CMLC 2024-11-03 Sermon

Howdy. Now this last week we had Halloween, all right, and if you may remember there were

plenty of really scary movies that were on at different times. You could be scrolling

through, okay, and watch any number of really scary movies at different times, all right.

And I was having a bit of a hard time with the list of movies that are on there. There

was one where this one person had a boat that skewered her right in the middle of her stomach.

Oh, it was terrible. And then there was one where this person fell many stories to their

death. Oh, it was horrible. And one character eaten by hyenas. Oh my goodness. These, the

movies were terrible. They were absolutely terrible. And that's why I have to stay away

from the violence of Disney movies. Because if we're just being honest, oh my word, Disney

movies are violent. They are, oh my word, little mermaid and Ursula over there and the

boat comes and just gets her, okay. And then there's Gaston with his gigantic chin falling

to his death. And don't even get me started on Scar over there. Oh my word. And everything

that's happening. Don't even get me started on Fox and the Hound and Bambi. I am still

scarred. All right. I'm just saying. And what is so funny about these movies is that in

so many ways, these are feel good movies. Okay. They are feel good movies. There are

things where we look back on them and they was like, oh, this or the other. But there

is a lot inside of them that can oftentimes be hurtful and scary. And yet we're okay with

it. That's what is so mind blowing about it is that in our minds, we have it in this context

that we actually feel pretty good about all of them. And the reason why we feel good about

it is because we know that those characters had it coming. All right. There's this kind

of this feeling is like, you know, you know that what they've done, it's pretty terrible.

You're like, yeah, but I know what they've got it coming to them. And what's interesting

though is how much we were already starting to feel that way before we even got to the

worst parts that before we even got to the part where Ursula was attacking, you know,

Eric and Ariel is that even when she made that deal, we already hated her pretty hard.

Or even before we got to the point where Gaston is attacking the beast is that we still wanted

him wiped off the map from that movie. And all these times where it's almost like we

get to this part in the movie where they almost have to put it in there that the main characters

lives are at stake to give us an excuse to kill off the villain. It's almost like they

know that we want it. And it's almost like they're giving us an excuse to have it. Because

that's the reality of where we oftentimes find ourselves as people is that we are constantly

saying there must be consequences. We are oftentimes thinking of and looking for reasons

why it is that someone needs to pay a consequence. There was a practice that existed many, many

centuries the time of Abraham before then after that, where people who had to live near

each other could not live near each other very peaceably to people to tribes to nations,

whoever it was that was next to each other. How did you know that they were not going

to come and attack you in the middle of the night or that they were not going to somehow

come and destroy your community? How did you know that they were not going to come after

you when you were not expecting it? And they had to make a covenant, but it had to be a

covenant that struck the fear of God into somebody. What they would have to do is they

would take an animal and they would slaughter it, they would butcher it all over the ground.

And they would have to walk around it because what they were saying to each other is either

you keep this covenant with me, do not betray me or else this is the fate that you will

see. Could they have just sat down with a couple of beers and maybe said, hey, are we

cool? We are cool? Okay, we are cool? All right, I will catch you later. Or maybe they

could go and do some crafting together or just at some point in time have a popcorn

social. No, they had to make it very clear. There are consequences if you betray me. We

don't do the same type of covenanting in today's world, but are we really all that different?

Are we really all that different because when we feel that someone has betrayed us, no matter

how big of a betrayal it might be, they've let us down, they've made us feel like they

weren't there the way we wanted to be. How much does the seething start to set in? And

how much does the anger start to take over? But in reality, where did this idea of even

doing this type of covenant even come from in the first place? We see God over there

having this covenant with Abraham using this to say we are in a relationship with each

other. But is that really something that God originally came up with? You know, when we

read the first few chapters of Genesis, and we get to know what happened with Adam and

Eve and their legacy, you know, we get through the first few parts pretty quickly. God made

all this stuff. That's awesome. Oh, Adam and Eve, they ate that fruit. Yeah, you probably

should have gone for the pomegranate instead of the pineapple. But instead, we kind of

then get to the part of you're going to have to deal with sin. And then we skip those last

few verses that God had to cover their nakedness with the skins of animals. Adam and Eve, they're

called to follow after God and instead they decide to go their own route. And now they

are ashamed of their nakedness. And what has to happen is that they are desperate to have

it covered. Could you imagine what it is for God that he has made all of these beautiful

things and these beautiful animals and now to help his children. The first deaths have

to occur just to give them something to wear. Isn't it amazing how often that while we are

having to make these covenants is that instead we still look for ways that when we break

them and we don't want to suffer the consequences ourselves, we look for ways to cover over them

or even for opportunities to blame others instead. We know many times whenever we have

done wrong or whenever it is that we should have done something more than what we've already

taken on. We have broken a covenant and yet what do we want to do? We want to figure out

why there was an excuse, why there was someone else or something else that there was to blame.

I'm sure Ursula in her mind was saying I'm just dealing with the contract that we had

in play. I'm sure Gaston is thinking, oof, you know what, I should be the one with the

beautiful girl. That person over there, that's a pretty ugly, terrible person, probably needs

to not be there anymore and now there's even going to be a future movie to help understand

scars background. Apparently there are so many times and so many ways where we're looking

for reasons why I'm not the villain even though I'm the one who did something that was wrong.

But that's the way we conduct our everyday life. We are continually covering what we

don't want to face and that's also where we end up seeing what Hebrews is talking about

with the tabernacle today. See, we did not always have churches and the altar and the

cross hanging from here. When the people of Israel are walking through the wilderness

and they have this tent that they carry along with them everywhere, this tent had two main

rooms. There was a front room. This was one that had an altar of incense because you needed

to burn the incense so you weren't constantly smelling the blood of the sacrifices. A lampstand,

a menorah to light in the room because it was dark, it had a curtain and a showbread

table. The showbread being a table where this bread that's there is the presence of God

because it is then feeding the priests. Even as God feeds us that this bread, the presence

of God is feeding the people. And all the priests were able to go in and out of that

room. That room by itself was not something to be worried about. Light your candles, make

things smell nice. Here's some food, here's some bread, bed, bath and beyond. That's essentially

what we end up having here in the front room. Nothing to worry about. But there was a second

room. And it was always there. That room was always there with the Ark of the Covenant

inside of it. That room was always there with the presence of God. That room was always

waiting behind the curtain, but you did not go into it. Why? Because if you go into the

presence of God without the punishment for sin, you would die. Because we continually

keep going our own route and the punishment is death. And yet we would continue to look

for reasons and ways that we don't need to be the ones to pay for it. To the point where

the priest would put blood on his toe so that the very first thing walking in the room was

blood. So that as soon as God sees someone is coming into my presence, but there was

blood shed. You don't need to take my own. But it didn't matter how many times an animal

was killed time and time again. Is that it was never enough? And why? Because the same

people were still pursuing the same sins and they would never change. It did nothing to

change who they were. It was just covering over and masking themselves. And that's the

thing about where we oftentimes find ourselves is this part where we don't want to face

who we could be. We don't want to face what we know about ourselves. How readily do we

keep looking for some other way to just mask over it until finally Jesus comes to deal

with it himself? One of the things that's interesting about Jesus with his gospel lesson

for today is that as he's speaking to this gentleman and they're trying to figure out

which is the greatest commandment. Love God, love your neighbor. Absolutely. You should

do this. And then what does that man say is even greater than all the sacrifices and offerings

that have been made? Isn't that amazing that if we were to love God and to love our neighbor,

would there even be a need for sacrifice at all? But you see, instead of being honest,

instead of the leaders at the time being honest about who they'd been, what they had been,

how they had failed and how they had struggled, instead, it was easier just to punish one

person in order to deal with it. Caiaphas, the high priest ends up telling the people

it's better for one person to die for the sake of all the people. What he didn't realize

was how true what he said truly was. Is that it was easier? Because then if they didn't

have to face what they had done and who they were, then could they just go back to the

everyday life, light their candles, burn their incense and just say, God loves us and we're

going to move on. But what we end up seeing goes even deeper than that. There was a movie

that came out, it was a little while back, it was an Adam Sandler movie, Mr. Deeds, probably

the only Adam Sandler movie that isn't somehow gross. I don't know quite how to explain it

in the eyes. But in this movie, Adam Sandler plays this character who has inherited this

large amount of money and he ends up ruining so many things because he has no idea what

he's doing with it. But what ends up happening is that at the last minute, because he had

made a deal and this business person was going to take all the wealth, all the riches, fire

the people from this company, they were going to go in and ruin everything, is that they

ended up going back and discovering the true will of the person who had passed away and

found out that Adam Sandler's character was not actually the heir to this kingdom. It

turned out it was the butler, the servant. And because they discovered at the man's death,

they discovered who his true heir was, this person was able to fix everything and make

it right because that will, once it is done and the person has passed away, can no longer

be changed. And it turns out that's what we end up seeing with who Jesus is. Jesus was

tired and done with everything that we keep doing. Jesus was coming to end all of the

sacrifice that there would be no more need for sacrifice ever again. And that there it

is that he is willing to give himself for the people. But when his life came to an end,

what was his will? His will was for all of us to have new life. And that's the thing

about this is that as much as we keep putting all of the blame then on Jesus is that he

is willingly taken it to end all of the bloodshed. See, that's the thing about this is that Jesus

is coming to do more than just to end the animal sacrifices, but he has come to change

us too. How much is it that we end up spending so much of our life and so much of our energy

trying to figure out who else and what else is to blame? And I'm almost afraid of what's

going to happen later on this week with whatever does or doesn't happen after Tuesday. And

how many of you are going to figure out whether or not you should hate me if you can figure

out how I voted? I'll give you a hint. I ain't telling you. But even more than that is to

realize this is our world is that we are continually looking for somebody else that we are to blame

instead of pausing to say we all have been a part of it and that we as people need to

change because we need to stop figuring out who else it is that is to be sacrificed and

instead to realize that that old way is done. And with that, I need to teach you a word.

I need to teach you a word. Apparently the word we already knew what it meant before,

but there's apparently a new meaning. It's the word basic. Apparently if something is

basic, if somebody is basic, it means that you've been doing things that are unoriginal.

You're basically old news. So somebody comes up and says, you're basic. Apparently it's

saying you're really unoriginal. Like there's nothing that you had to say that's really

interesting or cool. Did that sound as weird coming from my lips as it felt trying to say

it? Absolutely. But the problem is the old sacrifices are basic. That way of living in

this world that needs to be done. We need to be done with it. We are now given a new life

because Jesus life was taken from him. And his will is that each one of you no longer

lives by your own thoughts in your own ways, but rather by his spirit because God's spirit

does not lead us down a path where we continue to blame and to attack and to try to harm others

hoping that their blood will somehow take care of things. But instead, the spirit that

leads us and moves us to say, I have sinned and I need to change. So wherever it is that

you may find yourself today, whatever things that you don't want to go in that other room,

you don't want to see it. You don't want to acknowledge it is that the curtain is down

and we are there in God's presence. But when he sees us, he sees the blood of his son.

And so you don't have to spend your time in fear or trying to avoid it any longer. You

can look at right in the eye and say, this is who I no longer need to be because God's

spirit is here to change me and to lead me down the paths that he wants. So may we, whatever

does happen in the world around us, may we learn how to live with our neighbor, to love

our God and to be the people that he has called us to be. No more sacrifices. It's finished

in Christ Jesus. Amen.