Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Matthew 22:34-46
I Thessalonians 2:1-4  

Today is Reformation Sunday! Nearly 2,000 years ago, the church began as the persecuted
”People of the Way”. Then after becoming accepted, they split between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.  Five hundred years ago the Age of Reformation and Change was shaking the foundations of the world.  Spiritual leaders such as Martin Luther and John Calvin sought to reform the abuses within the church.  The worst was the manipulative attempts to extort money from the poor through indulgences.  There was also a power struggle between the ruling elite and t he church.  That power struggle led to bloody battles reminiscent of the persecutions of some fifteen hundred years earlier.  Protestants fought against Catholic practices of praying to Saints and using statues and images as a form of worship.  

In the 17jth Century, the Presbyterian Church was born as the state church of Scotland just as the Lutheran Church became the state church of Germany and the Reformation came to the New World with Protestants on the East coast and Catholics on the West coast of North America.  The next change came in the eighteenth century with the Age of Enlightenment as REASON became the primary source and basis of authority.  Through the emphasis on reason over revelation, we entered a period of great literacy but decreasing spirituality.  Mystery gave way to the practical and the obvious.  Politically the Enlightenment principles motivated the signatories of the American Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights as well as the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.  People were becoming more educated as education became mandated for the young.  Consequently, the priests and politicians lost their unique role in control of the culture as the educated ones. 

The Industrial Age followed as social change and economic development were tied to technological innovation.  The first nation to industrialize which led to Global dominance was Great Britain.  The challenge of Germany to be the World leader led to the World Wars as Japan joined the fray.  Social change and economic development spurred by technological innovation ultimately led to a political power shift positioning the United States in the role of Global dominance which is again being challenged, especially by China and India. 

Today we are in the Age of Transformation.  The march of culture has moved from the Industrial Age to the Information Age to the current Age of Transformation.  Having been amazingly creative and industrious, we have sought information to keep up with our rapidly changing methods of communication.  Churches have changed in their approach to faith and spiritual development.  Today, there is a tremendous hunger for a greater depth of our spirituality.  As Christianity became firmly planted throughout the world there has been a noticeable shift.  Now Missionaries were coming to the US to help us recognize the Christ we had sent to them generations earlier.  Mainline churches have dramatically downsized as the wave of spirituality reversed.  Mega-churches in Korea and the United States began to dominate the scene. 

Now the Age of Transition has us in a Spiritual Revolution with three primary foci.  First, there are those who seek social dominance evidenced by the necessity to control other people’s thinking.  This group seeks spirituality as moral authority.  Rigid standards of behavior and dogma are established.  Unacceptable people are excluded.

A second group is those who separate out from the social structures to create tight, safe places for purity.  While they focus on smaller groups, they have a large network of persons supporting them.  We see this in the movement of some towards house churches and home schools.  There is a growing number of religious groups strictly based on common cultural backgrounds.  Church may seem more like a country club or gated community.  Some of these groups are also hate groups that band together to rid the world of something.

Then there is a third group.  In this group people intentionally seek social and economic diversity.  There is much in the gospels that point to this third pattern where the poor and the rich join in seeking God’s will.  They chose appreciation over tolerance towards one another.  Life means gratitude for all that we can be rather than what we have to protect.  These folks are deeply spiritual and tend not to have that large support network but depend on whom and what God sends their way.  I believe that First Presbyterian Church in San Jose is leaning towards this third cluster.  If that is true then we have several priorities to encourage.

The first priority is spirituality.  Spirituality is primarily the force that allows us to let go of all that keeps us chained to our personal priorities.  Jesus kept trying to get us to understand that when he talked about being born again.  Our first birth sets us up for personal gain.  We are driven by our wants, our greed and our need to control.  Jesus talked about that first life as one devoted to mammon.  Mammon is a term, derived from the Christian Bible, used to describe material wealth or greed, most often personified as a deity.  That is what we have to unlearn.  It is absolutely impossible without the power of Holy Spirit.  Yet we cannot simultaneously worship God and mammon.  Greed has led us to the brink of disaster personally and financially in this nation.  It has also led to a church without spirituality.  That church uses religious language without any spiritual depth.  We bandy about such phrases as Jesus died for my sins.   But what does that really mean?  I’ll tell you what is doesn’t mean.  It doesn’t mean it’s all about you!   Your personal salvation is simply accepting what has been waiting for you since your birth.  When our first thought is what’s in it for me, we worship mammon.  Christ pointed to something greater when he spoke of a second life, the gift of grace, to let go of the priorities of our earlier life and now live according to only two commandments.  You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and strength and you are to love your neighbors as yourself.  You willingly put your money where your mouth is and you give sacrificially, not because of what it will do for you, but what God intends to do with it!  You become God’s tool in the possibility of the good news, heaven on earth.  You let go and let God.  That leads you to what Jesus means when he says God is in you and you are in God and therefore, we become one body, the body of Christ in the world.  A body with a common vision, the vision of God. 

At the entrance to the harbor at the Isle of Man there are two lights.  One would think that the two signals would confuse the pilot.  But the fact is, he has to keep them in line; as long as he keeps them in line he stays in the channels and avoids the rocks to either side.  Those two lights are love of God and love of others which we can only see when we let go of mammon as our God. 

So, the second priority is diversity.  We share a vision of what God is doing in the world.  Like Moses, we stand on the mountain top observing the Promised land.  Looking down on San Jose with God’s eyes, what does the Promised Land look like?  There on the mountain top the LORD said to Moses, "This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but unfortunately, due to your age, you will not cross over into it."   The vision of the Promised Land is what God wants each of us is to see.  We are supposed to see it for without a vision, the people perish.   God has a vision for FPC but we have to have a mountain top experience to see it.  In other words, spirituality is absolutely necessary if we are to ever have a common vision.  Throughout the Gospel, we keep learning that God seeks diversity.  “What is it gain you if you only love those who love you in return.”  “You must change (repent) and be reformed into what God has in mind.  As Reformed Presbyterians, we understand that we are constantly reforming into what God is creating us to be.  Through our Spirituality we keep getting glimpses of what it is like when we love the unlovable.  When we do, we go beyond our fear.  In fact, scripture keeps saying again and again, “Fear not!  I am with you always!”  Love those I send to you that create fear in you.  We are to love those we fear.  We are to share God’s love and forgiveness for love is the nature of God.  That is the good news. 

The third priority is a theology of love and hope.  Theology is the study of God.  I believe that each of us is claimed by God for a very specific purpose, to show God’s love and hope.  In order to live that purpose, daily I have to remind myself that God is about to show me something new today if I but have the eyes to see it.  That means I daily have to let go of my priorities in order to know God’s priorities.  Here in the city, I am convinced that one of God’s priorities is to show love and respect to everyone God sends our way.  I also believe that you too have to let go of the universal God of mammon and have eyes to see!  You then get a glimpse through God’s eyes of people that would you would otherwise avoid. 

I have also learned something else about a theology of love and hope.  God’s love always involves a commitment.  Early in my ministry, I tried to be committed to being a successful pastor.  I identified that as doing what the people wanted me to do.  Somewhere along that journey, I realized that I was betraying my theology, my understanding of God, because the gospels clearly talk about seeing with God’s eyes even when others turn against you and persecute you.  When I realized that I had to let go of that need to please others in order to stay focused on what I believed God was showing me, things began to change.  I began to realize that I was continually being reformed by the opportunities God kept giving me.

Do you remember hearing about the story of Corrie ten Boom whose book The Hiding Place has inspired millions.  Yet not many people know of her equally courageous nephew, Peter van Woerden.  During the days of Nazi occupation in Holland, Peter transported Jewish children under the cover of darkness from their home in Harlem to other secret hiding places where they were saved from the Nazis.  He was eventually caught and spent several months in prison.  After the war, he and his musical family traveled throughout Israel, signing and witnessing for the Lord.  One day he had a massive heart attack and they rushed him to Haddasah Hospital in Jerusalem.  The doctor on call that day skillfully saved his life.

After he recuperated, Peter expressed his gratitude to the medical staff. When they discussed the Holocaust, the doctor suddenly burst into tears.  So did Peter.  For they had compared notes and discovered that the doctor was one of those children Peter had rescued.  It is that kind of love which risks all for others without thought of personal gain and with no distinction as to whether the person is acceptable to you.  That is when you know you are sharing the eyes of God.  My prayer for us individually and as a congregation is that we might grow spiritually and gain a common vision as we are about the rescue effort of those whom God sends our way because we are committed to God and not mammon and because it is the right thing to do. 

 
Deuteronomy 34:1-12  The Death of Moses
Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it."  

And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said.  He was buried in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.  Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.  The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.   

Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.   Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land.  For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

Matthew 22:34-46  The Greatest Commandment
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.  One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' (Deut. 6:5)  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'(Leviticus 19:18)   All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Whose Son Is the Christ
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, "What do you think about the Messiah?  Whose son is he?"  “The son of David," they replied.  He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord'? For he says, " 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."  If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?" No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

I Thessalonians 2:1-4   Paul's Ministry in Thessalonica
1You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. 2We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. 3For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4On the contrary, we speak as people approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please others but God, who tests our hearts.