June 19, 2016

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

The Rev. J.D. McQueen, II - All Saints’ Episcopal Church, San Diego, CA

For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.

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Since today is Father’s Day, I thought it might be good to begin the sermon with some things we know about our Heavenly Father.

v He’s all-knowing, so he always knows what's best for us.

v He’s all-powerful, so he can always make that happen.

v He always does what’s best or gives us what’s best, no matter the cost, because he’s all-loving.

In fact, because he is Love itself and he created us for his love, in every moment of our lives, God is loving us into existence.

v So then if he stopped loving us, we wouldn't have a bad day, we wouldn't drop dead; we would cease to exist. Poof, gone.

v SO as long as we’re here, no matter what our circumstances, whether we get it or not, God is loving us.

To understand what that means for our lives, imagine that at the beginning of every day you walk to the grocery store on the way to whatever else is happening.

v You bring your little cart and their world-class dietician fills it up with everything you need.

v You head out with your cart and, over the course of day, you pull out different things to eat.

v But let’s say that you’re a picky eater or a lazy cook; unwilling to take the time to prepare a meal or learn how to use something unfamiliar.

v So you don’t eat everything that’s in the cart and at the end of the day, you’re hungry.

The same thing happens the next day, but there’s still food in your cart, so you have to carry a small bag too.

v Just like the day before, you eat some of the food, but not all of it, and go to bed hungry again.

v As the days go by, you lose weight and often end up carrying extra bags, though you make some room every day by getting rid of the uneaten food that’s spoiled.

v Until you learn to cook and eat something other than your favorites, you might have some good days, but for the most part, instead of eating and being filled, life will be eating you up.

And this is what Jesus means when he says, “whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.”

v When we try to save our own lives, we lose them because we can’t really take care of ourselves.

v We get picky in what we’ll receive from God or lazy in cooperating with what he’s doing when it doesn’t match up with our plans.

But if we recognize Jesus as “the Christ of God,” and give our lives over to him, he shows us what to do with the all the blessings God gives.

v He expands our palate so we’ll be more open to receiving what might seem unappealing.

v He shows us how to prepare the things that are unfamiliar, so that we can be strengthened and sustained instead of watching them spoil while we waste away.

Jesus tells us how this will happen when he says that any would-be disciple must “deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

Denying ourselves simply means getting used to not having our own way.

v Stop being picky by rejecting anything that’s not pleasant and comfortable and ask God to show you what he’s doing through every moment.

v Then look for opportunities to serve others, go last, or do without something, and ask God to work through those little denials.

June 19, 2016

We have to learn to deny ourselves first because taking up our cross daily means embracing the fact that God is always blessing us, right where we are, no matter the situation.

v God often does the most for us through things we never would have chosen for ourselves.

v So if we’re not used to denying ourselves, instead of leaning into what he’s doing, we’ll spend all our energy and attention escaping them or at least trying to take the edge off the suffering.

v There are so many beautiful things that God is trying to bring into our lives if we would just stop settling for something easier.

Finally, Jesus tells us to follow him because he shows us in his own life that God is always at work, even when it’s unpleasant or doesn’t make sense.

v But Jesus isn’t just giving us an example to model our lives on, he’s inviting us to stay in relationship with him.

v It’s the difference between us thinking, “What would Jesus do?” and asking, “Jesus, what are you doing?”

We have to stay in relationship with Jesus because we can’t figure it out on our own, and there’s evidence of that all around us.

v People move from one place, job, or relationship to another, but find that the same pattern seems to emerge every time.

v Others remain stuck in difficult situations because they can’t see what needs to be different, and may have even lost hope that it can be.

Jesus tells us to put him at the center of our lives because he is the face on the Father’s promise the promise that no matter what life looks like, he is loving us through our every moment.

v the promise that even when it seems like everything can be taken away, he will not withhold any good thing from us.

v He is the promise that even in the face of incredible evil, no one will snatch us out of his hand.

June 19, 2016

v He is the promise that even the darkest moments of life will not eat us up, but that we will have life and have it in abundance.

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For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.