My First Sermon: What actually came out of my mouth

So, I recorded my first sermon.  To spare you listening to my singing, and since most of you probably don't speak Kinyarwanda or Amahavu well enough to make the translation worthwhile, I've typed up a transcript of my English during the sermon.  I haven't doctored what I said, as much as I might like to.  This is really what came out of my mouth:

There is Good News!  Our faith brings good news.  Jesus Christ is God.  He came to earth.  He lived among us to teach us who God is.  He sacrificed Himself for us and died.  He was raised from the dead. He ascended to Heaven, and He reigns over us as our King.  I didn’t always believe this.  I was 32 years old when I accepted this truth.  I am a sinful person, filled with sin.  I lived for myself.  I am selfish.  I am greedy.  I am lazy; I do not like to work when I should.  The bible teaches us that there is only one kind of person; a person filled with sin.

But I have faith in Christ as my savior and He has redeemed me.  Paul teaches in Ephesians Chapter 2, verses 4 and 5 and again in verses 8-10, “But God being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved -- … For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Faith in Jesus saves us.  But just as we heard this morning from the book of Deuteronomy, God promises blessings if we follow His commands.  If we accept Jesus as our King, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in our hearts.  The Holy Spirit guides us so that we can show the fruit of our redemption.  Just as Paul trusted the Holy Spirit when he got aboard the ship as we heard about in Acts 27 this morning.  Today I want to teach about one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  The fruit of mercy.

Before Jesus came to earth to show us who God is, there were men who spoke for God called “prophets.” One prophet who spoke for God about 700 years before Jesus came was named Hosea. In Chapter 6 verse 6 of the book of Hosea, Hosea tells us that God gave us a message.  God said, “For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.”  Jesus used these words from the prophet Hosea to teach men around Him, where He lived.  Matthew in his gospel, records Jesus talking to men called Pharisees.  The Pharisees thought they were doing the right things for God.  They made many personal sacrifices.  They made sure they always dressed the right way.  They made sure they always talked the right way.  They made sure they always gave the right things at the Temple.  They thought they were doing what God wanted them to with these sacrifices.

But Jesus used the words of Hosea to teach them something different.  Twice in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus uses Hosea’s words talking to the Pharisees.  In Ch 9 v 13 and again in Ch 12 v 7, Jesus uses Hosea’s words.  Jesus tells these men making sacrifices, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”  Jesus was telling them that they had been deceived by Satan.  That God does not want sacrifices; God wants mercy.  Jesus tells us to follow two rules.  To love God, and to love our neighbors.  A man once asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”  Jesus’ answer is a story.  It is a story about selfishness.  It is a story about sacrifice.  But more importantly, it is a story about mercy.  I’ll read from the Word. 

The gospel of Luke, Chapter 10 vv. 30-37:

Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

The priest and the Levite were following God's law of purity.  If the man by the side of the road was actually dead, and they touched him, they would be impure and would not be able to worship in the Temple.  Following the law of purity, they neglected the command for mercy.  God says in Leviticus 19:18, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  These men would not have wanted to be left for dead.  They were not being neighbors to the man who was hurt.

The Samaritan, when he came by, did not know if the robbers had left or if they were still close by.  He sacrificed his safety to care for the man.  He had a long journey to complete.  He sacrificed his time to care for the man.  When he got to the inn, the innkeeper required money.  He sacrificed his money to care for the man.  But Jesus doesn’t tell us that the Samaritan was a neighbor because of his sacrifice.  Jesus tells us that the Samaritan was a neighbor because the things he did came from a heart of mercy.

How can we show our heart of mercy?  What if you know someone whose loved family member has died?  How can you show mercy to them?  You might prepare food for them. You could help them with their work, something that might be hard while they are in mourning.  What if someone has lost an animal?  You can help them find it.  If a boat is damaged you can help repair it.  If a child needs money for school fees, or clothes for school you can give them money.  All of these things are sacrifices.  You are sacrificing your time.  You are sacrificing your strength.  You are sacrificing your food or your money.  But Paul tells us that if we do these things to feel good about ourselves or puff ourselves up, we are not showing mercy.  We do these things because from the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we can show love for our neighbor.

This is not an easy thing.  I am selfish.  I do not want to love others as I love me.  It takes time to change.  But if you have Jesus as your King, the Holy Spirit is within you and he will help you.  Ask Him for help.  Pray to Him for help.  It can be hardest to show mercy and love to our neighbors who have harmed us.  But Jesus’ story of the Samaritan can tell us something of this as well.  Samaritans were not accepted among the Jews.  Their tribe was considered inferior.  The Jews did many evil things to the Samaritans.  And yet the Samaritan showed mercy to a Jew who was injured.

But the best example I have seen of showing mercy, I have seen right here.  The best example of loving your neighbor, I learned in this church.  The savings and credit groups that come together as neighbors and share among themselves are showing love for their neighbors.  What they do comes from a heart of wanting to help each other.  This is very good.  

God reached out to us with mercy.  God showed Grace for us when He sent His son to die for our sins.  We do not always do what God wants to do, but He shows us grace and mercy. Imana ishimwe (Praise God).  He has shown us Grace.  He has given us His Holy Spirit to help us.  Let us go and show our love to our neighbors.  Amen.

Reworked sermon, "Mercy not Sacrifice"

So, Pastor Meyer was rightly concerned that my sermon might be misconstrued as a false 'works righteousness' gospel.  This draft puts the Gospel first.  St. Augustine helped me get my thoughts together, but his City of God was left on the cutting room floor in this version.

MERCY NOT SACRIFICE

Paul presents the Gospel of Christianity in 1^st Corinthians chapter 15. Jesus Christ is God.  He came to Earth and died for our sins.  He was raised from the dead, ascended, and reigns over us.  I didn't always believe this truth.  I lived to please myself.  I am a fallen man.  I am selfish, and greedy, and lazy.  There is only one kind of person, the sinful person.  But I have faith in Christ and He has redeemed me.  Paul, in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4 and 5, states “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—“ I am sinful and deserving death, but now I trust Jesus as my redeemer and serve Him as my King.  Reading further from Ephesians 2, verses 8 through 10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  If we have accepted Jesus’ lordship over us, the Holy Spirit comes to aid us and dwell in our hearts.  The Holy Spirit guides us so that we can show the fruit of our redemption.  Today we are going to learn about the fruit of mercy.

Around 700 years before God came to us as Jesus, a prophet who spoke for God named Hosea said these words:

Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy not sacrifice.” 

Jesus used the words of Hosea, the words of God to Hebrews living centuries before, to rebuke some of those who thought they were living as God wanted them to.

Matthew’s gospel reports many encounters of Jesus and a group of very religious people called the Pharisees.  The Pharisees thought that they were doing the right things in how they honored God.  They tried to perform every part of God’s law that required personal sacrifice.  They wore the right things, they walked and talked the right way, and they made the right offerings of their belongings at the Temple of God.  They thought they were doing what God wanted by this kind of sacrifice.  But Jesus taught them something different. 

In Matthew 9 verse 13 and again in Matthew 12 verse 7, Jesus quotes Hosea.  I will read the verses:

9:13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

12:7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

To both groups he implores them to learn and apply mercy, rather than require sacrifice.  This call for mercy is stated even more explicitly in Matthew 23 verse 23:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

Jesus was telling them that they had been deceived by Satan into believing they were honoring God with personal sacrifices, when what God wanted, what God wants, is mercy.  Jesus tells us to put two rules first.  To love God, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  So, how do we show mercy the way that God wants us to show mercy?

In the 10^th chapter of Luke’s gospel, a man asks Jesus this question directly.  This lawyer stood up and asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”  Jesus’ answer is a story.  It is a story about selfishness and sacrifice, but most importantly, it is a story about how to show mercy.

I will read from the Word; Luke 10:30-37

Jesus replied, “A man Jerusalem  Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.  He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.  And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’  Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

TempleYou shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”  Love your neighbor as yourself.  These men would not have wanted to be left for dead.  They were not being neighbors.

The Samaritan had no idea whether the robbers were gone for good.   He sacrificed his safety to help the stricken man.  He had some place to be and a journey to complete.  He sacrificed his time to care for the man.   He had limited resources as all of us do.  He sacrificed his money to care for the man.  But Jesus does not tell us he is doing right by the man because of his sacrifice.  Jesus tells us that the Samaritan has done right because his sacrifices come from a heart of mercy.  So, how can we love our neighbors?  How can we show our heart of mercy?

What if you know someone whose loved family member has died?  How can you show mercy to them?  You can go and comfort them.  You can help them in their daily tasks; things which may be hard for them to do while in mourning.  You can offer them food.    What if your neighbor has lost an animal?  You can show mercy by helping them search.  What if the food they have stored has gone bad?  You may offer them some of what you have stored.  If a boat is damaged, you can help repair it.  If a child needs an adult to walk with them to make sure they get to school safely, you may escort him.  If a home needs repaired, you may help.  If a child needs clothes to go to school you may give money to aid her.  All of these things are sacrifices on your part.  You may be sacrificing your time, your strength, your food, or your money.  And remember, if you do them to seek your own glory, so that you become puffed up because you have sacrificed, you are not showing a heart of mercy.  You must do these things simply because you love your neighbor.

This is not easy.  This does not come quickly.  If you have a selfish heart, it will take time to change.  But the Holy Spirit is with us to help us change.  Every one of you who has accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior has the Holy Spirit to help you.  Ask Him for help.  In the Bible, Jesus called on some people to give up everything they had to follow Him.  It may be that Jesus is calling you to the same, but my advice is to start small and ask for help through prayer.  Begin by looking around where you live and finding one thing you can do to serve your neighbor and show your love for them each day.  The very smallest things in your eyes may bring joy to your neighbor.  Perhaps there is trash near their house you could remove for them.  Where I come from, simply smiling and saying hello to everyone throughout your day can show them that you care for them.  You could carry something for them when you see them walking by with a heavy burden.  Try it.  (*Todd suggests using a personal anecdote of a native of the island solicited by asking folks to tell me “the nicest thing someone has done for them”*) My experience is that every act of love I do makes me want to do more.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit within me. 

God, in his mercy, looks beyond our selfishness and loves us.  It can be hardest to show love to those who do not return love to you; but Jesus’ example can teach us something about this as well.  Samaritans were not accepted in Jewish society.  Their tribe was considered inferior and many times throughout their history, the Jews had done evil things to them.  And yet, this Samaritan chooses to reach out to a man in need who was of a different tribe and show him mercy.  We do not do the things God wishes us to do at all times and yet God reaches down to us with Grace and sends His Son to rescue us, as an act of love despite the fact that we do not always show Him love in return.

Praise our Heavenly Father.  He has shown us Grace.  He has given us His Holy Spirit to help us.  Let us go now and show mercy to each other.  Amen.

My first sermon.

I decided to post this transcript of what is to be my first sermon.  Obviously, I hope to preach from notes rather than from a full script like this one, but I thought it would be good to organize my thoughts on paper in a complete narrative just so I could see about how long it is in English.  The sermon will be translated as I speak into at least 1 additional language and possibly two.  This transcript takes me approximately 10 minutes to read with proper inflection and articulation.  This means that at best it will be 20 minutes when translated but perhaps longer than 30 minutes.  I also plan on signing a praise song in English (a capella solo) and then offering a prayer for acceptance of the sermon and the Spirit's guidance of my words prior to beginning.  It is to be delivered to a rural Rwandan population living on an island in crowded, materially impoverished, conditions.  I would appreciate any input you may have.  Thanks in advance.

MERCY NOT SACRIFICE

Around 700 years before God came to us as Jesus, a prophet who spoke for God named Hosea said these words:

Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy not sacrifice.”  

We are going to talk a little about what this means this morning.

Around 400 years after Jesus came to us, there was a man who lived much nearer to here than where I am from.  This man, Augustine, was an African.  His blessed mother prayed and prayed that Augustine would find his way to salvation through Christ, but this took a very long time.  Augustine was around the same age I was when he was saved by the Spirit of our Lord.  He was about 32.  He later became bishop of a city in North Africa and presided over his churches at a time when the great Roman empire was disintegrating.  Augustine thought of all these things and wrote a book called The City of God.  In it, he discusses something which should be obvious to any of us who have spent much time here.  There is a great conflict going on around us and there are two ways to live.  We can live as if we are a part of the City of Man, enslaved to our selfish desires and motivated only by what pleases us; or we can live as if we are a part of the City of God, released from enslavement to our passions and able to work to restore God’s perfect order to society.

Why do I bring up the ideas of Augustine this morning?  Because, I want us to remember that Christ has been working in Africa for a long time.  But our Enemy has been at work here as well.  Just as everywhere on Earth, there is a struggle between the City of Man and the City of God.  The question I have for you this morning, is “How do you live?  As a citizen of the City of Man, or as a redeemed and blessed citizen of the City of God?”  For those of you who have accepted Jesus as your savior, you may quickly answer that you are a part of the City of God, but there were many in Jesus’ day who thought this as well, and Jesus had something to teach them.  Jesus used the words of Hosea, the words of God to Hebrews living centuries before, to rebuke some of those who thought they were living as God wanted them to.

Matthew’s gospel reports many encounters of Jesus and a group of very religious people called the Pharisees.  The Pharisees thought that they were doing the right things in how they honored God.  They tried to perform every part of God’s law that required personal sacrifice.  They wore the right things, they walked and talked the right way, and they made the right offerings of their belongings at the Temple of God.  They thought they were doing what God wanted by this kind of sacrifice.  But Jesus taught them something different. 

In Matthew 9 verse 13 and again in Matthew 12 verse 7, Jesus quotes Hosea.  I will read the verses:

9:13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

12:7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

To both groups he implores them to learn and apply mercy, rather than require sacrifice.  This call for mercy is stated even more explicitly in Matthew 23 verse 23:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

Jesus was telling them that they had been deceived by the Enemy into believing they were honoring God with personal sacrifices, when what God wanted, what God wants, is mercy.  Jesus tells us to put two rules first.  To love God, and to love each other as we love ourselves.  If we are able to love our neighbor as ourself, then we have become a citizen of the City of God and we have overcome the selfishness of the City of Man.  So, how do we show mercy the way that God wants us to show mercy?

In the 10^th chapter of Luke’s gospel, a man asks Jesus this question directly.  This lawyer stood up and asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”  Jesus’ answer is a story.  It is a story about selfishness and sacrifice, but most importantly, it is a story about how to show mercy.

I will read from the Word; Luke 10:30-37

Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.  He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.  And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’  Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

The priest and the Levite were afraid to touch the man because if it turned out that he was dead then they would be impure based on the Temple law and would be unable to go to the Temple until they could be purified.  The Pharisees listening to this story would have understood this and been proud of the men for maintaining their purity.  But following this portion of the law neglected to show mercy for the man who had been robbed and injured.  Leviticus 19:18, a verse of the law the priest and Levite surely knew by heart, states “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”  Love your neighbor as yourself.  These men would not have wanted to be left for dead.  They were not being neighbors.

The Samaritan had no idea whether the robbers were gone for good.   He sacrificed his safety to help the stricken man.  He had some place to be and a journey to complete.  He sacrificed his time to care for the man.   He had limited resources as all of us do.  He sacrificed his money to care for the man.  But Jesus does not tell us he is doing right by the man because of his sacrifice.  Jesus tells us that the Samaritan has done right because his sacrifices come from a heart of mercy.  So, how can we love our neighbors?  How can we show our heart of mercy?

What if you know someone whose loved family member has died?  How can you show mercy to them?  You can go and comfort them.  You can help them in their daily tasks; things which may be hard for them to do while in mourning.  You can offer them food.    What if your neighbor has lost an animal?  You can show mercy by helping them search.  What if the food they have stored has gone bad?  You may offer them some of what you have stored.  If a boat is damaged, you can help repair it.  If a child needs an adult to walk with them to make sure they get to school safely, you may escort him.  If a home needs repaired, you may help.  If a child needs clothes to go to school you may give money to aid her.  All of these things are sacrifices on your part.  You may be sacrificing your time, your strength, your food, or your money.  And remember, if you do them to seek your own glory, so that you become puffed up because you have sacrificed, you are not showing a heart of mercy.  You must do these things simply because you love your neighbor.

This is not easy.  This does not come quickly.  If you have a selfish heart, it will take time to change.  But the Holy Spirit is with us to help us change.  Every one of you who has accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior has the Holy Spirit to help you.  Ask Him for help.  In the Bible, Jesus called on some people to give up everything they had to follow Him.  It may be that Jesus is calling you to the same, but my advice is to start small and ask for help through prayer.  Begin by looking around where you live and finding one thing you can do to serve your neighbor and show your love for them each day.  The very smallest things in your eyes may bring joy to your neighbor.  Perhaps there is trash near their house you could remove for them.  Where I come from, simply smiling and saying hello to everyone throughout your day can show them that you care for them.  You could carry something for them when you see them walking by with a heavy burden.  Try it.  My experience is that every act of love I do makes me want to do more.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit within me. 

God, in his mercy, looks beyond our selfishness and loves us.  It can be hardest to show love to those who do not return love to you; but Jesus’ example can teach us something about this as well.  Samaritans were not accepted in Jewish society.  Their tribe was considered inferior and many times throughout their history, the Jews had done evil things to them.  And yet, this Samaritan chooses to reach out to a man in need who was of a different tribe and show him mercy.  We do not do the things God wishes us to do at all times and yet God reaches down to us with Grace and sends His Son to rescue us, as an act of love despite the fact that we do not always show Him love in return.

Praise our Heavenly Father.  He has shown us Grace.  He has given us His Holy Spirit to help us.  Let us go now and show mercy to each other.