurring? 

 

Move 3- work out your salvation

            No one is perfect in the Lord. No one can say that their practice of faith is exactly what God wants. But we are working on. We are all trying. And in that confession and affirmation, we come to a verse that holds a special place for many verse 12: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” 

            God never said that the life of a faithful Christian or faithful church would be easy. In fact, God often stated the opposite would be true. But God promises to be with us in this work and with us as we discern how to put on the Mind of Christ each day. God promises to be with us as we listen to what it means to be the people of the Lord. 

            Theologian NT Wright says this to us in this moment as we look into our world, see the places of conflict, and try to minister as God wishes: 

“The story of the church is the story of the ways in which, despite folly, [conflict], failure, and downright sin, God’s future has already bust in upon [us] what. . . leaving us a legacy of that bit of the past that is full not only of mistakes and culturally conditioned lifestyles but also patterns of new creation.”[1]

And we call this breaking in, this change, this transformational moment, putting on the Mind of Christ where we choose in the face of the struggles of the day to encourage, to console, to share, and to be compassionate. 

            This is the starting point for all the ministry that God orders and sustains and invites us to partner with him in. And this is ministry that each of us are called to participate in.

Conclusion

            But it is not also a single moment. And so, I wonder about the places of conflict in your life… I wonder about how and where God calls you, even as you struggle, to find the Mind of Christ. It is the starting point for so much of who we are called to be. 

 

 

DM

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[1] NT Wright. Surprised by Hope, 261-62.

Expectations--Exodus 16:2-15. Sermon preached on September 20, 2026

“During World War II, researchers at the University of Minnesota recruited 36 conscientious objectors, all healthy men, to participate in what would become known as the “Minnesota Starvation Experiment.” 

Knowing that the war had brought famine to people across the world, the researchers wanted to know what specific effects starvation had on the human body and mind, as well as what strategies might be best for refeeding those who had suffered from prolonged hunger. The volunteers all lost around 25 percent of their body weight over six months and then were placed into groups that were re-fed within differing parameters. 

The study yielded many important results and has been deeply influential in the treatment not only of famine-induced starvation, but also of eating disorders. . . But for the sake of Exodus 16, the key takeaway from the Minnesota Starvation Experiment is this: People who are starving think about food persistently, even obsessively.”[1] 

            So, with this study before us it should not be a surprise to read Exodus 16 from a position of grace and not judgment. The Church should not be surprised when we read that the Hebrews only thought about the life they left behind in Egypt. It should not surprise us to hear that when they were this hungry, they forgot the life that God was crafting for them. They forgot the grace that holds us together. 

            Quite often our focus is on the primary need(s) that we see. But that type of focus lets us down. For as we only focus on the primary need, in the case of Exodus 16, deep physical hunger, can we remember that God is present in ways that we do not understand; Gd is present in ways that we cannot always see… and dare we even say that God is present in these moments in ways that we might initially think that we do not WANT. Yet God knows our needs even as we express these desires negatively or siloed. 

Move 1- Focus issues

            In both of our texts today I notice the same issue first. Focus.

            Our first reading was Jonah’s response to God forgiving the people of Ninevah. As we know, these are the people that God called Jonah to evangelize to so that they would confess their sins before it was too late. And Jonah, after a time of deliberately going in the wrong direction, Jonah indeed travels to Ninevah to serve the Lord. The prophet shares the message of redemption with the Ninevites. Faithfully he preached the Word of God. 

            And yet, when God relented, Jonah was angry that God showed grace. Jonah’s focus was wrong. 

In fact, the text tells us that God not only relented, which feels cold in its language. The text says that God “changed his mind” about what he planned to do this city. The ‘changing of God’s mind’ can feel akin to the question “did God make a mistake.” But do not let that fool you. The response of the people, their confession of their sins, city-wide, this impacted God’s heart. And He relented. 

But the Hebrew word also means comfort. By God choosing to listen to the prayers of these people, offering them forgiveness and then relenting from the judgment that he planned, God offered the people of Ninevah comfort. Grace, perhaps, that they did not deserve.

            Comfort, like grace, is one of the basic traits that defines God. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is called our Comforter in John 15. And yet this Divine comfort, it angered Jonah… it angered Jonah that God was faithful to the mission and message that he called the prophet to fulfill. 

            This is our first example of a missing focus. 

            Jonah focused on the wrong issue; he was distracted by what he thought was necessary. Jonah perceived that God would only act in one way; he believed that God’s will was clear. But Jonah is not the only one was struggles with this. 

The Hebrews travelling through Sinai towards the Promised Land struggled also with focus on a larger scale than Jonah did. They struggled with missing the mark on what God called them to be as a people who could support and care for one another. 

            Now when we read this text, we can make excuses for the Hebrew people’s lack of focus. We might say things like, ‘Well they were hungry. They were thirsty. They felt lost.’ And that is all true. There is not a lot of physical provisions that we might lay hold of in the desert. 

In the face of the miracles of God in their lives their first response was a loss of focus and memory on who God was for them. Yet it was their prayers while living in the bondage of Egypt that drew God’s response to their situation.  God heard them and God freed them. 

            But in both cases, Jonah personally, and the Hebrews corporately, a loss of focus was the issue. Jonah and the Hebrews forgot that God is indeed faithful. They forgot that God comes, that God acts in a way that only God can. God offers grace and redemption in ways only God can.  

Move 2- God is enough

            And whether we are looking at God in a personal sense, or a corporate one, the resolution of this lack of focus in the confession that: God is always enough. I have never seen an instance or heard a story where God cannot work a miracle or intercede for his people. There is no problem that is bigger than God.

God provides what we need even when we cannot get our eyes off our own need in the moment. Gods provision is just enough and it is never lacking. 

            In the case of Jonah’s anger, God provided him a leafy plant most likely a gourd to sit under. It is shelter from the heat and gives Jonah space and time to reflect. God provided space for the prophet to consider the entirety of Ninevah’s story and Jonah’s place in that story. This plant, provided by God, gives the wayward what he needs in the moment and nothing more. It does not feed him or give him something to drink. 

During that time, Jonah reflected on the ‘enough-ness’ of God. For the people of Ninevah were lost. Then the Word was preached and the people confessed their sins and God relented and showed compassion. 

Whether it was the forgiveness of a city, or the personal care of a lost servant of the Lord, God always provides what is needed. God is enough. 

            In Exodus today, God provides manna and quail to the people that the Lord rescued from Egypt’s cruel hand. 

But that provision of Exodus 16, it is not an all you can gather buffet. While God is faithful to us when we do not deserve it, God wants each of us to build a relationship where we acknowledge our dependence upon the Lord. 

Parting the Red Sea. Manna. Quail. Water. As each miracle comes into the lives, the people must continue to look to God; they must continue to trust Him. They cannot provide for themselves—not in the parting of the Red Sea for the corporate community or personally as each family needs something to eat in the morning. They must look to God who is always watching, always caring, always at work, always comforting.

            God’s provision is always enough. And as we think about this fundamental truth claim, a question begins to surface as we focus in on God.

Where are the places where you see God’s provision is enough? It is perfectly timed. Perfectly in step with God’s overall mission and purpose. 

Move 3- knowing God

            What both stories, the end of Jonah and the Exodus text today, are teaching us relates to how we know God. For we do not serve a God who is up there, out there, over there, but we serve a God who is with us personally.  

            As I have said, Jonah missed something about who God is. What he missed sent him out from the city to get a better vantage point of the destruction of the great city of Ninevah. He forgot the mercy of the Lord who called him from his hometown and towards this great work. He forgot the Lord who heard Jonah’s prayer in the belly of the whale after Jonah choose to go the exact opposite direction. His prayer, in that place of darkness and separation, it moved God. 

A lot can be forgotten in the head if we are not careful.

            Speaking of the Exodus story, these people will have three books of stories and grumbles yet to come. This moment is very new in their journey, so their struggles are fresh and appliable. 

            These two stories tell me that knowing God is not an intellectual experience; it is not single moment. But knowing God relates to how God personally, physically, enters our lives and the Lord acts. 

Like Jonah you and I might be able to confess every aspect of the confessions clearly and deeply. We might know exactly the words of the Bible for every situation that we face each day—easy situations and challenging ones. But until we have the personal experience of God, until we can say that God has touched us and changed us physically, our knowledge of the Lord is limited to what can be put down on paper. And often paper alone does not transform the person.

            I might tell you that God will meet all your needs because God cares for you. I could say that you will not be hungry because God is abundantly able to fill you to overflowing in every moment. 

I can tell you that I have bowed my head and poured out my heart in those moments and, as I pray, God has heard me and that something, something unknown or unseen, happened in the act of praying that we define as a miracle. Yet until you have the personal experience these are just words that we say often to each other. 

            We can tell our community about the abundance of the Lord who is with us, and the Lord who we must focus upon each day of our lives, but until they have a personal encounter with the Lord, until the moment where they can say that the Lord has touched them, this might not come alive for them as it does for us because we routinely return to the Lord and let God speak to us and show us how much he cares.

Conclusion

            So once again we are back to the moment of testimony and evangelism. Once again God calls us to keep our focus on him in the right ways and remember that God is always enough. God always exceeds our expectations. 

 

DM

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[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-25/commentary-on-exodus-162-15-7  accessed on September 15, 2026. 

 

Grace Offered--Romans 14:1-12. Sermon preached on September 13, 2026

         This week I have been thinking about grace; the unmerited favor of God.

And as I thought about grace this week, I wondered how many men and women in the history of the church have written about or spent time defining grace? The list of people is long. It is a ‘who’s who’ in church history. When we create a list of the people who have defined grace, we find names like: Augustine, Calvin, Luther, Aquinas… Even in today’s church everyone seems to take a shot at defining grace.  

         The deeper that we research, the more the conclusion sets in: there is no full answer to how many people have defined grace because grace is everywhere in the life, the work, and the ministry of the church. 

We see grace at birth, in baptism, around the communion table. We see grace on the cross. Grace is experienced at the Empty Tomb. Everywhere. We even see grace at the grave as those we love join the saints in the Church Triumphant.

When thinking about grace, Father Richard Rohr says: 

“Grace is not something God gives; grace is who God is. Grace is God’s official job description. Grace is what God does to keep alive—forever—all things that [He] created in love. If we are to believe the primary witnesses—the prophets, the mystics, the saints, the transformed [men and women of today]— [then we must see grace that] . . . is at work in the universe.”[1]

         Grace is also part of our text today, in spite of the Apostle Paul not using the word in Romans 14. Grace is a necessity. A daily necessity for each person in the church. And so let’s think about grace today as we consider our text.

Move 1- Daily necessity

         The Apostle presents us with so many illustrative examples in Romans 14 of instances where we can offer grace to one another. Yet, again, in our text Paul does not instruct the church on how to offer grace. He does not tell us what that process might look. 

So, the daily necessity of grace, the practice of it, is left to the individual to consider and then to extend. This, extension of grace, is a work of growing and learning in our faith. It is work of discernment that is informed through our regular, habitual, time in God’s Word. And this is the significant point of how Romans 14 begins. 

Whether we are living and working in a cultural moment as the Roman Christians were, with struggle and hardship, or just going about daily lives and trying to make sense of God’s placement in each moment of our day, the choice to offer grace is important. It is a daily necessity.

“Those of us who have spent our lives serving the church know that religious communities [often] quarrel. Quarrels can fester, [they can] remain unresolved. Paul reminds [the church] that the root of conflict is not only differences of opinion, but also power differentials. Paul encourages the Roman [Christians], not just to tolerate those who are weak in faith, but to show hospitality, to go the extra mile and make the weak feel welcomed.”[2] And this is the practice of grace. . . daily.

For every day we will find someone, we will meet someone, who is struggling with what we personallymight think is a weak choice or a weak issue. We look at these people, and we often mutter under our breath, ‘how is it that you struggle with that issue.’ Every day we meet people who confess their struggles and as we listen to those stories and testimonies, God presents each Christian with the opportunity to respond—gracefully.

Looking specifically into our text, who would struggle with what they should, or should not, eat (verse 2)? Seems like a simple choice to me and likely to you. . . But Paul tells us that it is not. 

Who could forget that we are always the Lord’s in life and in death (verses 7-9)? Some do. Some routinely forget.  

And as we witness another person struggling in these ways, or with similar issues, which man or woman in the church would not be able to look at those people, and fall into a trap of judging their faith or their commitment to God? Extending grace in these situations is something that everyone struggles with. 

Again, grace is a daily necessity that God asks us to offer to each other—both inside and outside the church as we encounter the people that God places in our path. How we respond to them must, first, be graceful.

Move 2- welcome

As we extend grace to one another, an interesting posture begins to surface; one that might get overlooked. As we extend grace to other, we must settle into a welcome posture.

         In verse 1, and again in verse 3, Paul uses the word that we translate as ‘welcome.’ This is an interesting idea—placing welcoming and grace into conversation with one another. What does it mean to ‘welcome’ one another? Is ‘welcoming’ solely an act of hospitality, or is it is more? 

         Well as with most ideas that Paul writes about to the early church, welcome is more involved. 

         First, Paul begins by telling the church to welcome those who we feel are weak in their faith—that again is verse 1—and we started thinking about those weak moments and practices of faith. To do so, to welcome these folks, would have to be an act of grace. If someone is judged in your mind to be weak in their faith, then the natural response to that feeling should be to extend that person grace—not double down on the judgment and isolation. 

         The word that Paul uses in Romans 14 is interesting. Welcoming in Paul’s mind involves actively taking hold of someone and moving, with them, toward a goal or destination with the other person’s salvation or restoration being the goal of the welcoming act. Paul wants us to actively move toward, to extend, ourselves to others who we see are struggling. This is both a teaching moment and a grace moment. 

An image for what this welcoming act could look like would be a parent kneeling down, arms extended, reaching out in the direction of a toddling child. Perhaps this is something that you have actively done in your lives? 

In that posture, you are welcoming them into your presence. You have suspended the judgment that comes as they stumble and fall. The warmth of your love and grace is felt in them. It is an encouragement to that child—even if you do not have to speak any words. They feel and you feel.  

Using this parent/child idea then, as we welcome others, we are inviting them into the warm embrace of communion and fellowship as the Body of Christ just as God has done with and in us. In this way, welcoming is an edifying posture and choice for both people, and for both groups, who are engaged in the act. 

         Later in our text at verse 3, Paul broadens the idea of welcoming from person to person and brings God into the conversation. We are to welcome others as an extension of how God welcomes them… and us… into His presence. Into his fellowship. Into communion with Jesus. It is warm. It is graceful.

         And this choice to welcome one another, it ties into how we extend grace.

         For you cannot be welcoming if you are also not able to look past things that you might feel are aspects of weak faith. You cannot welcome others if you are not committed to sitting with them, even in their struggle, and help them find the Lord and totality and in truth.

Move 3- all in Christ

         Yet simply being welcoming and extending grace each day as we do the work of the Body of Christ is not the end for Paul.

The apostle pushes us deeper. . . Our text ends with a few verses that I often use around the grave as a tool of comfort for those who are occupying the space that might feel the most like God is not there. 

Verses 7-9 are a reminder that nothing separates us from God—both if we live or when we die. Together we are Christ’s bride. Together as the church we are welcomed into God’s presence. We are people whom God has welcomed home and in the welcome we experience the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We are a people who can speak about how when we were lost God found us and through our faithful time in His word, we learn that which we can teach others. 

And as nothing separates us from God and the welcome that comes through a deep relationship with God, we also affirm nothing separates us from the experience of God’s grace—even around the grave and even in those moments when we see faith that feels weak and lost. 

We are all in this as a community who can, and do, affirm that in Christ we are together. In Christ we are accountable. In Christ we experience grace. 

Conclusion

         There are so many instances and occurrences where we can practice what Paul is teaching in Romans 14. For we are not the judge, God is. And so, our role is that again of teacher, of friend, of spiritual guide. 

         Because you, like me, have wandered away from God, and you, like me, has been found by the Lord and offered His grace. 

         I wonder if grace is a practice that we can engage in this season? 

 

DM 

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[1] https://cac.org/daily-meditations/grace-is-gods-name/  accessed on September 8, 2026. 

 

[2] Janette A. Good. 

Sentinels- Ezekiel 33:7-11. Sermon preached on September 6, 2026

            Last week I spoke about the presence of the Triune God who comes along beside us when we are having a very bad day. Regardless of the circumstances, God wants to be with; God is with us. 

            Now from that place of trust, we find the prophet Ezekiel sharing a beloved concept in book. The sentinel. 

Move 1- Context

            As I said last week when speaking about Jeremiah, the southern kingdom of Judah has fallen. In Jeremiah’s day the fall was imminent; in Ezekiel, The fall of Judah has happened. And as it happened several shocking conclusions and details come into focus—things which will challenge the Judean’s faith. 

“Contextually we know that “these Judean exiles persisted in their faith; this required that they make a theological shift [a shift they did not anticipate]. 

[As we also know], Judean religion differed from the practices of the surrounding cultures: They believed they should worship only one God [our God]. The Babylonians, like most of the surrounding cultures, believed there were many gods and goddesses, each of whom had a designated role. Some were in charge of rain or fertility; others represented and fought for individual nations. 

The Babylonians would have believed that their conquest of the Judeans meant that the Babylonian god had defeated the God of Judah because the former was more powerful. They would have expected [the] Judeans, like other conquered nations, to stop worshiping a conquered god who had failed them and begin worshiping the Babylonian pantheon [who won the fight]. Instead, the Judean exiles discerned that their one God had not been defeated but had allowed them to be defeated because they as a community had done something wrong.”[1] 

            And while this image of the Triune God seems off to our hearts and ears, it was how the people felt. For Jeremiah warned them about what would happen if they continued to choose sin over a right relationship with God—and it did anyway. Now Ezekiel is referring back to those moments as God speak to His people in today’s text. These people wrestle with this tension: did they do something wrong to earn this exile or was God defeated? 

            As we know both conclusions are only partially correct. 

            We know that they sinned. We know that God allowed them to ‘reap what they sowed.’ Yet God was also not powerless; God was not beaten in the contest of champions—Judah vs. Babylon. Even if the Babylonian Empire was an ancient superpower that was rapidly conquering the ancient world, God did not lose the fight. A tiny nation like Judah could never have prevented its own military defeat against such an adversary. 

            Against that backdrop, we have Ezekiel’s words to the people to live as sentinels, or perhaps your Bible say, live as watchmen. It is the same word.

Move 2- Sentinels defined

            In the Hebrew world a watchman is one who leans forward; they peer in from a distance. Observing. Watching. Wondering. The word also conveys the idea of watching from an elevated position; scanning the horizon. Anticipating movement and announcing what is seen and herein is the evangelistic moment… again, scanning the horizon to announce what is seen. And we know that God’s word calls us, to watch, to witness, and to testify to what we see with our eyes from that position, but also, we are watching something else. Scanning something else… 

            This idea of being a watchman or a sentinel occurs throughout the entirety of the Old Testament. In every section of the Bible, from the Torah and into the prophets, we read that God calls his people to watch. The people hearing Ezekiel would be familiar with this idea.

            But how is it applicable to our work now? 

            According to our text our watching is not passive. Our observations are also not strictly for us to hold in our hearts. 

            As we watch, and as we observe, we transition into the active work of ministry. We transition into the work of serious testimony. For we watch, and we are responsible for everyone, that we see. 

In verse 7 we read that while we sit as watchmen in this community, we are still actively to seek the Lord. We are still to listen to what God is saying in his word for as our text tells us, God does not want anyone to suffer. He yearns for us all to find and accept Jesus. And as we hear those words, as we study God’s Word together, we are to testify to the community about how God is calling the folks in the community to change their lives. 

For our study of scripture is not an academic proposition. Our study of God’s Word is how we build our relationship with our Triune God—but also how we lovingly build a relationship in the community. 

            We suspend the natural inclination to judge, like a normal watchman/sentinel might, and we suspect our desire to hold up the us/them distinction. Intsead, with God’s word in our hand, and in our hearts, we take the people we see and observe by their hands, and we speak about the Lord to them. We speak about how God wishes everyone find Him. 

            For Ezekiel also tells us that we have a responsibility in this work. How will the community hear and find Jesus, if we are not actively testifying to His place in our lives and in call that we live into? To echo an image Ezekiel will later show us: How are these bones, these places of death, to live if we do not speak God’s word of life to them? 

            The sentinels/watchman in the Hebrew tradition lives and grows in a posture of patience. They know, and have experienced, that in Christ, God is at work. They trust the Lord to do the work that only God can do. 

Move 3- Psalms

            This is the point where we add the psalms into our conversation. The Psalm takes this reflection, this watching, and Psalm 119 shows us the foundation upon which our observation, and eventually our testimony, is based. A continual reflection and study of God’s Word. 

For as Christians, we can only share what is in us We can only share what we have studied ourselves and not what someone else has studied around us. We can only teach, evangelize, instruct, what we have internalized into our own hearts and lives—the things that the Holy Spirit has helped us to learn that are indeed transformational. The things that helped us move from those places of death and into the place of life in Christ. 

This internalization, this study of God’s Word, it helps us to no longer seek to cast others away because of their sin, but as the sentinels of chapter 33, we care for our neighbors, our family members, even our church, because we, as individuals, have taken the time to observe. To pray. To reflect. To hold God’s Word in our hearts and let the Word of the Lord continually teach us. 

We care for others because this who we are and our relationship with the Lord calls us to live in this way. It is not out of duty that we testify to the lifegiving presence of God, it is out of faith. 

At Bethesda we see this choice, this posture, every time we assemble our food distribution line and listen to people come to tables. We see it every time we gather to share our grief with them. We see it every time children from our community come to VBS and hear about how changed us. We observe where our neighbors are coming from spiritually, in any sense, and with God’s word in our hearts, we become the Church for them. 

Our care is an extension of our time in God’s Word; it is the product of consuming the Word of the Lord (as Jeremiah told us last week) which is the direct work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps take God’s Word off the pages of our Bibles and it becomes alone for us. 

To use an image, the Midrash, which is the primary Rabbinical reflections on God’s Word, the Midrash says that the letters of God’s Word are on fire. Living fire. According to this tradition, the word of the Lord has a crown on its head and stands before us as a living embodiment of God with us.[2] It is not static but alive as Christ is alive in us.

            Thinking of the living word of God, draw your mind back to the beginning of our worship where the author of the psalm invited us into worship with God’s word in our hands and hearts. 

As we began our worship time together, we used Psalm 119 as our call to worship… The author of this psalm prays to God to saying: “Teach me.” They ask God to “Give me understanding… and I will obey your law.” The emotion of the author continues to grow and build as the passage says, “Turn my heart towards your statues and not toward selfish gain.” “How I long for your precepts…”[3]

This does not sound like the author has a causal relationship with God’s word, but they regularly study and considers what God says to them before re-engaging the people. 

            If we think of God’s Word as alive, on fire, then this fire can spread to our lives, our faith, our acts of ministry and service. I know that it is easier to stand as a watchman and, as Jonah might agree with, sit there and wait for God to strike down the sinners. That is the easier choice, and we see that so often in this world. 

            But the Hebrews living in Babylon, trying to figure out how to be faithful when God feels far off, they need to hold God’s Word up to each other as a way of encouragement and testimony—much like we do today in this context and in our work here at Bethesda.

            We need to continually return to God’s Word as we watch from a different vantage point what is happening in this word. 

Conclusion

            As we watch, as we observe, I want to invite you to find someone in this community who you know is lost—regardless of how you define that term ‘lost.’ Find them. For they might just be living as the Hebrews did in a place that feels Babylonian. Separated. Outside of communion with God. 

            Then when you find them, remember how God’s Word changed your life. Remember how the fire of it spoke to you and helped you return to God. For God wants those people who you think are lost to find a way back to him. For He takes no joy in the death of others. He wants us all to find Him.

            But as I have said already, it is our responsibility to take what we see, hold up God’s word, and be who God calls us to be.  

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[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-23/commentary-on-ezekiel-337-11-7. Accessed on September 1, 2026. Edits added for this message. 

 

[2] Elizabeth P. Randall. Feasting on the Word. Year A. Homiletical section. 

 

[3] All citations from Psalm 119:33-40 come from the NIV translation. 

 

A Very Bad Day--Romans 12:9-12. Sermon preached on Rally Day. August 31, 2026

            I wonder if this past week you could join young Alexander, the childhood story character, and confess that you too have had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day? 

            “Everybody has a ‘bad day’ from time to time: moments when things just do not turn out the way we would like them to turn out. It is natural to expect that when we try to do our best or, at least, when we have not intentionally or knowingly done anything wrong, ordinarily, things will work out all right in the end. Nevertheless, in spite of good intentions and best efforts, there are times when plans fail, friends disappoint, relatives do not understand, health falters, calamity strikes, or stress mounts. Not surprisingly, we often ask ourselves and God, why?”[1]

            Gospel music writer Walter Hawkins wrote a song that expresses these feelings, a song that I suspect Jeremiah might sing as well if he were with us in worship: 

Everywhere you go, there is trouble (there is trouble)

Everywhere you go, there is strife (there is strife)

Everywhere you go, there is something to worry about.[2]

 

            Jeremiah experienced these struggles himself. He likely joined you, when you have experienced one of these very bad days, by wondering “How do I survive this mess?”

And we both know that a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, easily can be a day when we are unable to confess or affirm God’s presence in our lives. Yet in the middle of that space, and during that bad time, the Triune God is present.

While our text today does not explicitly label or define the Triune presence, God is in this text—The Father, the Son and the Spirit. Creative. Working. Alive. Even if the daily evidence is harder to find than we might like, God is with, His people, the prophet, and us, in our time of need.  

Move 1- Triune Formula

            This is a passage first off of lament. Jeremiah is lamenting; offering up a prayer as he pours out his heart. 

Our text today is written during the last years of the southern kingdom of Judah and Babylon is coming… the very bad day is coming. 

As this chapter opens, God’s frustration with His people is palpable. In Jeremiah 15:1 the Lord says that even if Moses and Samuel, two heroes of faith, were to come before him, God would not return to His people. God would not hear their prayers. God wants his people out of his presence. Later in verse 1 God says these shocking words, “Send them away from my presence! Let them go!”

Or course, the prophet is wounded deeply by these words and by God’s apparent lack of action. As these final years of Judah take shape, and as Babylon comes closer and closer to its final invasion and conquest, what the people need most is the presence of the Lord—not the Lord pushing them away.

Now we know that God is not a genie in a bottle who instantly saves his people when they call. Not always can we confess to an immediate action on behalf of our prayers. Even if God once acted as a military savior of his people during the Exodus, God has not practiced this type of behavior recently. We hear God’s voice in the back of our heads saying “What you reap is what you sow,’ and the Israelites have not sowed a deeper relationship with God. 

In this very moment what the people need is God. They need God’s presence to comfort and sustain them when their struggles become too much—a word that is also applicable to us, I believe. For we need that as well. 

            Back in Jeremiah 15, the prophet and God go back and forth with Jeremiah begging God to come save his people; to examine their hearts, and even though they are sinful now, and even if God wanted to push them away, Jeremiah believes that God will remember the covenant that He made with their forefathers. Jeremiah hopes that God will look past the sins of his people one more time and be with them. 

            Knowing that Babylon is coming, Jeremiah begins to travel down that most dangerous road… the WHY road. It comes to a crescendo in verse 18 as Jeremiah says, ‘why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable.’ He is having that terrible, horrible, no good, very bad… season. Not a day. 

            Yet in the midst of that challenge, in the midst of his cries for the Israelites, in the midst of unfaithful living, Jeremiah calls out for the presence of God. The Triune presence. Jeremiah reaches back out to God. 

            We first see this in verse 16. “O Lord, God of hosts,” Jeremiah says. This is the proper name of Yahweh written by the prophet; perhaps spoken by him as this letter is dictated to his scribe. God’s name is echoed previously in our text in verse 15, “O Lord.” The Fatherhood of God; the one who is in control of everything that takes place in this world. And Jeremiah continues to lift up the triune formulation. 

            In verse 16, Jeremiah clearly illustrates the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He says, ‘Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy.’ Is this not what the Holy Spirit does in our lives as we interact with God’s word through prayer and meditation? Doesn’t the Holy Spirit illuminate the word of God for us we can be fed with it often?  The Holy Spirit helps us see things from God that we normally might have missed.

            Finally in the midst of his pain and his questioning, Jeremiah once again turns to God towards the end of our text. In verse 19 the prophet reaches out to God with language that echoes the ministry of Jesus the Savior. Here God is speaking and says, ‘if you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me.’ This is the act of redemption. Sin is confessed. It is forgiven. And the person stands before God redeemed once again. 

            In a few verses, with the WHY question coming out of his heart, Jeremiah offers the church some wisdom: the Triune God is with him. The Triune God is present. 

Move 2- manageable

            Confessing that God is with us and understanding how fundamental this confession is to our faith, act of affirming God’s presence helps. It helps us to find language and a location where God is with us when the WHY question buzzes around our lives and in our hearts. When we can be distracted and led astray by what we witness occurring around our homes, and as we want to only ask God WHY, the confession that the Triune God is present, is essential. It is grounding; it is foundational to our faith.

            In those places of deep tension that we encounter so often, at home, at work, in the community, locating the presence, fully, of the Triune God crucially reorients us. We are reoriented from places of doubt and hesitation and towards the affirmations of our faith that confess that even if we see calamity on the horizon, and even if deliverance might not come, God is there for us. 

            Knowing that God is with us creates a sense of manageability. Because no matter what we face, we do not, and we will not, face it alone. As neither the Israelites watching the southern kingdom end, or Jeremiah as he stood their begging the people to return to God, and as this tension become real, God was still there. 

            God takes what we define and label as unmanageable, as unsurvivable, as faith breaking, and in His presence, we find something that heals and restores us. 

Move 3- the wall

            The Triune God says that even when these calamities come, and they will, and even as we suffer, and we will, God is working to build us so that we will not lose the battle—verse 20. 

            God says, “They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares [not the prophet] but the Lord.”

            I know that each of you, and myself included, as experienced recently a very bad day. You know that ones are coming over the horizon that you cannot avoid, and while it is tempting to lead with WHY and offer questions and considerations that only shake your faith, the Triune God is present. 

            He says that He will build His people into something that cannot be smashed down or broken apart. In this case, that is the image of a bronze wall. And that wall symbolizes three things: divine protection (the Father), unbreakable strength (the Son), and resilience against our enemy (the Spirit). 

            As we are in union with God in this way, God will take care of us even when very bad days happen.  

Conclusion 

            Yes, Jeremiah’s message, and his cries out to the Triune God, did not stop the Babylonians from coming and destroying the city of Jerusalem. And yes, with Jeremiah by their side, the leaders of Judah were carried away into exile and there was great sadness in that place. And it was easy to ask God WHY. 

            Perhaps when we find ourselves in these moments is to true acknowledgement that God is indeed with us—he is fully with us. What we must affirm together is that God will help us in our times of need by being present. He will act in ways we do not realize to draw us and to His very side. 

And in that act of drawing, we do find the ultimate victory over whatever we think makes this a very bad day. 

 

 

 

DM

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[1] Ronald E. Peters. Emphasis added.

 

[2] George L Parks Jr., 21^st Century Ministry Beyond the Norm: Emerging Models for Preaching. Article found in Preaching: The Professional Journal for Ministry Leaders, Summer 2026, 18.

 

Evangelism--Romans 10:l5-15. Sermon preached on August 9, 2026

            One of the most challenging concepts that God presents to the church is the call to evangelism. Now we know that some people are effective at this work, and some are not as effective as they might hope to be. 

If we had a six-week class on evangelism here, most people who attended would do so by taking a deep breath as they walked into the room. There would be some unspoken tension that they might confess—if they were honest with themselves. For we can love the Lord deeply, we can confess our faith clearly but going out to share our faith in public… that can be a different type of challenge for many Christians.

Evangelism, even though we understand what it means, it feels challenging to many people. This challenge is not related to weak faith. It is not related to any lack of understanding about who God is and what Jesus did for us on the cross. 

Instead, I think the challenge is expectational; the challenge, if we can get words to it is: ‘How will I share the gospel as Jesus taught, when I am going through… whatever I am going through in this moment.’ 

            We are not the first, and we won’t be the last, who feel this challenge creeping into our hearts as we work to share God’s message of salvation. 

            Looking at the context of Romans, I wonder how would those people, the first audience who heard Paul’s words, how would they handle the call from the Apostle Paul to evangelize? What does the call to share God’s message and word look like given all that these people confronted each day? 

            For last week I told you that ministry often happens when we are not ready. It happened in Jesus’ life in Matthew 14 as they crowds followed and pursued him as he sought to withdraw, and it happens in our lives when those same feelings of unpreparedness and experiences define us. And if any group of people felt that they were not ready to effectively share the gospel as it was revealed by God, it was the Christians living in Rome. 

Yet in Chapter 10, Paul makes a deliberate point to speak about the necessity of proclamation for these people—hard as it might be for them and today for us. Proclamation, evangelism is necessary if the church is to fulfill its calling. 

Today I want to spend a little time with you thinking about evangelism and how it relates to the places where we go each day. 

Move 1- not understanding it all.

            Our text begins with Paul trying to focus the Church on where their attention should rest—and not where it does rest. Often, we get hung up as these people did in the superficial details or facts that we cannot affect or solve. Verse 5-7 illustrate how easy it can be to get distracted by details that only belong in God’s hand alone… not in ours. 

            Who goes to heaven? Who ascends? Who descends? The law. Righteousness based on faith… these are big concepts that, while important for us to think about as the Body of Christ, those decisions, these ideas, they rest alone with God. 

We do not have to understand everything in the Christian faith to share the gospel. Too often I meet people who think that if they are going to evangelize effectively and deeply, as Paul teaches here, then these same people must be ready with, and they must be clear on, all the theological details of God’s Word. 

            Sadly, this is a first trap that we fall into when we begin to consider evangelism. 

            We can spend our lives thinking and reflecting and discussing the deep theological truths of God’s Word, and I do enjoy those conversations as much as the next person, but those discussions should not stop us from reaching out to the people of our community and telling them about the Lord. Paul says it this way:

“The Word is near you…” verse 8.

            You and I do not have to understand the whole Bible; we are not called to. That is the reason that Paul begins our text this week in the manner in which he does and it is the first lesson of this text. We do not have to have every answer right at our fingertips. We simply must take the steps that we can today and speak to the people of this neighborhood about who God is and how God is revealed to you. The word is indeed near to you and me. 

            “In an age of uncertainty and shaky foundations, resurrection life brings meaning, Hope, and purpose. Our confession and our belief begin and end with Jesus. From this foundation, a life of faith and discipleship flows.”[1]

            Evangelism is about the proclamation of the resurrection life it is not always full of complete understanding. But that is where discipleship begins. This is task, a responsibility, for the entire church and not just those who think that they are ‘evangelical.’ We all are called to share the story of how the Lord is with us and help others learn, and build, that foundation. 

            Paul begins by reminding the people that they do not have to understand it all and neither do you.

Move 2- we are necessary.

            Without the work of the church, sharing who God is and how God has been with us, how will the people of this community learn His story? This is the basic question that evangelism attempts to help others solve and it is the second step in Paul’s message today.

            Sure, anyone can pick up a Bible. Sure, they can spend time reading it and working to understanding it, but that can feel daunting. How many times have you met a person who said that they would like to read the Bible but don’t know where to start? 

It can, and I have heard others say, that just picking up God’s Word at trying to ‘get it’ is overwhelming. But hear again Paul’s words, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And who are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?”

            These words tell me that we cannot hold back the message of God because we would prefer someone else to share it for us. And we cannot solely hope that the people in question will find that message on their own. Paul knows that the church has an important role to play in the evangelistic work of God. 

            The church, we here at Bethesda, we are a necessary part sharing of God’s word with the people of this community. For what is evangelism but the sharing of how God’s story has become our story.[2]Evangelism is the reflection that we have on how God’s story has changed our stories. Remade those stories. Reoriented them towards a practice of discipleship and faith. And in this way, we, the Body of Christ, the particular Christian in question, we are necessary. 

            “Despite poor efforts of evangelism [that we can remember], we are called to go out into the world and proclaim Jesus. [That is our job; it is our call] Because if we do not, how will those who are lost hear and have the opportunity to call on his name? . . . Our job is to share the one who we know is trustworthy, the one who welcomes our questions and doubts. We are sent out to share Jesus, who offer certainty, and Hope, regardless of circumstances.”[3]

            Of course, history is replete with the stories of how God stepped into the lives of His people and transformed His children because of that revelation. But burning bushes are not a common story. The overall story of God would stop at some moments if we do not share how we are changed because the story of the Lord changed us. Evangelism is the practice of faithful witness that we participate in. 

Move 3- confusion

            Because let’s face it, there is so much confusion that we are confronted with each day. So many people lock evangelism into a small box. They tell us how it should look and how any evangelistic work should sound. But then things get worse, and they take it a step further and talk about what the proper results should be. “If we are going to evangelize then it must be done like this,” they say. 

            But Paul ends our text today with a very basic statement that cuts through all the confusion, doubt, hesitation. Paul’s words cut through any unmet expectation and he provides a clear through line for us as we continue to seek the Lord and share His message. He says: “If you confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be safe.”[4] It does not get any simpler than that. 

            The world can tell us how things should look, they can tell us how we ought to believe, they can say there is confusion in the evangelistic work, but the clarity of this text is that the message of evangelism is clear… Jesus is Lord, and we seek to believe only in Him. This is why Paul ends our text today in this manner. 

            For the life of those same Christians living in Rome, suffering as they did, they needed something solid on which to preach, and on which to live. Much the same as we do in this context today.

Conclusion

            So, we are called to evangelize. Not a few times; not when it feels easy. But we are called to take our story as a church in total, and people specifically, and talk about how Jesus is Lord. He is the one we confess. 

            I wonder if that is a practice that we can do? For we will find people who are lost, who are suffering, and that might just be the perfect opportunity to share with him how God has changed us. 

 

 

 

DM

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[1] Mary Beth Anton. Feasting on the Word. Year A, Volume 3. 

 

[2] Bryan Stone.

[3] Mary Beth Anton. Feasting on the Word. Year A, Volume 3. 

 

[4] Romans 10:9 ESV.