Nothing to Sell--Let every heart prepare him rooms

Read Isaiah 11

Black Friday is in the books.  Cyber Monday is behind us, sort of…

We have extended our Cyber Monday offers a few more days because our offers just weren’t that great. 

Christmas music has been playing on television and satellite radio for three weeks now.

Walmart has had their Christmas stuff out for three months now.  The square footage grows week to week.

Hobby Lobby never puts their Christmas stuff up.

People put up wooden reindeer in their front yards.  My guess is that they must have just moved in from out of state where nobody put a bullet hole in them.  Welcome to Oklahoma.

That’s what’s happening in the world around us but we have entered into this special time of preparation.

We have heard it said that God does not call the qualified but that he qualifies those he calls.  It does not say that in the Bible, but some verses get pretty close.  In the conglomerate, that seems true.  Read Romans 8 or just 8:30 if the whole chapter is going to cut into your Hallmark Channel time.  It’s not an exact fit but it moves us that direction.

The first chapter of Philippians tells us what God started in us he will finish.  Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth noted that God doesn’t grant us the things of the world to boast in.  It’s not our own qualifications. 

Gideon went to attack Midian with a whole bunch of men.  That’s sound strategy.  If you are going into battle, you are not looking for a fair fight.  You want combat multipliers.  Back in the day that meant a whole bunch of men.  God had Gideon send most of them home so that there would be no doubt where the victory came from.

God’s people wanted a king.  They should have known they would get one.  information. God told the prophet Samuel what it would cost the people.  Samuel returned to God and said they want one anyway.  God gave them Saul.  Saul was a handsome man who seem to fit the king mold, at least if you used the standard of the day—the Philistines. But he was not qualified to be king for long.  He was not the man after God’s own heart.

Now if we look at men who were qualified for God’s work, we must surely consider Saul of Tarsus. 

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:  circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;  as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

OK, God called him but if we continue with Paul’s missive, we note that he considered all of those religious qualifications as manure.  The Greek word is skubalon, you also see it translated as refuse and garbage.   So maybe, it’s not about our titles and degrees and lineage.  Paul would later use all of these qualifications and continued in the practice of his Hebrew faith in many ways but knew that his true qualifications came from the surpassing glory of Christ Jesus.

We are richly blessed today that God did choose a man who was richly versed in the scriptures.  OK, here’s a rabbit trail for you.  When you have had your fill of the Hallmark Channel, check this out.  Which of Paul’s qualifications did he not kick to the curb? 

OK, I won’t make you wait until you find it.  Paul did not denounce his Roman citizenship.  In fact, Paul’s Roman citizenship funded his fourth missionary journey , of course, it was by government contract transportation and did not arrive on time.   Back to those whom God chooses to call.

God qualifies those he calls, but how does God decide who to call.

That brings us to today’s scriptures.  Here is the short version.  God sees the heart.  God told the prophet Samuel not to judge as the world does.  Samuel would find God’s choice among the sons of Jesse even though Jesse’s own family considered David the least of the sons.

David’s line would continue to our Savior.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—

    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

    the Spirit of counsel and of might,

    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—

and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

God sees the heart.  Our credentials are not our titles, degrees, Facebook posts, or tweets.  We sing, “Let every heart prepare him room,” but what does God see in our heart?  One of the best sermons that was a retelling of a sermon by someone who likely heard it from someone else as well.  Its title was Titles or Testimonies.

Testimonies are more important than titles. Pharaoh had a title, Moses had a testimony. Nebuchadnezzar had a title, Daniel had a testimony. Ahab had a title, Elijah had a testimony. The men on the ship had titles, Paul had a testimony? The Wise men had titles, the shepherds had a testimony. Pilate had a title, Jesus had a testimony.

God sees the heart.  Now there’s nothing wrong with titles.  You go to college and get your BA or go to school to get your CDL.  Tony Campolo—a very well educated man—shared a story from a ministers conference years ago.  He noted that some years back he was setting next to an African American pastor who was introduced as a doctor of ministry.  I guess it was what you might call a DA.

Sometime that day, Tony asked him where he got his doctorate.  The pastor replied, “When God calls you to ordained ministry, you become a Doctor Automaticus. It’s not about titles.  It’s about testimonies.

God sees the heart.  The Christmas season has begun and Tom won’t lighten up on this Great Commission business.  It’s like he wants us to be salesmen; however, I hope that our understanding of God’s word, our experience with God’s Spirit, and our heart tells us otherwise.

I read this some years ago.  Some of you might have even stayed awake for it.  It’s called simply, A Manifesto andit’s by Dr. Morris Pepper.  Yes, the sermon this morning has a message from Dr. Pepper.

I will preface this by asking you to consider that we are all ministers, so when you hear minister in this reading, put that in the first person.

I have nothing to sell. Many people think the minister is a peddler whose commodity is religion. Preaching is making a sales talk. Visiting means cultivating prospects. Evangelism is doing a “hard sell.”

I have nothing to sell.  Religion is not a commodity.  God is not on the counter or in a catalog.  God’s love and mercy are not Wall Street items.  God’s blessings will not be found in bargain basements.

I have nothing to sell.  I have a witness to make.  There are some things which I believe, convictions arising from my thought and life, which I know from within.  Of these I witness.  They are not mere blessings of tradition.  They are real to me because God is real.  But they cannot be bought or sold.  They can only be witnessed.

I have nothing to sell.  I have a message to communicate.  It is a story of Jesus Christ, a story of redemption.  It is a promise, a promise of what can happen here and now.  It is the gospel, the good news of God’s love told by one who knows it firsthand.  I am a storyteller, a proclaimer, an announcer—not a cocky salesman with a hot line.

I have nothing to sell.  I have a friendship to offer.  Some are like Job who would like to recapture the days when “the friendship of God was upon my tent.”  Others have never known such a relationship.  Many are afraid of God.  Still others are rebellious.  To these and others I say, “God loves you.  Won’t you let God be your friend?”

I have nothing to sell.  You can’t buy salvation.  You can’t buy faith.  You can’t buy heaven.  You can’t buy God.  Nor can you sell them.  My job is to offer you an adventure, not to sell you a bill of goods—to invite you to join a mission, not a Cosmos Club.

I am not doing hard sell, soft sell, or using psychology.  I don’t have any tricks to pull out of the bag.  So don’t raise your sales resistance.  I am an educator, a teacher, a pastor, a counselor—but please, not a huckster!  I am a witness, a communicator, an announcer, a reporter, but never a peddler.

For we are not like so many, peddlers of God’s word; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence.

God sees the heart.  As we prepare to celebrate our Lord’s birthday and anticipate his coming again—and we have some things to look forward to such as swords beaten into plowshares and the lion lying down with the lamb—let’s ask what is going on in our hearts.

We have nothing to sell.  We have a witness to make.  We have testimonies to make.  We have love to deliver to a world in desperate need.

Let’s make some testimonies.  Let’s witness like never before calling people to come and know the Lord.  Let’s make some deliveries of good news.

Let us prepare for the coming of the Lord.  Let us be so diligent in our preparations that when Jesus does return, he won’t be able to do anything else but catch us doing exactly what he wants—living lives of love in response to the grace that we know in God.

Amen.