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"New Beginnings"
January 11, 2004 The Rev. Dr. Christopher Carlson
The Scripture lesson this morning comes from Genesis chapter 45:1-8. It is the famous story of Joseph, who was disliked by his brothers--as a matter of fact, so much so that they threw him into a pit and then decided to make a profit out of him and got him out of the pit and sold him to some slave traders who were going to Egypt. Joseph went down to Egypt and a lot of interesting things happened to him, but he wound up becoming second to the Pharaoh in authority. Then along the way there was a famine in the land, and Joseph's brothers were forced to go to Egypt to ask for food, and lo and behold, there was Joseph. They didn't know him. And, in the end, he reveals himself to them. And this is the scene where Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. Let us listen carefully to the Word of God:
Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, "Send everyone away from me." So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?" But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come closer to me." And they came closer. He said, "I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will neither be plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me father to Pharaoh, and lord over all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. . ."
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Let us pray together. Father, be with us now as we listen to your Word that is preached. Open our hearts. Bless us, that we may walk away from here encouraged to serve you and to love you more. We also ask, Lord, that what we do here now would be pleasing to you. We ask that in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, in Texas they like to do everything really big! Or unusual. There's a story about a man who was in a habit of giving his father unusual presents for Fathers Day. One year he gave him hang-gliding lessons. Another year, a whole collection of Slim Whitman records. Another year, tickets to the Houston Astros--for the whole year! Well, this year he was going to outdo himself. He bought a bird that could speak in six languages, stand on one leg, and sing "The Yellow Rose of Texas." It cost him $10,000, but he thought it was worth every penny. And he sent it to his Dad for Fathers Day. He waited a couple days and he called his Dad. He said, "Dad, how did you like the bird?" And his father said, "It was delicious!"
Well, I've been thinking about gifts lately. Not particularly because it's Christmas, though it's a good time to think about giving and gifts at Christmas. But particularly, from a personal standpoint, the gifts that God has given me. And I think about my last church in Houston. I had just a wonderful time with them. There were so many ways in which they welcomed us and gave us--helped us out when we needed help. My mother lived with us for a while in Tennessee and in Texas. She, as some people have it, you know, she had some senile dementia and she wasn't doing that well, but she still lived with us and we had help from that church. She passed away and there was ministry from that church when that happened--so many ways in which we were just ministered to in this particular place.
But now I've been given something else. I've been given another call, and another place, and another wonderful group of people. I mean that. I feel like you are a gift to me because, you know, I was at this last church, but I knew I wouldn't be there forever. I knew I would be a Senior Pastor again some time. And so I began praying about it for a long time, that God would lead me to the right place. And, you know, it's funny. You start looking for this, and it happens, and you interview with a couple churches, and you think, "This is it!" And then something happens and it falls through.
In my case, 9/11 happened. I am in the Army Reserves and a lot of people would say, "Uh-oh--he's in the reserves." And, sure enough, I was called up. But, you know, it was just a matter of God's timing. I think, in God's case, I was waiting for you and you were waiting for me. So I feel like you are a gift and I'm so glad to be here--even coming to Minnesota! You know, I've discovered something about the cold. It's a matter of perspective, really. You know, it's funny. Everybody--in Houston and Minnesota--that's the first thing out of their mouths. I tell people in Houston, "I'm going to Minnesota!" "It's cold up there!" You have quite a reputation. And then everybody here says, "Have you gotten used to the cold yet?" Uh, no, not yet. But sooner or later I will. But it is a matter of perspective.
It's kind of like the story I heard about a man who lived on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin, out in the country. He lived on the Wisconsin side, but some surveyors came along and they said there was a doubt about where the state line ran and he might actually be in Minnesota. They did their surveying and found out that he actually did live in Wisconsin and he said, "Thank God! I didn't think I could stand the Minnesota winters!"
It's a matter of perspective. But it is my goal also to give gifts to you while I'm here, and I just want to tell you a few of those as kind of a starting point, a "New Beginning," if you will. I think the first thing I want to give to you, and really, to give myself and all of us, is simply Jesus. I think it's the job of every preacher to preach Christ, to be Christ-centered. And it is my hope to do that while I'm here. Because I believe with all my heart that the Christian life is about a relationship with Jesus Christ, with God through Jesus Christ. And all of us are in different places in that relationship. Some of us, on a scale of 1 to 10--if you were to ask yourself, "Where am I with Jesus right now?" On a scale of 0 to 10, would it be a 1? Would it be an 8? Would it be a 6? And, actually, in our lives we're at different points. There are days when we feel like it's a 2 or a 1. Other days we feel really close to the Lord. But I feel like there ought to be a progression, at least. As we get older in Christ, we need to know more about Him and grow in that relationship. That's true of all of us. I know that my own relationship with Christ--sometimes it's a 2. Sometimes it's a 10. But I want it to be better and better. And that's what I want for you as well: to grow in that relationship. I often have people tell me, "I just feel like the Lord is far away from me." And I always say something like, "Well, if you feel like the Lord is far away from you, guess who moved!" It's always us who need to come to the Lord. The Lord's always there. And all of us move away from God and move back and forth. It's my hope to help you, and help you help myself, move closer to the Lord.
I hope also to give you a gift of gratitude, more and more. Because, again, it is about Christ and what He has done for us. There's an old story about a man during the Civil War who was drafted. He had a family, he had a farm, he had children, and he was so worried about having to leave his family and farm. But his neighbor came to him and said, "Jack, you know, I think you're needed here. I don't have any family and I'm going to go in your place." And they could do that back in the Civil War, as I understand it, and he did. But, unfortunately, the man who went in his place was killed in the first battle. So Jack saddled up his horse and went to the battlefield and was able to find the body of his friend. He took him back, and he buried him in the churchyard, and he put on his tombstone, "He died for me." And Jesus has.
I think part of the Christian life is growing in appreciation of all the Lord has done for us, but particularly that. We all stand before the cross on level ground. There is none better than the other. We're all in need of that forgiving grace that comes from the cross. And I think part of simply being happy, and being positive about life, is knowing that and growing in gratitude.
I also hope to give you the gift of assurance that God really loves you. I botched it a little bit, but I wanted to have you say to one another, "God does love you and there is nothing you can do about it!" You know, over and over again in the Scriptures, it says, "Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus." Over and over again: "Neither angels, nor principalities, height, nor depth . . ." But the biggest enemy we have sometimes is ourselves. We all know that, don't we? But, even so, you can't botch up God's love for you. He really does love you.
I remember when I was growing up, my father would, every now and then, get this goofy look on his face when he looked at me. And, you know, teenagers sometimes are kind of snotty and I would look at Dad and say, "What is wrong with you? Why do you have this goofy look when you're looking at me?" And he looked at me and he said, "You know, when you have your own children, you will understand." And his look wasn't one of anger. It was more like, "Wow! I've got a child here!" It was one of delight. And I didn't understand that until I look at my own children. And God is like our parent. Sometimes He does get angry with us, sometimes He gets exasperated with us, sometimes He throws up His hands. But I think His look is one of delight at heart, because He is our Parent. He loves us.
There are many things that I hope to give you. I hope to encourage you. And it really is my goal to encourage you. Encouragement literally means, "to help forward," and that's what I want to do is help you move forward. And last, but not least, I also want to also encourage you, and give you the gift of the idea that all of you--every one of you--is called by God. I know sometimes you look and say to a minister, for example, "You're called. You have a calling. It's clear to you." And to some degree, that's true. I have an advantage over you sometimes. Sometimes ministers do have a clearcut calling. And sometimes it's hard to figure out what God wants us to do. But I really believe that every one of us has a calling to be where we are and to do God's work. I think, particularly, we're all called to make a difference for Jesus Christ where we are. That's what I've always hoped to do, wherever I've been: to simply make a difference for Christ. And I hope to do that here. However God will use me to do that, I hope to do it. That's true for all of us. You know, life is not about simply living it. It's great to enjoy life. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a prude, and I don't believe in being sad all the time, and putting our nose to the grindstone. I believe in having fun. I hope you have fun. But life is about making a difference for Christ wherever you are, wherever God has placed you. One of the questions we all should ask is, "What would God have me do here, in this place, to make a difference?" And it can be in any way--with our children, in our schools, at our work.
True story: There was a man I knew who was the chairman of the board of a very big bank. He was a Christian man. And one day he got a phone call to come to a meeting. Apparently a group of banks had loaned a company--and you would know this company if I told you what it was. At one time its business was not doing very well and they were having a hard time. These banks had loaned them some money and the call was about what they should do about this company, because they still weren't doing well. Should we call the loan back and basically put them out of business? And this man stood up against the whole room and said, "We can't do that! We're not simply talking about putting people out of business. We're talking about families, and people who have work, and all kinds of things. We need to give them another chance." And they did, and that company is doing well today.
Just one story. You may not be the chairman of the board and you may not be a minister. You may be doing all kinds of things. Maybe you're retired. But you're there. We make a difference for Christ wherever we are and whatever we can do. And I hope to encourage you in that because I believe with all my heart that God has called everybody, and gifted everybody, to do His will. And you may not think that you can, but you can.
There's an example someone told about light. You know that light travels at 186,000 miles per second. You know, what's interesting is that some of the light that we see at night from stars originated hundreds, and thousands, and sometimes millions of years ago, and yet it's getting here now. And all of us are products of what people did many years ago--even the disciples 2,000 years ago. We're here because of them. And all of us are here because someone spoke to us, someone did something, influenced us. That light shines. We may not see it, but it does. Your light shines. And God has called you to shine it. You may not know what you do, but God has called you to be an influence in this world.
And last, but not least, I just want to give you a prayer that is really my prayer for here. I like it. It was a prayer that they found in the pocket of the priest who was the priest for the firemen in New York City at 9/11. His name was Father Michael. He died because part of the building fell on him. And in his pocket was the prayer that he always carried with him, and it went like this: Lord, take me where you want me to go. Let me meet who you want me to meet. Tell me what you want me to say. And keep me out of your way.
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let us pray. Father, I thank you for the gift of this group of people. I thank you that you love us all. And I pray that you would help us in our relationship, and that you would help us grow together, and that you would bless these folks, and move among them, and touch them. I thank you for what you are already doing, and it's so wonderful to see. Go with us now we pray, Father, and keep us. In Jesus' name. Amen.
The Rev. Dr. Christopher Carlson Senior Pastor Faith Presbyterian Church Minnetonka, Minnesota
[Transcribed from an audiotape of the 9:00 a.m. worship service on January 11, 2004.] |
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