Were You Ever Taught How to Fish? A Look at Evangelism, Matthew 4:12-25

Posted on January 28, 2020 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        Were you ever taught how to fish?
Scripture:     Matthew 4:12-25
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:              January 26, 2020, Epiphany 3, Year A

 Matthew 4:12-25, (MSG)

                  12-17 When Jesus got word that John had been arrested, he returned to Galilee. He moved from his hometown, Nazareth, to the lakeside village Capernaum, nestled at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali hills. This move completed Isaiah’s sermon:

Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
road to the sea, over Jordan,
Galilee, crossroads for the nations.
People sitting out their lives in the dark
saw a huge light;
Sitting in that dark, dark country of death,
they watched the sun come up.

This Isaiah-prophesied sermon came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching. He picked up where John left off: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”

                  18-20 Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.

                  21-22 A short distance down the beach they came upon another pair of brothers, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. These two were sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their fishnets. Jesus made the same offer to them, and they were just as quick to follow, abandoning boat and father.

                  23-25 From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the “Ten Towns” across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan. [1]

This morning’s text is where one part of the Matthew Story finishes and a new phase of the book begins. Up until now, the Story has focused upon the preparation of the setting and scene.  But today we hear the ominous portent, “That John had been arrested.” Already the Good News of repentance and Messiah was burning holes of bad news into the ears of the religious and political government. John the Baptist has violently left the Story and now the full spotlight is on Jesus. It’s at this point that Jesus now gets down to work and the first thing he does is to gather others around him to learn the Way and to help him out on his mission.

He takes a walk along the beach. He sees Andrew and Simon Peter casting nets into the sea because they were fishermen. Jesus calls out to them, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of people!” and then immediately left their fishing gear and followed. A bit further down the beach, he sees the Zebedee brothers with their dad in a boat mending nets. Again, Jesus calls out, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of people!” and James and John left their gear and their daddy in the boat and followed Jesus.

It’s at this point, Church, we are to hear the first reality of following Jesus. When we say “yes” to following Jesus it’s also our way of saying a firm “no” to our former way of life. Our story says the first four disciples abandoned everything and left to follow Jesus’ call. They left livelihood, family, and the safety of predictability. When they hopped out of their boats, they were immediately put in a position of reassessing everything in their life from what security means, what their faith really required, and how they are to relate with the political systems and injustice. Following Jesus is not for the faint of heart, beloved.

Matthew spells it out pretty clearly: Change your life. God’s kingdom and reign are among you. I’m going to make a new type of fisherman out of you. There is no sense of status quo in Jesus’ words to the four fishermen. Everything changes when we say “yes” to the call of God in Christ.

This morning I want to spend some time on the one requirement Jesus places upon his first four called disciples. It’s a reorienting of their perspective from being focused on what they can get out of life for themselves towards being intent on showing others the presence of God in their midst. I love how Peterson translates verses 19 and 20: Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.

Were you ever taught how to fish my friends?  I wasn’t. I had to figure it out on my own by reading, watching, trying it out and failing. Well, actually, you never really fail in fishing. Just the act of fishing is a win in and of itself. Fishing is a wonderful metaphor for our work as disciples, Church. Fishing is the biblical metaphor for evangelism. If you are like me, you may not have been taught evangelism, that is, how to fish for people. We watch others do it and we find it off-putting so we don’t try our own fishing techniques out. We don’t understand what evangelism is.  So today, my friends, let’s have a brief lesson in fishing for men and women.  I promise you, it’s not hard.

Let’s begin by addressing what we need to know and to have in order to be successful fishers-of-people. Interestingly, it’s the same information we need to be good fishermen or fisherwomen going after fish!

First, you need to know what you are fishing for, to begin with.  What you are fishing for determines the bait you use, which lure you put on the line.  Are you fishing for fish that are along the shoreline or do you need a boat to go out to where they are and like to hang out?

Once you know what you are fishing for, then you have to select the body of water to go fishing in; we will not find mountain trout seven miles off the coast of the Keys. If we are fishing for trout, then we get a fly rod and head to the mountains of North Carolina or Montana. If we are fishing for grouper, we need a different kind of pole, bait, and location to catch reel them in.

Once we know what we are fishing for, once we decide where we will drop our lines into fish, then we adapt our equipment to our needs. These are three basic items we need to know and do before we leave the house and go fishing.

What else do we need to know before leaving the house to go fishing? We need to realize that it can get uncomfortable, that it can get messy, and that it will demand we develop patience.

Fishing can be uncomfortable. If you’re deep-sea fishing and the water is rough, your stomach may feel like it’s up in your mouth. You can get sunburned and hot. If you are wading in the water, your waders may have a hole in them that leaks cold winter onto your feet and you find it hard to put a fly on the line.

Fishing can be messy. One of my favorite things to watch is a child bait a hook with a squiggly red worm. You know what I’m talking about! Cleaning fish is not that pleasant either – all the guts, blood, and smell! Your clothes get all nasty as you wipe your hands on your shirt or pants to get the goo off.  For evangelism, fishing for people can be messy because you will hear stories from others that will break your heart.  They are stories of pain and loss, as well as stories of hope and redemption.

Fishing demands patience, too. The fish will bite when they are ready to bite. It takes time to learn where the fish are hiding. It requires a person to be able to be within him or herself and remain still and unflappable. It requires us to wait.  So, it is with evangelism; Church, we need to get over the notion that we cause the fish to bite.  All we can do is drop our line into the water.  All we can do is show what God has done in our own lives and let the Spirit determine which fish come into the nets.  Patience is required because we understand that the starting point of our fishing is not so that we can catch people, gut them, clean them and eat them; on the contrary, our job as fishermen and fisherwomen is to attract people to Jesus’ Kingdom theme.  We can’t force a fish to take the bait; all we can do is make sure the right bait, that is, good news, presented to lure other fish to bite.  That requires patience. So, fishing can be uncomfortable, messy, and demand patience.

I wonder if it’s these reasons why the Church has done such a poor job at it.  The Church has failed teaching her children the benefits of fishing; it has failed to remind us that we fish in order to expand God’s Kingdom theme and work in the world. So, what can we learn?

Well, Church, we are to learn that we need to decide what type of fish are we fishing for in the first place. It requires that the Church and that as individuals we look around us and note the types of schools of fish in our pond. There are thousands of apartments coming online in Fort Lauderdale and Broward, have we cast a line in that pool? Maybe it’s the pool of support staff and workers who bust their hump to keep our local businesses open and thriving. Just perhaps we build on our success at Happyland and develop ministries for young families. Is it the burgeoning homeless population that offers us an opportunity to bring the good news?  Who is it we are fishing for?

For each of us personally, those who we are fishing for is determined by where you find yourselves day in and day out.  If you are a corporate lawyer, the pool you fish from does not necessarily mean you are handing out tracts on the street; no, you are fishing in your circle of influence as legal counsel through places like Rotary, the club, and professional associations. If you are a teacher, the pool you fish from is with your parents, fellow teachers, students, PTA, field trips…you name it. If you are retired, your pool may be the health center, your doctor’s office, your bridge club or sports activities.

Friends, the reality is this:  The Christian Church has abandoned its responsibility for fishing and exhibiting the Kingdom of God to the world.  We have become lazy and let the cultural nets of politics, entertainment, individualism, and violence to drop their nets in our fishing spots.  Beloved, Jesus is looking for you and me, this church, to get off our deck chairs and drop the lines and cast the nets!  All of us, every one of us, is an angler for Christ’s Kingdom.  Remember friends, we don’t try to convert, coerce or cajole.  We simply drop the line of a winsome gospel.  Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

© 2020 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

[1]The Message (MSG). Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson.

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Message: Good Old Joe, Matthew 2:13-23

Posted on December 31, 2019 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        Good Old Joe
Scripture:     Matthew 2:13-23
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale
Date:             December 29, 2019, First Sunday of Christmas Year A

It dawned upon me this week that this is the last sermon I will write and preach in this decade! It seems like yesterday when the world was on edge as the new millennium and Y2K brought us to the decade of the double aughts or better, the oh-ohs, which later became the uh-ohs. Then we entered the teens and what an economic, political, cultural ride it has been.  Now, we are on the eve of what some are calling the new Roaring 20’s.[1]

Our lectionary text is appropriate for today in that it is honest and gritty, not the type of text you would expect the biblical writers to throw in just days after Christmas. But here it is, a text that can be heard in one of three ways; it either epitomizes the realities of the last decade or, it’s a text which points us to the realities of the next. How you answer it determines if you’re an optimist, a pessimist, or a realist.

Unlike the Gospel of Luke and his detailed versions of the immaculate conception and the constant angelic reconnaissance missions to Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary, Matthew’s description of the baby’s birth is pretty straightforward: But he (Joseph) had no marital relations with her (Mary) until she had borne a son, and he named him Jesus (1.25); in fact, initially, the only angelic visitation that comes in Matthew’s gospel is to Joseph before Jesus was born.

Today, we are going to spend some time looking at an oft-neglected biblical character who does not get as much press as other people in the Christmas narrative and that is Joseph.  Joseph is often seen as an inconsequential foil character to the real action of the story between Mary and Jesus. Joseph is often portrayed as the typical nervous and naïve daddy waiting in the waiting room for news of his child’s birth like it used to be in the 1950s.

Joseph has much to teach us as we approach this new version of the Roaring Twenties. Listen to the Word of God and let’s learn three vital truths Joseph is asking us to embrace this new decade. In biblical storytime, we pick up in the Story when Jesus is already between an infant and two years old and the three wise men have come to bring him gifts. Hear the Word of the Lord:

Matthew 2:13-23

                  13Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

                  16When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 18“A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

                  19When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” 21Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.” [2]

Our text today covers several years of life events in the young Jesus. He has been paid a visit by three wise men and scientist types from Persia; his birth has rankled the nerves of an erratic Jewish despot, Herod; an entire region’s baby boys under 24 months-old were slaughtered; the holy family has been sent into exile and then repatriated Israel to Galilee. Through it, all is this constant figure of Joseph who is does not say a word but in whose life faith comes alive. For a church that strives to live into that reality as “A place where faith comes alive!”, Joseph teaches us three vital traits for us as a church and as Christ-followers heading into a new decade.

Joseph was obedient.

Joseph was timely in his response.

Joseph was familiar with God.

First, Joseph was obedient. In Matthew one and two, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream. The first time, the angel says, “No fear! Mary’s pregnant and it’s a child from God. Get up and marry her!” The second time, following the wise men’s visit, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and says, “Get up! Jesus has been targeted for assassination! Take Mary and Jesus and get down to Egypt and lay low awhile!”  The third time an angel of the Lord appears and tells him it’s all clear and he’s to get up and take his family back to Israel.  Joseph goes but, on the way, he’s got a funny gut-level feeling about this new King in Judah, Archelaus, who is Herod’s son. For a fourth time, an angel appears to him in a dream and tells him to change his route and go another direction. At first glance, we may think Joseph simply sleeps all the time as the only time God speaks to him is when he is asleep! What we are to see is Joseph’s trait of obedience.

We tend to think of obedience as a negative thing in our world today.  If you are told, “Be obedient to me!” it almost comes across as a threat or a demand to be subjugated under the power of another. This is the reason why we don’t use to obey in wedding services anymore. I like playing with Bride at wedding rehearsals and ask them to say, “I will obey my husband.” You should see the looks on their bride’s face!  Oh, if looks could kill! First, I would never ask a man or woman to obey anyone but God, and secondly, I need to clarify what obey really means to begin with! To “obey” someone is not to blindly follow them; the word obey comes from the Latin word which means ‘to hear or to listen.’ Joseph, beloved, was listening to God! His listening compelled him to follow God’s instructions.

Question: Looking into the next year and the Roaring 20’s, how well are you listening, are we as a church, listening to God? How well are we obeying the Ancient of Days?

The second trait we learn from Joseph is that when he listened, when he obeyed, he acted on it in a timely fashion. God says, “Joseph, get up!” and Joseph gets up and goes.  Our English versions do not communicate this clearly, but our scripture indicates that when the angel of the Lord said, “Get up!”, Joseph immediately got up, took his family and went. He did not wait until morning, he immediately got up and got moving! As the Young’s Literal Translation says in verse 14: 14 And he, having risen, took the child and his mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt. Joseph did not wait until the next morning to do what God asked. Joseph immediately followed the Lord’s instructions.

It’s like what Driver’s Ed teacher, Coach Arthur T. Letchus always told while driving, “Once you commit to making a turn or going, go! Don’t’ hesitate but go!”  Why would he tell us that?  Because if you are at an intersection about to pull into traffic, should you hesitate, you may get hit by another car!

Question: How well do we follow the Lord’s directions when prompted from a dream, from your Bible Study, Men’s or Women’s group, or from worship? Do we like to sit and stew on it to determine its convenience on the impact it might have on our life or do we act? Putting it frankly: Are you and I pew-sitters or are we actively engaged in discipleship that makes a difference?

The third valuable trait Joseph shares with us is the importance of cultivating a personal relationship with the Lord. No, we don’t hear anything about Joseph’s worship or devotional life.  No, we do not hear Joseph quoting scriptures like a good first century Baptist. All we know of Joseph’s spiritual life is through his sleep! From scripture, we can surmise that Joseph was a mystic of sorts.  A mystic is someone who has worked hard at cultivating a relationship with the Divine in the course of her or his everyday life so that when God does speak, the mystic hears and knows without a doubt what they have experienced! Joseph, as scripture reminds us, is a righteous man (1.19) and the only way to become that way in his very being is to live that way. Joseph was familiar with the ways of God and God’s love and character. It was within this familiarity Joseph is able to discern the subtle but unmistakable voice of the Lord.

I’ve been told I have a pretty decent voice and that I should sing for the church, but the problem is, I have no sense of pitch! I cannot read one note from another and would not know what a note was if it bit me on my backside! Unlike me, our friend Nic understands pitch and notes. Nic proudly asserted in an executive team meeting to us that even when he was dating Amy in high school, he carried a pitch pipe along with him wherever he went!  Pam, Steve and I looked at each other with our eyes rolling and said out loud, “You carried a pitch-pipe with you in high school? Lawd!” Nic assured us he doesn’t anymore! The reality is, he does not have to carry one around.  Through his years of practice singing and playing instruments, he can pull a note or a pitch out of thin air!

Hear that again: Over a period of time and training and repetition, you become familiar with the right notes and the right pitch.  So, it is with God.  The more we spend time with the Lord in prayer, scripture, worship, and service, the more we are able to discern the Lord’s voice and separate it from what our culture is trying to say it is.

Question:  How familiar are you with the various nuances and subtilties of God? Are you, are we as a church and as a nation familiar enough in our relationship with the Lord and are able to separate the Divine Voice from the voices of our own opinions, biases, party affiliations, prejudices, and wish dreams?

Good old Joe. Mary’s husband does not say a lot but he sure tells us loads about the traits of a healthy Christian disciple. A follower of Jesus is obedient, acts on what he or she knows to be true and is familiar with the Spirit’s voice and movement in their lives because they have cultivated that relationship. I don’t know about you, but I think Joseph sets the bar on how we are to approach a new year and the Roaring Twenties!  Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
patrickw@firstpres.cc
patrickhwrisley.net

© 2019 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale Florida and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

[1] ANALYSIS-Recession, robots and rockets: another roaring 20s for world markets? by Reuters, Friday, 27 December 2019 10:09 GMT. See http://news.trust.org/item/20191227093756-u0bly.

[2] The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Christmas Eve Message: Pondering, Luke 2:8-20

Posted on December 31, 2019 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        Pondering
Scripture:     Luke 2:8-20
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:             December 24, 2019, Christmas Eve, Year A

 Luke 2:8-20

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.[1]

The older I become, the more I realize that Christmas is like an oak-barrel-aged fine wine or bourbon: The longer they sit in the casks, the finer they become. They become smoother and one’s maturing palate can distinguish flavors he or she could not when they were younger. So it is with Christmas; Christmas gets better and mellows with age! What reminded me of this fact was spending time among our ornaments and Christmas decorations this year. God used those ornaments and decorations as angelic massagers reminding me of the treasures of Christmases past and pondering how over the years those treasures have evolved in their meaning and have shaped me in ways I could never imagine.

One of the things about putting up a Christmas tree is that every year, the ornaments are carefully unwrapped from their tissue paper and fawned over before they are put on the tree. There are the tatted snowflakes Ms. Nell Lewis made us back in 1988 and every year since I throw them like Ninja stars to see where they will land on the branches. There’s a well-worn paper plate Christmas angel my youngest daughter Kate made when she was in kindergarten that finds its special home on top of the tree each year. Kelly has her favorite which is a little crystal in the form of a Hershey’s Kiss given by her preschool class when she taught at Decatur Presbyterian Church’s preschool in 1987. My favorites are not ornaments per se but are the giant hand-knitted stockings my mother made for each of our girls when they were born. For years I chided my mom for making such huge stockings Santa had to fill up each year and each year my oldest daughter would remind her little sister, “Nana made me the bigger stocking!”

The whole process of decorating is a time of reflecting over the years to the time when the ornament was made or the Creche’ made out of olive wood from Jerusalem was given to us from the grandparents. What many people would call trinkets or tchotchkes are what your family calls treasures. We cannot help but hold one of these treasures and think back over and through the years on the memories of the person who made or gave us the ornament years ago; we look backward and ponder upon how our lives have gone with all the twists and turns of relationships, health issues, job changes, or physical moves and how these changes – for what we perceive as good or bad – have shaped us. So for me, I cannot help but hold those little priceless ornaments my daughters made in Sunday school decades ago and not reflect upon all that has happened to make them the women they are today.

Beloved, this is what is happening in our Story tonight. First, an angel appears to Mary in Luke 1 telling her she will have a baby who will reign on the throne of King David (Luke 1.31-33). Now, a group of ragamuffin shepherds come from nowhere seeking the Holy Family out so they can peer at the face of this baby in the manger who is promised to be Messiah and Lord. And like collecting ornaments, treasures from so many sources reminding her of who and what this baby is, Mary treasures and ponders these things in her heart. She hears the shepherds’ Story of angels proclaiming the good news of her baby’s birth.  She sees the faces of strangers coming to peer into the stable who have heard these stories and have come to see for themselves what it was all about. Mary’s understanding of who Jesus was grew over time and years. She knew God’s hand was upon him, she watched him grow up and later saw him teach others and do amazing things showing love to her Jewish neighbors and to the most vulnerable people of the day. And she pondered.

The writer Luke uses two different words in his gospel for the notion of pondering. The first is in Luke 1.29 when the angel tells Mary that she will bear a son. We read how she pondered over those words. In this instance, Luke uses the word for ponder which means a person has an internal dialogue about something. But Luke intentionally changes the Greek word for ponder in our Story tonight; the word he uses for Mary’s pondering is more than a mental dialogue about what the shepherds reported; rather, the word Luke uses this time to describe her pondering means to get down and really wrestle with something. It’s a much more active form of pondering than the word he used in chapter one.[2] Whereas Mary had an internal debate about what the angel promised her in chapter one, now Mary is engaged in a mental battle to understand what these shepherds and others are saying to her. Her understanding of God’s intentions with this little baby is growing, adapting, and evolving. The more she treasures the ongoing experiences of God’s revelation to her from a variety of sources, whether from angels, shepherds or the strangers who come, the more intense Mary’s pondering becomes. The more God reveals to her, the more intense her wrestling with what God is trying to say evolves and grows.

Beloved, tonight is the world’s spiritual reset and reboot button to treasure and ponder over all God is doing through this baby boy Jesus in your life and in the life of this church. Like old ornaments on a tree whose meaning and power evolve and grow over the course of years of wrapping and unwrapping them, so too does our understanding of who Jesus is in each of our own lives. The young people who sang for us at 5:00 o’clock will ponder upon Jesus and wrestle with Christmas totally different from our college students who are back home on Christmas break right now, or, even from those older members whose lives have been seasoned with life’s cumulative joys, sorrows, let downs, and celebrations! Each of us treasures Jesus from where we are right now at this moment in time based on how we have treasured him or not in our past.

What do you treasure about Christmas? The decorations, the food, the parties, and the gifts, or, do you travel back in your mind to those earlier days before when you held a more innocent, simple understanding of what took place this night centuries ago? Has the weariness of life turned your ecstatic gasps of Christmas’ holy wonder into tired sighs of unholy indifference, or is the coo of the baby calling you back to the manger’s side?

The Lord God is calling us to ponder the real meaning of Christmas this night. God is calling us to really wrestle and grapple with it. God promises you and me that if we will but slow ourselves down and carefully unwrap the gift we are being given, we will both remember back and presently wrestle with the miracle of God’s power in our life this day born in that cold manger centuries ago. It’s a power and life God wants to be born in you this very night. Shall we actively ponder it along with Mary? Will you and I receive the gift? Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

© 2019 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

[1] New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[2] Luke 1:29 uses dialogizomai whereas Luke 2:19 uses the Greek word, symballo.

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The Message: The Best Laid Plans, Matthew 1:18-25, Advent No. 4

Posted on December 23, 2019 by patrick h wrisley

You may watch the service by clicking here!

Sermon:        The Best Laid Plans
Scripture:     Matthew 1:18-25
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale
Date:             December 22, 2019

Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.[1]

A country carpenter from a small village considered to be a backwater no-nothing town in northern Israel. His expectations for life would have been simple and straight forward. He would grow up to learn a trade, find a girl, get married and live near home.  He would start a family and grow old with his wife living a simple life, in a simple village, with simple but similar surroundings. He knew he would never grow to become rich and famous; simplicity was his lot and he gladly accepted it; like all men, he just hoped he could provide a decent living for his future family.  You see Joseph is not different from any working-class man you or I know.

We are not certain if his engagement to Mary was arranged as was Jewish custom or not; all we know is that his fiancée was pregnant, and he had nothing to do with it whatsoever. We learn that Joseph is a good man, too. Scripture describes him as a righteous man. Whereas it was his male right to publicly parade his teenaged fiancée before the public authorities and declare her unfaithful, Joseph made a personal decision not to do that; Nazareth was a small town; this is where he was going to live and create a life with all these people he had grown up within the village. So before Spirit even told him about Mary’s “situation”, Joseph had decided to handle things quietly, discreetly. There must have been love in his heart for her already because being a good man, he did not want to throw Mary under the bus of shame in their small town; it would have been easy enough to do.

No, Joseph took stock of his life, his plans and his new predicament and he goes to bed to “sleep on it.” It is there in the depth of his dreaming unconscious the Lord God speaks to him about all that is about to take place. “Joseph, it’s going to be okay. Things are not what they appear to be on the surface. Mary has been faithful to both you and me and she has a call to fulfill, just as you, I may add, have a call to fulfill as well. I know you thought your life was going to go and end up a certain way. Joseph, I’m sorry, that’s not going to happen.  What is going to happen is that you are going to be a daddy and you will name your son, God Loves and Saves His People – you will call him Jesus. I know the plans you have made have been dumped on their heads, but I want you to remember that even though the course of your life has changed and has been altered, my love and presence with youth will never fade away. Trust me: I’ve got this.”

In the course of his dream, Joseph is reminded of an obscure text written centuries before by the prophet Isaiah (7:14) during a time when things were not going well for Israel. It was written at a time when the country was divided into two and the world and ways, they had grown accustomed to were about to fall about them. In this midst of Isaiah’s chaos, God promises a young girl, a virgin, would give birth to a son and would call him, Immanuel – God is with us. God told Isaiah that when things look their bleakest, look for the improbable and for the impossible because that is where God is going to show up.

God is telling Joseph the same thing. As Joseph sleeps and his mind is churning away seeking understanding, the Spirit of God tells him that his life is about to take an unexpected turn. God tells Joseph that just as things are looking their bleakest, Joseph is to look for the improbable and for the impossible because that’s exactly where God with us will show up.  In the midst of chaos, God, through this developing baby, is forging an improbable, impossible pathway of hope.

Joseph and Mary, both of whose lives are seemingly rolling along without any problems as they are innocently trying to plan a future for themselves like any modest, simple Jew of the first-century world that they begin to get peppered with life’s interruptions and intrusions causing them to readjust their plans. Have you ever had a plan in mind and then for whatever reason you had to change courses in mid-stream? Well, take heart!  It’s a biblical reality!

Years ago, in Mrs. Richter’s English class in high school, we had to read poems from old, dead obscure authors and we wondered out loud, “Why am learning this? It doesn’t make any sense!”  It’s only after the smoothing of my teenaged hubris through almost sixty years of life’s tumblings around in unfulfilled plans, redirected paths, and unforeseen events from health to poor judgments that I finally understand Mrs. Richter’s purpose for exposing us to these bards. One of them I had to learn was from Robert Burns, a Scottish poet from the late 1700s. It is called simply, To a Mouse.

The beauty of this poem I can see today (that I could not recognize as a young man who was trying to get the captain of the cheerleaders, Marian Chan, to notice me) is this: We are to pause and look at life’s interruptions and learn from them. The poem is about a time when Burns is out walking in a newly plowed field and notices a mouse scampering about. Burns places himself into the life of this little mouse and imagines what it must be like to have one’s house, all neatly arranged and stocked for the winter to be ripped up and destroyed by a farmer’s plow in late fall. Let me share a few stanzas from Burn’s To a Mouse:

Little, silky, cowering, timid beast,
Oh, what a panic is in your breast!
You need not start away so hasty
With bickering prattle!
I would be loath to run and chase you,
With murdering paddle!

I’m truly sorry man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
And justifies that ill opinion
Which makes you startle
At me, your poor, earth-born companion
And fellow mortal!…

…Your small house, too, in ruin!
Its feeble walls the winds are scattering!
And nothing now, to build a new one,
Of coarse green foliage!
And bleak December’s winds coming,
Both bitter and piercing!

You saw the fields laid bare and empty,
And weary winter coming fast,
And cozy here, beneath the blast,
You thought to dwell,
Till crash! The cruel plough passed
Out through your cell.

That small heap of leaves and stubble,
Has cost you many a weary nibble!
Now you are turned out, for all your trouble,
Without house or holding,
To endure the winter’s sleety dribble,
And hoar-frost cold.

But Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Often go askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy![2]

“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go askew.” Joseph may not have known Burn’s poem in the first century, but he sure knew what Burns was talking about!  Joseph’s life gets plowed over in ways he neither asked for, could imagine, or consciously wanted at the time. And it is right here we discover the Advent promise and hope, beloved:

When our lives have taken a hard turn when our plans fall through, relationships fail, or our health deteriorates, we hear Spirit’s voice to Joseph as though God were speaking to you and me. We hear God speaking to us in our own plowed-over dreams, “No fear.  I got this. Even though life and its circumstances seem out of control, even though everything seems uncertain and swirly right now, regardless of whether you think you even believe in me…Immanuel! God is with you!

And that is the power of Christmas: When things seem so beyond our control, that’s precisely the place we are to look for God’s presence. When things seem most improbable, when life seems too impossible, that’s where we look for Immanuel, God with us. Let’s be honest: The best-laid plans of mice and men often go astray and off the rails. And we know that we know that we know that in the midst of it all, God is with us!  Immanuel!  Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
patrickw@firstpres.cc
patrickhwrisley.net

© 2019 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale Florida and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

[1] The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[2] See original at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43816/to-a-mouse-56d222ab36e33. The poem used in the sermon is an English version and does not contain all the stanzas of the original.

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Advent Week 1: Are You Ready?, Matthew 24:36-44

Posted on December 4, 2019 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        Are You Ready?
Scripture:     Matthew 24:36-44
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:              December 1, 2019, Advent #1

You may watch the service Livestream by clicking here.

There are two types of people in the world.  Those people who use PCs and the rest of us who are Mac users. We are fiercely loyal to Mac computers and are the adherents of “once you go Mac, you never go back.” Well, that was the case up to two weeks ago.

As PCs have the dreaded Blue Screen of Death which appears when the system freezes up, Macs have the Swirly Pinwheel of Death that starts swirling around and around when its system freezes.  I’ve been seeing a lot of Pinwheels lately. This is unusual for a Mac and lately, it’s become so bad that the only way out is to manually turn off the computer and then restart it. This is known as the dreaded hard reboot of a system.

When you do a hard reboot of a computer, you are going to lose something you have been working on whether it’s the plane reservations you have been making or the term paper or sermon you have been working so hard on. When you do a hard reboot on the computer, you hold your breath and painstakingly wait to see if your work has been saved.

Today’s scripture is about a hard reboot to a system, namely humanity’s understanding of time. Whereas Christmas looks at God’s first advent or coming to us in the baby Jesus, the first Sunday in Advent asks us to pause and reflect upon the second coming of Jesus, not as a little baby but as the Prince of Peace and King of Creation. We begin with the second advent of Jesus this season to remind ourselves God will make good on God’s promises never to leave us alone and orphaned.  It’s a reminder that when we look to the sky, shake our fists, and tell God, “Life isn’t fair!” God smiles and says, “You’re right, beloved. Hold on because I’m coming to get you soon!”

Like a computer, our life and world have a bug that has slowed down our performance and causes us to crash a lot. The “bug” infecting us is sin. What is sin? Sin is a part of our human condition that generates our propensity to deface the image of God in God, in our neighbor, in ourselves and in our environment. Jesus comes and demonstrates God’s perfect plan for how we are to live but we see how far that got Jesus, don’t we?  Jesus was sent to save the system so that when it crashes, there is still hope.

Well, today is about Jesus’ hard reboot to the system. Some call it the second coming. Others call it ‘the rapture.’ We all know it as the apocalypse.  The apocalypse is God’s hard reboot. It’s when everything is quickly turned off and then fully restored.

Let’s take a look at this reboot and look at a fresh perspective on how we get ready for it. Hear our words today from Matthew 24:36-44.

Matthew 24:36-44

36 “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.   44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.[1]

This is an unusual apocalyptic text from Matthew. Unlike the Apostle John’s famous apocalyptic story, Revelation, where all those fantastic cosmic events occur that we cannot understand, Matthew is much more subtle on how the second advent of Jesus takes place in humanity’s total everyday ordinariness. Jesus is telling the disciples that they do not need to waste their time looking for ‘signs’ that the redemption of Creation is about to happen; rather, disciples are called to live our lives in expectant hope that whenever the fateful day arrives, we are prepared.

Jesus walks up to a farmer at harvest time, taps him on the shoulder and says, “Excuse me.  It’s me.  It’s that time.”

A woman is pushing a grocery cart at Publix, turns down the spice aisle, bumps her cart into Jesus’, and he tells her, “Guess what time it is?”

You are fast asleep in the middle of the night and the hi-tech Simply Safe alarm you picked up at Best Buy on Black Friday failed to detect Jesus as he entered the house.  He gently shakes you on the shoulder and says, “Hello! Wake up! It’s time to go!” You anxiously ask, “Um, go where?” and with a poker face he replies, “Oh – you’ll see.”

Matthew paints the picture of humanity wrapped up in everyday activities when the time of judgment arrives. We will be out at dinner enjoying fine wine and a fillet and then it’s time. We will be at the Super Bowl party when the really bad halftime show fades away to meaninglessness and you are immediately brought face-to-face with a glorified Christ. Then again, you may be at the Premier wedding event of the season when all of a sudden, the fulfillment of all times takes place; and there you are in the midst of judgment.

The deal is this: we look for signs as to when these things will take place and the word Matthew is spelling out to you and me is this: God will show up in the most mundane events of our everyday lives so be ready now. Matthew is not so much about sign-reading as Matthew wants us to be more life-living in a state of readiness. Furthermore, it’s a word that’s not directed solely to individual followers of Jesus; unlike today’s American Christianity that thinks one’s faith is “all about me,” Matthew is directing his words to the Christian community as a whole. We read how Jesus is speaking to “you” in the singular but he’s not; when Jesus declares “You also must be ready!” he is using the plural, ‘all y’all!’

He is asking us, “Church, what are you as a Christian community doing to help each other get ready for the moment of the second coming? Are you doing your own thing or are you working together to ensure that you’re ready. Are y’all ready for when I return?”

The church has done a pretty poor job of letting people know about the coming judgment. We need to rethink what we understand of judgment because we have painted it with a lot of coats of different colored paint and it’s difficult to make out what it really is. We have acquiesced its real power and story to the people or to the fringes who have made a spectacle of Christ’s return.

Those on the theological left have ignored the whole concept and have buried it in the sands of antiquity and have widely ignored the fact that all of us will have to appear before the judgment seat of God. For them, it’s an intellectual exercise. Those on the theological right, however, are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good and they totally forget that new life in Christ begins the moment one says, “I believe” and a result, we are called to live like that now. Judgment for them is God behind the judge’s bench when we get to heaven and God will let us in or tell us to take the escalator down to the lower level.

Today is the day we are to ask ourselves, “Are we ready?”  Church, we mistakenly think God’s first question to us at judgment will be, “Did you love me?” when in reality, the question will be, “Did you demonstrate your love for me by loving and caring for those around you?” The question is not so much what I have done in my life to get myself into heaven; rather, the issue is how much have I sacrificed my life to help others get there like Jesus did for me! I truly believe when we come to God face to face, God will not ask you and me, “What did you do to get here?” I think God’s question will be more along the lines of, “I gave my son so others may have life. So who, Christian, who Church, did you bring with you in Jesus’ winsome wake of love?”

One of the striking moments in the blockbuster movie from years ago, The Titanic, is the scene when the ship is going down and people are trying to outrun one another to the lifeboats. They are physically jostling others out of line or they make demands that because they are first-class passengers, they deserve to be saved first. This chaotic scene is juxtaposed to another moment on the boat when bandleader, Wallace Hartley, continued leading his eight-member band to play music as the ship was going down. Hartley and his friends wanted to bring a hopeful, peaceful calm to the passengers as the horrible tragedy took place. So, in the midst of panic, they gently played, “Nearer my God, to Thee.”

Being ready is not about our securing a seat on God’s lifeboat.  Being ready means stationing ourselves as a church along the way to help others get their seats.

Today’s text is our Lord’s clarion call to be ready and to be focused on what we are supposed to be focused on before the hard reboot comes.  Are we?

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

© 2019 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

[1] New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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