IS YOUR HEART FAINT? Sermon October 11

Job 23:1-9, 16-17; Hebrews 4:12–16; Mark 10:17- 31 Did you complain this morning? (Hands up…) How many things did you crab about? How many people did you grump and grumble at? How many of your complaints were aloud – if only one – to whom – was it because they listen or join in? How many complaints were hidden within your mind so that nobody else would know what you’re really thinking? After all, it doesn’t matter when we don’t say it out loud, right?! Now walk back through your morning and answer these questions….and be honest: How many times did you look up to God and say, “Thank You!” Even in the midst of the furnace spitting and sputtering, the phone ringing earlier than your alarm, the FULL coffee cup tumbling to the floor, the turkey not cooperating to fit in the roaster, the extra water and mud laying in the fields prolonging the harvest for another week…, the house not looking up to your expectation or that of your Thanksgiving company for later this afternoon? ……And once again it’s a holiday weekend – and some hearts are more faint than others. Why? Could it be that our hearts grow faint because we choose the wrong setting on the camera lense of our minds? You see, when you turn an automatic camera on, digital or not, it automatically begins with “the BIG picture” and we must look through the lense BEFORE we make the decision to press the button. We often limit our vision and focus to stay on the physical life and ZOOM in on the HERE AND NOW – rather than looking through the panoramic lense to see the BIG picture? *** What would you do if you arrived at your favourite restaurant or Thanksgiving Dinner this weekend and the host greets you like this: “Welcome – come in, pull up a chair! We are having a party!” Would you go in? Then your host says, “Here is your cup – would you like have a cup of pity, a full cup of pity or do you take your pity double-double?” Would you want to stay – or run the other way? I wonder how God receives our invitations to our pity parties? I’m Hosting a Pity Party for Poor me! Not that our feelings are not legitimate, but sometimes we become fixated on one detail in our whole life and lose sight of the bigger picture. Job is much like this….and so is the rich man….. *** For Job, his problem is not a love for money before God, rather a love for his ever-so-pitiful circumstances being put ahead of his love for God! Job says, “God made my heart faint.” It suddenly occurred to me to ask, “Did God do that intentionally for a reason? Did God make Job’s heart faint so that he might get his mind off of himself and his circumstances in order to get his mind AND his heart BACK on GOD!!!!?” *** Or is it possibly just Job’s own PERCEPTION that his heart is faint because he is the person in the middle of a specific situation and circumstances and he is choosing not to connect with God about the shadows of fear or perhaps some shadow of doubt in his heart?” Because notice that in the next line, Job says the infamous words…..”IF ONLY….” Does he want to be exempt because he is a righteous guy and loves God….. He wants life to be FAIR in human terms – BUT – God is not a respecter of persons – he blesses some with certain graces and to others different graces…..and we humans are the receivers. Job says, “If only I could vanish in darkness, and thick darkness would cover my face!” You and I are just like Job……..If only………… wouldn’t we all like to make all the BAD stuff disappear! - isn’t that how we feel in the middle of a crisis, a challenge or a tough time?! *** One day a young man came running up to Jesus and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked. "Only God is good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments, don't you? 'Don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't tell lies, don't cheat anyone, honor your father and your mother.'" "I'm pretty good," he answered. "I've obeyed the commandments since I was just a little boy." "That's good," Jesus said, "but not good enough, There is still one thing you must do. Go and sell everything you have and give the money to the poor." When he heard those words, the young man was very sad, because he had many possessions. Most people would say that the young man was a good man, but the BIBLE says that being good wasn't good enough to get him into the Kingdom of God. As the young man walked away, Jesus turned to his disciples and said, "It is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed. "Then who can be saved?" they asked. Jesus looked at them and said, "With man it is impossible, but with God anything is possible." How about me? Do you think I'm good enough to get into heaven? How about you? Are you good enough? Is anyone good enough? The answer to all of those questions is, "No!" Not one of us is good enough to get into heaven on our own. Then how can we be saved? How can we have eternal life? With God, anything is possible. The Bible tells us that God so loved the world that he sent his only Son so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. It isn't our goodness that will get us into heaven. It is our faith in Jesus. We are not good enough, but Jesus is! Father, help us to remember that it is not our goodness that will get us into heaven. It is our faith in your Son, Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. *** Perhaps this Thanksgiving seems much more challenging than many in the past because our attention is focused on many details of hurts in the community, of aging leaders in our midst, of a struggling economy, including unruly weather for our rural community – all challenging our minds and hearts to remain positive and strong in the Lord. I encourage you this Thanksgiving Weekend to look beyond the zoom lense of your own life – into he panoramic picture of our community, our nation, and the needs of your children in other parts of the globe. We must remember that there are those among us in our congregations and our communities who do worry about what to eat, who do struggle to put food on the table and clothes on their family’s backs. After all, it is too simple to say that because Canada has a high standard of living generally, we have much to be grateful for. There are people in our families, in our churches, in our communities who feel lost, broken, alone, bankrupt, even if they don’t worry about their physical needs, their spirits are yearning for HOPE – and we are the hands, the feet, the eyes, the ears and the mouths that God can use to share Christ’s love – but our hearts must invite Jesus in to transform our ego from love of possessions and self-pity – into a heart of compassion. Look at how you are facing life. Are you depending on your own resources? Or are you learning to love God a little more each day, so that you can love and respect the person God reveals to you when you look in the mirror ? *** The spirit of true thanksgiving is that - all people - are equal in God’s eyes, that our prayers of thanksgiving and intercession are said by all – on behalf of all. This Thanksgiving -- let your true gratitude come from being able to gather together through the joys and sorrows of life, in times of abundance and in times of struggle, in worship and in praise of our God of All Creation who holds us ALL in a divine embrace -- that NO MATTER WHAT – NO MATTER HOW THE HEART MAY GROW FAINT God’s divine embrace will not let us go!