Sermon Cloud

GOD CARES PART 4 -  Independence Day

(God prepares his anointed to carry his authority)

            One of the things that we moved from Dallas to Guymon was my collection of sticks.  That’s right – I have a stick collection.  It’s not something I worked on collecting intentionally, it just sort of happened, and with a stick here and a stick there I now find that I have around nineteen of them.  Why would I accumulate nineteen sticks?  I mean, a stick is a stick, right?  Well, most folks think that there’s nothing special about a stick, but to a stick aficionado like me, I can tell you that they’re all very different.

             I brought most of my collection here this morning to show you what I mean.  This one is my first stick – it’s one I saved from my first New Mexico mountain wilderness hike.  A good stick can really help you when you have mountains to climb – it’s like having a third leg to help you balance when you’re crossing streams and climbing over rocks, and it’s a shock absorber for going downhill. 

             I have another stick called a “trekking pole” that’s a souped-up version of my first walking stick – it’s adjustable and spring-loaded and made of some special alloy.  A metal trekking pole is to a wooden walking stick what bottled water is to tap water.  The wooden stick is just as good as the fancy one.

             My son brought me this “poisonwood” stick from one of his trips to Africa.   I got this pointed spear from missionaries to New Guinea who worked for Wycliffe Bible Translators – the evil-looking point is the claw of a cassowary bird. 

             Two of these sticks are really special, though:  This stick was given to me by my friend, Larry, when I left my church in Texas to come here.  Larry and I had hiked together with the church kids in Colorado and this was his walking stick from that trip.  The reason it’s special is because Larry and I spent most of that week long trip arguing because Larry didn’t think that women should be allowed to preach.  Before I left for Guymon, Larry gave me his stick and told me he still thought that women shouldn’t be allowed to preach, but he wanted me to know he thought it would be okay for me to preach!

             And this stick has all Ten Commandments carved into it.  It was given to me by The Nor’Kirk in Carrollton, Texas where I spent a summer as an intern.  The man who makes these was a homeless man who lived on the streets of Dallas until the Presbyterian Stewpot Mission helped him get back on his feet by helping him sell these sticks.  He can’t read or write – his friends write the Ten Commandments on sticks he gets from the Trinity River bottom and he carves them.  He’s made enough money doing this that he can afford apartment rent now.  And when President George W. Bush had an audience with the Pope, he gave the Pope one of these sticks. 

             So you see that a stick isn’t “just a stick.”  And there are other sticks that I don’t have here – sticks to measure with, sticks that are used by shepherds and cattle prods used by cowboys,  sticks that are used to punish wrongdoers, divining rods that people use to find underground water, rain sticks, drum sticks, magic wands, and the staffs and scepters used by priests and kings as symbols of their authority.

           In our Hebrew Testament reading this morning, we have the elders of the tribes of Israel coming at last to ask David to take his place as their King after the death of Saul and his son, Jonathan, in battle.  The word for “elder” in Hebrew means “staff bearer” – one who is representative of authority. 

             The staff is an important symbol of authority for the men who approach David.  It is usually important to know who it is that is making an offer – if you accept it, can they make good on it?  Do they have the authority to make an offer and back it up?  Once when I was a JP, the county clerk came to me and said that “a group of people” wanted me to resign as judge and run for District Clerk.  I immediately asked her to bring me the names of 100 people who wanted me to do that and a check for $30,000 to back it up.  Needless to say, she never came back – she had no authority to make such an offer, there was no group, there was no money. 

             So these staff-bearing elders are coming to David with the authority of the tribal heads as well as the consensus of the people, so David can be confident that now is the right time for him to live into the responsibility of his anointing.

             There is a difference – and often a time lapse – between being anointed and being given ultimate authority.  Remember that David was a teenaged shepherd, the youngest of his family, when God told Samuel the priest to anoint him as the next king of Israel.  But David didn’t ascend to the throne immediately.  Instead, he grew and learned and submitted himself to the authority of King Saul.  Saul gave David one of his daughters as a wife, and David moved into the king’s household.  David brought many victories in battle to Israel.  When Saul turned on David in jealousy and tried to kill him, and David had to run for his life, he amassed a private army of men who were loyal to him.  He learned battle skills, restraint and he earned the loyalty of the people and the respect of Israel’s enemies.

             Faith brings authority and authority brings responsibility.    David had defeated Goliath because he had faith that the God of Israel would deliver the giant into his hand.   His faith pleased God, so God directed Samuel to anoint him as the next king.  But it had been seventeen years since his anointing, and during that time he had always been under the authority of either his father or King Saul.  Now, though, he was going to exchange his shepherd’s staff for a royal scepter, and accept responsibility to shepherd Israel instead of sheep.  He would be released from the obedience to the authority of others and given the authority of God to bear in independent leadership. 

             But while the events and circumstances during those seventeen years were preparatory for David, verse 10 makes it clear that David’s ascent to power and success was not because of his exceptional performance, it was “because the LORD God Almighty was with him.” 

             The gospel reading this morning, teaches us that it is the same for the disciples of Jesus.  The twelve apostles had been chosen by God and called to follow Jesus.  For years they had lived with Jesus, listened to him teach and seen him perform many healings and miracles that showed his command over nature.  Like David, they were anointed for leadership, but they had travelled with Jesus as a group of students following their teacher and rabbi.  He showed them his healing power, taught them how to pray and demonstrated how to take authority over evil spirits.  Now the group has returned to Jesus’ hometown, and the people who have known Jesus since he was a child, including his own family, have rejected his authority to teach them the wisdom of God. 

             It is interesting that verse 5 says that Jesus “could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few people and heal them” because of their lack of faith.   Jesus struggled with the limitations of his humanity as he tried to minister in the face of their rejection.  Apparently lack of faith drains power from Jesus the way kryptonite saps Superman.     

             It is after this public rejection of his own ministry that Jesus gives his authority over to The Twelve – he tells them to “take nothing but a staff” – the symbol of their authority as elders sent by God . These ordinary men were released from their student status and given independence to heal and drive out demons.  Like David, they had the authority and power of God.  The staff of authority is the only thing they were to take – no food or money; no extra tunic to sleep on.  They are to depend on the hospitality of the people of God for their provision on the way.  And if anyone did not welcome them, they were to “shake it off” and move on.

             Whether we talk about David, or The Twelve, or all of God’s people, it is the same story:  God’s people are anointed – elected - to be God’s people by the grace of God.   “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, [not by our own performance and merits, no matter how well prepared we are], so that no one can boast.”[1] 

             Like David and The Twelve, all of God’s people – all of us - are anointed to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do.[2]

            Everything that has happened to you – good or bad – up to this point in your life has been preparation for whatever work it is that God has planned for you to do since before you were born.  Like David’s faith matured through the experiences of his life, and the faith of the disciples matured as they walked with Jesus, our faith matures both through experience and the study of the Word of God, which Paul says we have been given to “thoroughly equip us for every good work.” [3] 

             Like David, it doesn’t matter how old you are, and like the disciples, it doesn’t matter how poor or rich you are, or how well educated you are or not.  It doesn’t matter if you have a house, a family, and responsibilities, or if you have no money, or poor health.  When God decides your faith is equal to the task he has for you, the only response is to accept the authority to accomplish the task.  When God is ready for you to go, you need to go – He will provide the staff and the power. 

             The saints of this church need to understand this:  If it is truly God’s work for you individually, or for this congregation, the way will be made, the money will be there, the doors will be opened and the tickets will arrive. 

             When I was invited on a mission to Russia, I was a seminary student with no job and no resources.  My pastor told me to write a letter to 100 people and ask them to help.  I told him I didn’t know 100 people.  He said, “Yes, you do.  You have a doctor and a dentist and a car mechanic and neighbors and people you went to high school with that you haven’t seen for 20 years.  Write them all.”  The round trip ticket cost $1200.  I sent 100 letters and received $4,000, which enabled two other people to go on the trip and leave a gift to the mission in Russia besides.  I had relatives that sent $10 – the in-laws of the family across the road, whom I didn’t know at all, sent $400 that they had been saving, because they said they’d been waiting for God to tell them what to do with the money.   When God is ready for you to go, you need to go – He will provide the staff and the power. 

             Pastor James told me of his first trip to Africa.  He felt God wanted him to go to Uganda, but he had no idea where the money would come from and he had no contacts in Uganda.  He made his desire known in church and a man he didn’t know came up to him and gave him a check for $1500.  So James took the money and bought a ticket.  He went to the airport to fly to New York to catch an overseas connection.  His flight to New York was diverted to Phoenix because of weather.  He couldn’t understand why, when he had acted on his faith, that God had allowed him to miss his connection.  When he was standing in line for the ticket counter in Phoenix, waiting to try to get another connection, he struck up a conversation with the man in front of him, who had also been diverted to Phoenix because of the weather.  The man turned out to be a Ugandan pastor who ran a home for children orphaned by AIDS.    When God is ready for you to go, you need to go – He will provide the staff and the power and he will divert two planes and put you in the same line with the person you need to meet. 

             Finally, when you worry about failure, or if you actually do fail in whatever it is that you think God has called you to do, remember that the results do not depend on you – the results depend on God and those to whom you are sent.  Jesus allowed his disciples to witness his rejection in his hometown and his resulting powerlessness.  Jesus gave instructions to The Twelve that anticipated failure and rejection – he said that when they were not welcomed they should shake it off and move on.  When God is ready for you to go, you need to go – He will provide the staff and the power.   Any victories will not be yours, they will be God’s; and any failures will not be yours, it will be the failure of the people who don’t respond to your message because of their lack of faith.

             In the face of years of persecution by Saul, David persists.  In the face of his rejection by friends and family, Jesus persists.  Respond to the gift of faith by accepting authority and take up the responsibility of disciples to proclaim the good news, and persist.  God will provide the staff and the power.   

©2009 Deborah Hollifield

[1] Ephesians 2:8-9

[2] Ephesians 2:10

[3] 2 Timothy 3:17