“The Realm of the Spirit”
Ezekiel 37:1-14 [O.T. Lesson]
Romans 8:6-17 [Epistle Lesson]
There was an unusual situation some time back in a South African hospital. Every Friday morning in the same bed a patient would die regardless of the patient’s medical condition. As you can imagine, this puzzled the hospital staff. There were some who believed this had something to do with the supernatural.
The doctors decided to go down to the ward where this event kept occurring on the next Friday morning and watch and see what was happening. Wouldn’t you have loved to be the patient in that bed? Doctors and staff hovering over you like vultures. So, that Friday morning came, the doctors and nurses were in the ward watching, but nothing happened. Everything was normal. All was as usual for a Friday morning. Kind of like taking your car to the shop because the check engine light was on, but when you take it to the garage they can’t find anything wrong.
Back to the hospital. While the doctors and nurses are still there the cleaning crew came in to do their weekly cleaning of the room, just like always. I’m not sure if I would want to be in that hospital where the rooms are only cleaned weekly. But just then the staff figured out the problem. One of the cleaning crew unplugged the life support system so she could plug in the vacuum cleaner.
The really scaring thing about this story is that it has a ring of truth about it, the subject of life and death.
Christians and for that matter non-Christians have a love/hate relationship with death, don’t we? We have a spiritual schizophrenia about the subject. Connie and I went to Perry last Sunday to spend some time with her uncle and aunt up from Florida and Aunt Joyce figured since they had a preacher in the room she would drill me on my thoughts about death, dying, heaven and hell. As you can imagine, I was thrilled that I had gone.
On the one hand, we regard death as the great enemy—one that interrupts our lives and our relationships. It is the great enemy. It is the grim reaper—the awful specter that hangs over our lives. We use euphemisms to help us avoid confronting the subject directly. We say she passed away. Or she’s no longer with us. Anything except, “He or she died.”
At the same time as we avoid mentioning death by name, we also make the case that we believe death is the Christian’s greatest friend. When someone dies, we might say, “She’s gone home to be with Jesus.” What could be better than that? “He’s gone to his eternal rest.” No more pain. No more tears. Only a world of eternal bliss.
In our Old Testament Lesson this morning Ezekiel claims, “The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.”
This vision illustrates the promise of Ezekiel 36—new life and a nation restored, both physically and spiritually. The dry bones are a picture of the Jews in captivity—scattered and dead. The scattered exiles of both Israel and Judah would be released from the “graves” of captivity and one day regathered in their homeland, with the Messiah as their leader. This vision has yet to be fulfilled. Ezekiel felt he was speaking to the dead as he preached to the exiles because they rarely responded to his message [I feel ya Zeke]. But these bones responded! And just as God brought life to the dead bones, he would bring again to his spiritually dead people.
Two weeks from today will be Easter Sunday. The Church will be filled with happy faces singing, “He Lives! He Lives! Grave, where is thy victory? Death, where is thy sting?” So, which is it? Should we look forward to death, or should we stubbornly cling to life? The answer is, yes.
Have you ever done anything really foolish? I mean, something so stupid that years later you still cringe when you think about it.
Dr. James Dobson shared once about a friend of his during their days in medical school. One day this man was walking across campus laden with books and his briefcase. He passed by a fast-food stand and ordered something to eat and a milkshake to wash it down. He balanced it all on top of his briefcase and began looking for an empty table at which to sit. While looking, the milkshake got the better of him, and he bent down without looking in order to take a sip from the straw. The straw missed his mouth and ended up in his nose. Embarrassed, but not at a loss, he thought that if he straightened up, the straw would stay in the shake. But when he lifted his head, the straw came out of the shake and remained in his nose, dripping the milkshake down the front of his suit. In a moment, all his confidence evaporated.
Have you ever done anything that made you feel like an absolute Dork, as the kids say? Welcome to the human race. Make yourself at home. You are, after all, among family. And I have some Good News for you. That’s why you came this morning, isn’t it—to hear some Good News? Then I have some really Good News for you and it comes in our Epistle Lesson from Romans, written by St. Paul. He tells us that “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” Did you get that? Do you understand that? If you are led by the Spirit of God, [the Holy Spirit], you are a son or a daughter of God. We might feel like a dork, a nerd, a twerp, a doo-fuss, at times. But, if Christ lives within us, the Scriptures assure us that we are children of God.
There was once a hitchhiker who was trying to get a ride one night in Los Angles. A car pulled over to pick him up. When the hitchhiker got into the car, he saw the face of the driver and recognized him. The driver was film star Michael Douglas. The hitchhiker was shocked and all he could think to say to Michael Douglas was, “Do you know who you are?”
That’s my question to you this morning. Do you know who you are? That could be a theme for this message. Allow me, as a minister of the Gospel to inform you that you are: an unbelievable, inconceivable, unrepeatable miracle of God!
In his writing Paul divides people into two categories: those who are dominated by their sinful nature and those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit. All of us would be in the first category if Jesus hadn’t offered us a way out. Once we have said yes to Jesus, we will want to continue following Him because His way brings life and peace. Daily we must consciously choose to center our lives on God—use the Bible to discover God’s guidelines—and then follow them. In every perplexing situation, ask yourself, “What does God want me to do?” When the Holy Spirit points out what God wants you to do, do it eagerly.
The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee of eternal life for those who believe in Him. The Spirit resides within us now by faith, and by faith we are certain to live with Christ forever.
Everyone has a theology = how you think and talk about God. If you think and talk about God, you are a theologian. Have you ever considered this? I’m currently reading a book titled, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God, written by Gordon Fee, an American/Canadian Christian theologian. It’s a book on Paul’s theology—that is, how Paul understood God and His ways, and the role of the Spirit in that theology.
He wrote: “The only worth while theology, after all, is one that is translated into life; and Paul’s understanding of the Spirit is ultimately a matter of lived out faith. The experience of the Spirit was how the early believers came to receive the salvation that Christ had brought, and how they came to understand themselves as living at the beginning of the end times. For them, the Spirit was both the evidence that God’s great future for His people had already made its way into the present and the guarantee that God would conclude what He had begun in Christ. Thus, the Spirit is foundational to their entire experience and understanding of their present life in Christ.”
“The Spirit,” Paul says in the context of the new covenant, “gives life.” Paul writes often of the Spirit as dwelling in or among the people of God. We, as the local church, are God’s temple in our community where we are placed; and it is so by the presence of the Spirit alone by whom God has now revisited His people.
A 6th grade teacher posed the following problem to one of her classes: “A wealthy man dies and leaves ten million dollars. One-fifth is to go to his wife, one-fifth is to go to his son, one-sixth to his butler, and the rest to charity. Now what,” she asked her class, “does each get?”
After a very long silence, little Johnny raised his hand. With complete sincerity in his voice, he answered, “A lawyer!”
Good answer. Where there is a will, there is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Inheritance can be a complicated matter in this world. Families have become split over a wealthy estate. You can save your family lots of needless grief by simply planning ahead and taking care of necessary business. Inheritance in this world can be complicated. [My Grandma Campbell telling everyone to put a piece of tape with your name on it on items in her house and my aunt switching the label on something my mom wanted. I still tease her about this]
But in the kingdom of God, inheritance is simple—those who possess the Spirit of God get it all—all God has to give.
Like the man named Tom Stonehill who was speeding through a small town one night, looking for a public restroom. Finally, he came across a funeral home. Tom used the facilities and then paid his respects to the deceased. The funeral director insisted that Tom sign the guest register. Tom thought it was a lot of trouble to go through just to use the bathroom, but he did it anyway.
A few weeks later, Tom got a call from a lawyer in that small town. It turns out that Tom had visited the funeral home on the night that the town’s richest citizen was being laid to rest. The rich man had no family or friends. In his will, this man had stipulated that whomever came to his funeral would inherit his fortune. Toms was the only name in the guest register that night, so he received the full inheritance.
You and I are in the same fortunate situation. All we did was receive Christ into our life. Now, everything that God has is ours. We are an unbelievable, inconceivable, unrepeatable miracle/child of God.
Ephesians 5:8-14 [Epistle Lesson]
It was a beautiful summer day, and Clarence was enjoying a row in the boat with his lovely girlfriend, anticipating the picnic they would have when they got to the island in the center of the lake. These were the days when young men and ladies wore more than shorts and t-shirts when out in public. Yes, there were times like these. Add a frowning or a confused emoji.
Clarence had donned a spiffy suit with a high collar, and his female companion had on a long dress with billowing petticoats underneath. Google says that a petticoat is an undergarment or underskirt worn beneath the dress or skirt, historically designed for warmth, modesty, or to add volume, shape, and structure to outer garments. Aren’t you glad you’re here this morning?
Clarence masculinely pulled the wooden oars as his date sat cooly under her parasol. You’re on your own with the parasol. Though the steamy heat of the summer day began to wring sweat from him, he was so hypnotized by his girlfriend’s beauty he was not troubled. Finally, he reached their location, dragged the boat onto the shore and helped his girlfriend out of the boat.
He placed all their supplies beneath a spreading shade tree, and as he prepared to sit down and enjoy the coolness of the shade, the girl said gently, “Honey, you forgot the ice cream.”
So, Clarence, recalling that he had planned ice cream for dessert, got back in the boat and stroked his way back across the lake. He found a grocery store, bought some ice cream, and headed back for the cool shade where his date sat.
Upon arriving at the island once more, his girlfriend had another friendly reminder, “Clarence, honey, you forgot the chocolate syrup.”
Clarence was in love, so he got back in the boat and headed for the grocery store on the shore. He bought the syrup, returned to the boat, and once again began rowing in the hot afternoon sun. But this time the frustration of it all got to him, and halfway to the island, he put up the oars and began to think. There must be a better way.
By the end of the afternoon, Clarence Evinrude had invented the outboard motor. The girl he left stranded on the island became his wife, and the company he started used this story as its first ad for the revolutionary new outboard motor.
Clarence Evinrude was not only smart. He was wise. He applied his intelligence to his situation. “There must be a better way,” he thought to himself and he wasn’t content until he found that better way.
Samuel had anointed Israel’s first king, Saul, but things didn’t work out so well. Our Old Testament Lesson begins this morning with, “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel.’” But Samuel says, “If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” I wonder if Samuel, like Clarence in our story, was thinking, “There must be a better way.”
Since King Saul was tall and handsome—an impressive-looking man; Samuel may have been trying to find someone who looked like Saul to be Israel’s next king, but God warned him against judging by appearance. When people judge by outward appearance, they may overlook quality individuals who lack the qualities society currently admires. But appearance doesn’t reveal what people are really like or what their true value is.
Fortunately, God judges by faith and character, not appearance, and after Jesse paraded all his other sons before Samuel, it was the youngest, out tending to the sheep whom God selected.
David was anointed king, but it was done in secret, and he wasn’t publicly anointed until much later because Saul remained in his position until his death.
When you read the title for my message this morning you may have thought I was going to refer to Lawernce Welk, once again dating myself. Lawerence used to start his orchestra off on a song by saying, “A one and a two.” But no. I used it for a couple of reasons.
First, I was referring to the fairy tale season last year of the Indiana Hoosiers. Until their run to the national championship last year they hadn’t had many winning seasons. Until the Big Ten Championship game, Ohio State had beaten them in 30 consecutive games. But I was watching one of their many locker room celebrations and a couple of the players proudly shouted, “A one, a two, you know what to do,” and the whole team began singing: “Indiana, our Indiana; Indiana. We’re all for you.”
Second, the way Paul ends our text, I’ve developed as a responsive reading for y’all, something I’ve picked up from my spiritual mentor and attending New Room events. I guess I could say, “Wake up sleeper and rise from the dead, a one and a two, you know what to do.” And you could respond, “and Christ will shine on you.”
I believe I’ve mentioned to you before that I work a little formula into my morning prayers. Consecration—transformation—demonstration. We have all three elements in this final verse. Wake up sleeper is consecration = getting started, opening the store, putting out the welcome sign. Rise from the dead is transformation = going from asleep to awake, rising from the dead to life, being teachable and repentive. And Christ will shine on you = demonstration, what happens to you when you rise and shine, reflecting Jesus to all you meet.
I’m reading an excellent book right now, The Shining One, by Mark McGovern. In the forward, Rev. David Thomas, a friend of mine writes, “Mark will invite you here to go slow.” In fact, in the first chapter he says, “It may be helpful to read this book like a devotional, slowly and a few pages at a time.” This has been a challenge indeed.
Mark writes that the Apostle Paul, as Saul, met the Shining One [Jesus] and he was never the same. Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, the Shining One, coming to earth in darkness: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” [Isaiah 9:2]. This is what Paul was trying to express to the church at Ephesus.
As people who have light from the Lord, our actions will reflect our faith. Jesus stressed this in His Sermon on the Mount [considered by some to be the only sermon He preached]. “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” [Matthew 5:15-16].
Our pasts may have dark times of cynicism, despair, shame or self-doubt. Satan desires to lead us back into the darkness. We must reject him by intentionally living out what pleases the Lord: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” [Romans 12:2]; or, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” [1 John 1:5]. In this way, Christ’s light will keep shining brighter in us.
Our last verse, “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” is thought to have been taken from a hymn well known to the Ephesians. The hymn seems to have been based on Isaiah 26:19; 51:17; 52:1; 60:1; and Malachi 4:2. Paul was appealing to the Ephesians to wake up and realize the dangerous condition into which some of them had been slipping. Because Ephesus was such a crossroads of cultures and religions, non-believers could easily bring their ideas into the church. Combining these beliefs would be dangerous. We, too, must be alert to false beliefs infiltrating our churches.
If you saw the movie, Forrest Gump, you will remember how Forrest always had a quote from his mama to sum up about any situation a person might find himself or herself in. And if Forrest were to comment on our text from Ephesians, he might say something like: “Like my mama always used to say, ‘Light is as light does.’”
Light is as light does. And what light does is shine out of the darkness. What light does is to make darkness disappear. Light and darkness cannot exist in the same space, because anytime light shows up, it pushes the darkness away. Darkness can exist on the edge of light, but it can never invade the space light has claimed.
Light is as light does. When the power gets low, or the connection is faulty, a light might begin to grow dim. And when the power source is completely severed, the light goes out completely, and that is darkness.
Just before the beginning of the Sunday service at a large Episcopal church in New York City, a man wearing a large hat was discovered sitting in the front row. An usher moved to his pew, leaned in, and discreetly asked him to remove his hat. The man replied he would not. The head usher was summoned, made the same request, and received the same answer. About that time the president of the women of the parish arrived and was asked to assist. She had the same result. Finally, with only two minutes remaining before the opening hymn, the senior warden of the parish was also asked to intercede. He tiptoed up beside the man and tried to seize the hat, but the man was able to dodge his attempt to grab the hat. By now, there was no time for further confrontation.
As the opening hymn began and the procession entered the church, the man stood, removed his hat, and did not put it on again.
At the end of the service, the four frustrated people waited for the man near the rear of the church. The senior warden said, “Sir, about the hat: perhaps you don’t understand, but in the Episcopal church men don’t wear hats at worship.
The man replied, “Oh, but I do understand, I’ve been Episcopalian all my life. As a matter of fact, I’ve been coming to this church regularly for two years and I’ve never met a soul. But this morning I’ve met an usher, the head usher, the president of the church women, and the senior warden.”
What’s it take to get your light turned on? What’s it take to get your attention? Do you run around with your lights on dim most of the time so that people won’t notice you? God is our power source. The Holy Spirit living within us gives off a light that people cannot miss. Are we sometimes too busy going about with church work that we forget to do the work of the church? It doesn’t matter how well we have down the routine of running a church, it we aren’t a running church. We can master the budget, the music, the worship, the fellowship groups, the Sunday school curriculum, and all sorts of committees, but if we aren’t running our light outside the church building, then it’s all for nothing.
Like my Father in heaven always says, “Light is as light does.” You are the light…be light. Do what light does. And you will no longer live in darkness.
Eastman First Methodist Church 