What Faith Looks Like
Faith of a mustard seed or faltering in the storm? Choose this day whom you will serve.
Up front let me say that Sunday was the last sermon Reverend Jim Perry would preach as a working member of the clergy at East Cobb United Methodist Church. It has been my privilege and honor to call him my pastor and friend. I would not be where I am today in my walk with God where it not for him. I have been so very blessed to have him in my life at my church. The best part is he’s only retiring and not moving so I suspect we’ll get to hear from him more, but for now enjoy a well-deserved rest, sir.
"Fog Light" by howardignatius is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
This week’s Monday Morning with Jesus took me a while to get done. Being ill coupled with a number of other things in life pushed this one all the way back to Thursday. The scripture for this one is quite long as well. The important bit is at the end but all of the scripture has meaning, putting that last part in context if nothing else.
The title of the sermon was What Faith Looks Like. Jim included a quote in his going away letter that is quite poignant. He included the quote at the end of his sermon, but I’d like to insert it here so the reader can keep it in mind as they read. To put it the way Revered Perry put it, “It’s from the noted theologian Winnie the Pool.”
“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
Winnie the Pooh
This is part of the Tableau of Faith series.
The scripture used is from the same chapter. However, during the service it was broken into two parts. I’ve combined them into one for ease of copying. Nothing is lost in so doing other than the time to read the additional verses.
1Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers; and they presented themselves before God.
2Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.
3‘Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.
4‘To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
5‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out.
6‘I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.
7‘But when they cried out to the Lord, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
8‘Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land when I destroyed them before you.
9‘Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you.
10‘But I was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his hand.
11‘You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Thus I gave them into your hand.
12‘Then I sent the hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before you, but not by your sword or your bow.
13‘I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’
14“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
15“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:1–15 (NASB95)
Pastor Jim opened by declaring Joshua a man of faith. He openly and publicly declared his allegiance to God. Most of us have read, heard, or seen verse fifteen before. In many cases, we might even have it on a mug, poster, or some other printed format. In my case, it is on a stamped metal plate hanging overhead in my home.
This scripture was quickly followed by a New Testament passage from Matthew. This one is also probably familiar to most readers. However, Pastor Jim put it in a slightly different light.
24“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Matthew 6:24 (NASB95)
If you’ve read my stuff for any length of time you know I don’t like pulling single verses of scripture out of context. I think it loses some of the meaning and intention. However, I’m doing so here not because I want to obfuscate the meaning but because that’s how it was done in the sermon and because I actually think it makes a very good point the way it was presented.
Rather than read that last sentence as not serving God and wealth (or money as other translations have it) let’s remove that word and simply insert a blank. That then opens up a whole gamete of possibilities. It also becomes much more convicting if we are honest with ourselves. How? What do we allow to come between us and God, us and obedience to God, us and the path God asks us to walk for Him? Now it is far more applicable to a wide range of circumstances in everyday life beyond simply coveting and amassing wealth. To be clear, Jesus is not decrying money as evil in and of itself. Jesus is saying letting the service of money become more important than the service to God is the problem. Letting what will make us the most profit be our number one guiding principle is the problem.
Let’s return to the Joshua passage for a moment. Pastor Jim made a few points here that eventually tie it all together. Take a few moments to re-read the Joshua passage above. It’s long, yes, but having it fresh makes the point clearer.
The point? This scripture passage begins with Joshua telling everyone, “Thus sayeth the Lord” meaning what he is about to say is what God said or is saying through him. The message Joshua delivers is one of what God has done for His people. There is no complaining in this message from God. There is merely a reminder of all the things God has done for His children. Joshua finishes up with the choice most of us are familiar. Choose this day whom you will serve.
This is an important choice, and one God offers us all regardless of capability. Pastor Jim went into this next, this idea that God uses the imperfect. Pastor Jim listed out a wide variety of flawed and imperfect people noting as he did that God neither brought up nor hinted at the complaints or imperfections of His servants during Joshua’s listing before he presented his choice. Pastor Perry even noted that those imperfect people called to God’s purpose began to make excuses like Moses who complained he couldn’t speak well, and so God sent him Aaron.
In Moses’ case, not only was he imperfect but somewhat disobedient as with the two times God gave him instruction about water while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness. Moses not only didn’t do things the way God asked him to do them, but he didn’t repent of his behavior either. Thus, Moses was punished with not being allowed to cross over the Jordan river and see the promised land.
7and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
8“Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.”
9So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him;
10and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?”
11Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.
12But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
Numbers 20:7–12 (NASB95)
This is the second time God made water flow from a rock. In the first instance, Moses struck the rock with his staff once and water came out. Moses did as he was instructed in that instance. Let’s see that to compare.
4So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me.”
5Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
6“Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Exodus 17:4–6 (NASB95)
In the Exodus scripture Moses does exactly what he is instructed to do, just strike the rock. Additionally, Moses didn’t take credit for getting the people water. In the Numbers passage in verse ten Moses gives credit to himself and Aaron for drawing forth the water instead of God and he does it the wrong way. God is not happy about this, and punishes Moses.
Moses clearly learned his lesson as we read from that point on he did whatever God commanded. He didn’t flinch or complain, and he never looked back. Pastor Jim’s call to the congregation was twofold. First, don’t look back on the places where we’ve failed. Leave the negative stuff in the past. Do not live there. Second, choose this day whom you will serve. Choose God.
That was a great sermon by Rev. Jim on Sunday. I'm grateful to have been in his Bible study class these past few years. He has been instrumental in my faith journey. He was always patient and happy to answer my questions and to make sure that I understood. Our church was blessed to have Jim and Sandy for so many years.