Take the High Ground

By Pastor Tim White

August 11th, 1938 was the day that Dr. Bob had his last drink, he and Bill W. began the 12 step program.  That may seem like a long time ago but two of my mentors, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and Dr. Bruce Larson, knew Bill W. and had met him in a small group Bible study.  Both Dr. Peale and Dr. Larson have passed on to heaven although their impact remains in many lives still carrying the torch.  Both of them often spoke of Bill W. and his commitment to Jesus Christ as well as the inspiration of the 12 steps in the program coming from the Beatitudes. 

Do you know how many people have been set free of addictions and given a life of joy and sobriety since 1938?  That is a real question because I don't think anyone knows.  I know that the American Psychological Association has stated that this seems to be the most effective method for overcoming addictions in history.  You can find an AA group almost anywhere or anytime.  It has been said that today AA makes up only 20 percent of all 12 step groups.  There are Narcotics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Crystal Meth Anonymous, Marijuana Anonymous, Sex Addiction Anonymous, Neurotics Anonymous, and many more. Recently, Dr. Rick Warren started another program Celebrate Recovery which is sweeping the country in churches where they believe that Jesus is the most powerful higher power.

It all starts with Humility - and that is the first Beatitude.  I admit my problem is unmanageable without help.  Jesus put it this way.  Blessed are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of God.  In that radical statement in Luke the first point is made.  God is against the proud, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up.  In Luke, he seems to be saying more than that:  Maybe in this Sermon on the Plain he is talking to his disciples first.  But the Beatitudes which are in the Sermon on the Mount and in Mark are given a special emphasis in the Gospel of Luke.  They are condensed to four dynamic life points, which we are entitling “Take the High Ground.  These points will transform our lives and our church even if they are very difficult to swallow. 

‘Blessed are the poor’ means God has a special affinity for the poor.  It calls back to the rich young ruler, the definition of true religion in James and so many places that say God cares for the poor.  It takes a way a false notion that somehow the rich are the only ones that God loves and that wealth is somehow a definition that God has blessed someone.  Osama Bin Laden was multi-millionaire and was not specially blessed by God. 

Watch out! Don't let pride grab you into thinking that just because you are rich or successful that somehow you are better than the poor.  God loves the poor.  They are blessed.  This is not saying that God loves poverty.  He doesn't like it when kids have to eat garbage out of a dump.  But you would be blind not to see that the children of the dump posses a blessing that many of us need to learn from.  That is why when we send a mission trip to Honduras many times the kids come back and clean their room, do their chores and get straight A's.  Because they have a new appreciation and a dream to be a follower of Jesus Christ.  

In Luke each of the four Beatitudes is accompanied by a woe.  What happens if you don't make this choice of living?  “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort” Luke 6:21.  Jesus was followed by rich and poor, Jews and Samaritans, slaves and Roman soldiers.  They knew that the temporary achievements of this life were not the end solution.  In fact, they loved and respected each other as the family of God.

I share this hard message with you to set our church free.  Free from the pride that can destroy an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ – thereby preventing each of us from being the leaders God has designed us to be.  Last week as I preached, I was overwhelmed by the love and response of the congregation to this little preached on passage.  Rich and poor alike left with a better understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven.  I felt like our church took a giant step towards becoming the great caring network that we were meant to be.  I was so excited to hear people testify as they left, of a new sense of God’s Kingdom at work in our midst.  

Join me next week as I talk about what it means to regain your hunger for Jesus and life.  This word will change your life.

The Unlikely Invite

By Pastor Rey Diaz

In seventh grade, I received an invitation to join one of my teachers for lunch.  His name was Mr. Manning. I had no idea what he wanted to talk to me about but I assumed it was my bad attitude, bad influence, and bad grades.  I was not the model student.  I had just been arrested the week before for fighting.  I had been suspended for 3 days and had served a number of detentions.  It was just going to be another teacher rebuking me for my bad decisions. Mr. Manning was everyone’s favorite teacher.  He also coached a flag football team for the school and led a Christian Bible club. 

I’ve never forgotten what Mr. Manny said to me that day.  He basically said he didn’t think I was a bad kid.  I can’t tell you what this did for my identity.  I saw myself as a bad kid, yet here was a teacher telling me I was good.  And he invited me to come to his Bible club.  That was the beginning of my return to God and one year later I accepted Jesus as my savior.  A simple invitation started a domino effect. 

There was no one more unlikely to receive an invitation from Jesus that Matthew, the tax collector.  He was bad and he knew it.  He had abandoned God, the synagogue and his faith.  He wasn’t an ‘accidental’ sinner.  He was an ‘on-purpose’ sinner.  Yet Jesus makes an invitation. An invitation to follow.  And it’s an invitation that would change Matthew’s life. 

Every single day, at every moment of our life, Jesus is making an invitation to us.  It’s the same one he made to Matthew.  “Follow me.” 

And this invitation was the first and last words Peter heard from Jesus.  Follow me.  It was a reminder that it doesn’t matter whether we have been following Jesus for 30 minutes or 30 years. Discipleship is not a destination or location.  The question is not “Where am I?” but “Am I following?”

It’s the question I want to answer this morning.  It’s the question I want you pray about today. 

Are you following?

Matthew 9:9 “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.”