Sermons - Auburndale Lena Vista United Methodist Church

Scripture

Isaiah 58:11-12

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2

Matthew 6:1

Isaiah: The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. 12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.

2Corinthians: ASo we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he make him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, A At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.@ See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!

Matthew : ABeware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

May the Lord bless the reading of His Holy Word. AMEN.

We all make mistakes. But there are mistakes and there are mistakes. If a barber makes a

mistake, he calls it a new hairstyle.

If the person you are working for makes a mistake, it=s not her mistake,Cit=s your mistake.

If a driver makes a mistake, it=s probably an accident. But if a doctor makes a mistakeCit could cost a life. Things happen. A heart cauterization is performed on the wrong person. The right leg is amputated instead of the left one. Your heart problem is misdiagnosed or the wrong medication is prescribed.

By and large our doctors visits are positive and they are assuring people but mistakes happen, and if a mistake happened to you, what would you expect to hear from your doctor.

A) No explanation or comment whatsoever?

B) Statements of defense and denial?

C) Full disclosure of the error and a complete apology?

C would probably be the last one we would choose or expect. Lately doctors who have made some medical blunders have really selected to do C. They have gone to the patient, or patient=s family, owned up to their mistakes and said they were sorry.

Now this is a really big deal. I have not heard of many doctors apologizing to patients. Usually if a mistake occurs then a suit usually follows, doesn=t it? Doctors malpractice insurance can be as much as 200,000 dollars a year. That=s a lot, so if apologizing can reduce that then doctors are being encouraged to do just that. But is it a real apology. I guess it revolves around the situation. There will always be some patients who see a medical error as an opportunity for financial gain, and others who, while glad the physician took responsibility for the mishap, still have a legitimated need for financial compensation. But among those injured parties who have chosen either not to sue or to settle out of court for a lesser amount, some have explained that the practitioner=s apology Ahonored me as a human being@ or treated me Alike a real person.@

Does repentance count if there is a big payoff? In any field of endeavor, mistakes will be made, but if apologizing gets you off the hook for some of the penalty, can the contrition be considered sincere? Are you really remorseful or is the apology just a tactic to ward off unpleasant consequences? If the apology is not genuine, does it count in the higher scheme of things?

As we have read through the Scripture today, God often seems more interested in intentions and how that will result in changed behavior.

In Matthew today Jesus says, ABeware of practicing you piety before others in order to be seen by them for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. When you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, and the streets, so that they may be praised by others...........But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.@

God looks into our hearts, he grabs a hold because he knows our intentions. Sweet people if God doesn=t see changed behavior your not doing something right. If you are just going through the motions then God will know it and he will not like it. In Isaiah it say=s, AWhy do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice? Then God answers: ALook, you serve your own interests on your fast day.@ In other words the people might fast but at the same time they were oppressing others. God says the kind of fasting that is acceptable to him is the kind that is filled with true repentance, the king in which the penitent not only asks for forgiveness but also moves to correct his or her sins and wrongdoing.

Right intentions without results is empty. Results without right intentions is conniving. But right intentions with appropriate results are what repentance is all about. It=s the way to live a holy life. It=s God way. Come repent and receive your ashes. And my God hear us and may respond to us. God looks for our intentions and the follow through that our intentions yield.

And all God=s people say, AMEN.

Prayer: We are dust, and to dust we shall return. Have mercy on us, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your mercy; blot out our trangressions. Breathe life into our lungs of clay; let us sing your heavenly praise. We are wounded. Broken and battered, guilty, spoiled, veiled by the shadows of sin. Wash our wounds, cleanse our hearts, bind up our brokenness. Make us radiant with your love, confident in your goodness. We are hands and feet for a lonely world. We are voice and song for a silent world. We are heart and gift for a needy world. Amen

Scripture

Luke 5:1-11

The Calling of the First Disciples

¹One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, ²he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down^[2] the nets for a catch."
⁵Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
⁶When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" ⁹For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.
¹¹Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

May the Lord bless the reading of His Holy Word. We see It. May we hear It. Receive and accept It and then live in response to It. AMEN.

I want to play a little can you remember this: I was driving at 15. My family lived in Mississippi and when my Dad was transferred to the Montgomery Wards store in Lakeland we all moved to Florida. Florida took my drivers license away until I was 16. I can remember gas prices. Can you? In 1970 the price of regular gas was .36. Nixon was President and the cost of a first class stamp was .06. Who can tell me the price of gas when they began to drive?

1980 Carter was President regular gas was 1.25. 1986 Reagan was President regular gas was .93. 1990 George Bush was President and the cost of gas was $1.16. 1997 Clinton was President the cost of regular gas was $1.23. 2003 George W. Bush was President and the cost of regular gas was $1.72. And well today Barack Obama is President and the cost regular gasoline is 2.67.

Some of the best times driving were the times you pulled up to a service station and a guy came out and asked: How much do you want today? And I said, “Fill her up.” Fill her up, Fred, fill her up, Sam, fill her Gomer. Fill her up.”

The first thing ask today when you pull up to the “Gas Mart” is: So, do you want to get out or me?”

These four fishermen were not strangers to Jesus. When he spoke to them they called him, "master," or "teacher." He had previously talked with them about accompanying him on his mission, but they had made no decision. As they were visiting after the crowds had gone home, he said to Peter, "Take your boats out and let down your nets one more time -- over there in the deep water."
"Won't do any good," replied Simon. "Fishing in this lake isn't what it used to be. We've worked all night, and don't have a single fish to show for it." Ever been there? I have. You do your best, work hard and the results are zero. An important personal relationship goes sour and there is nothing you can do. You watch a marriage dissolve before your eyes and you can't save it. The harder you try the less you produce. Life dries up.

The last thing we want to hear, when things aren't going well, we should try harder. These four fishermen Jesus encountered were not stupid. They knew the lake, the ledges where the fish congregated, the kind of weather you had to have to bring in a good catch. Their families had been working these waters for generations. But if all the conditions were right that night, their nets remained empty.
    "Try over here," Jesus said. "Go on out deeper." They were tired, and the suggestion must have irritated them. Weary as they were, they got into their boats, rowed to the deep water and let down their nets. Why the trouble? Because they were learning to trust him. Soon they would be trusting him with their lives.
    You heard the story read. They caught such a great shoal of fish their nets were breaking. If I am fishing in barren waters, and somebody tells me they are biting out there in the deeper waters, being angry won't solve my problem. I can either continue my hapless efforts, or move out from shore. It is my decision.
    If nothing is going well for you, perhaps the waters you have been working are too shallow. Sometimes the road to fulfillment lies in deeper waters than I have ever gone. Sometimes I have to take a risk; and that is frightening. There is no guarantee I will succeed. It may be just another futile effort. But what if I don't even try?
    I know people whose lives are miserable, because for years they have refused to risk anything. They have resources but do not use them, skills but do not develop them, dreams but do not follow them, gifts but do not share them, possessions but do not dedicate them because they are afraid that to do anything, give anything, risk anything is too much of a threat. So they sit quietly in the middle of their boat, in the shallow waters, where there are no fish, and complain, are dissatisfied, bored and wonder why nothing happens.
    Perhaps many of us don’t act until we get to the point where the depression, discouragement and pain are more profound than the risk. Trying something different becomes a better option than dying of dry rot. I have known a few people, however, who would rather die than change.
    There are churches which will choose to close before they reach into the unknown and untried. Other congregations often get in over their heads, move into deep water, take risks – and say “fill’er up, Lord,” they are the stronger for it.
    I often wonder where Jesus will tell us to lower our nets next? It may be with victims of Haiti, or street people, or the homeless, or in fresh styles of worship, or a different sort of music, or the fight to save the environment, or an after-school program for Lena Vista Elementary.
     My question to you: If life is at one of those stuck places, what are you going to attempt this year you didn't attempt last year? Into what deeper waters will you venture? What will you risk for the cause of the kingdom? It may be that your happiness, your sense of well-being, your security rests on how you answer that question. Some will be made whole, saved, fulfilled because they dared. Many will be lost because they sat quietly and ran out of gas.

Each of us can decide that there is more to life than we have found, and that to follow Jesus means deeper water, more risk, new paths and a full net of fish.
Andrew, Peter, James and John left their nets to become fishers of men, disciples, apostles, martyrs and saints. It all started that morning, when after having worked all night and taken nothing, a man said to them, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." Fill her up, Lord. Fill him up, Lord. Fill us up, Jesus!

And all God’s people say, AMEN.

Communion