The Last Shall Be First (Chaplain Dave Smith, 02/17/24)

I like what I've experienced with you today,

and I think the Holy Spirit lives in your church family.

So you can see there about 20 years of pastoring churches

and another 22 years of pastoring hospitals.

And we live in Calhoun, and so we're neighbors of yours.

So what about that scripture,

the story Jesus told about the farmer?

Was the farmer fair?

Sure.

Thank you.

Anybody think he wasn't fair?

I'll give you some stats, current stats,

and the last we have for annual average income

in the United States go back to April of 2022.

The average annual pay in the US,

that's the most current stat we have,

is $77,338 a year.

And that averages down to $37 an hour.

And that's what Jesus would,

if he was telling this story today,

instead of a denarius a day,

that was the average pay for a day's work,

when he told the story, he would say $37 an hour.

Is that fair?

Well, if you make $1,000 an hour,

you may not think it's that great,

but $37 is pretty good for when I used to earn hourly wage.

Real good.

I started at 50 cents an hour.

I don't have any hair left,

so you know that was a long time ago.

I'm going to weigh in on this question.

Was the farmer fair?

No.

No.

He was way, way, way, way, way, way, way more than fair.

Way more to fair.

And God is way, way, way, way, way more than fair to sinners.

If God was only fair, where would Eve be?

She's one that sold out the human race,

went to work for the enemy.

She abandoned God to trust Satan.

But God was way, way more than fair to her.

He gave her hundreds of years of life,

forgiving, transforming her,

and she told generations of children

about the God of hope and the savior that would be born.

She had an idea that she might be the mother of the savior.

It didn't work out that way,

but God used her to prophesy ahead of time.

If God was only fair, where would Lot be?

An incestuous binge drinker.

God was way, way more than fair to Lot,

made him a prime example of the lengths God would go to

to spare indecisive sinners

caught between the love of God and the love of the world.

He was way more than fair to Lot.

If God was only fair, where would Abraham be?

He twice lied to kings for his own protection

and let his wife be at risk for an immoral monarch.

Turned out to be more moral than the husband

who didn't tell the truth.

God was way, way more than fair to a lying husband.

Abraham, like that, became the greatest biblical example

of faith in God,

willing to put his own son on the altar.

Abraham's forever symbolic of the love of God the Father

to give Jesus to save mankind, you and me.

Is God fair?

Uh-uh.

Way, way, way, way more than fair.

If God was only fair, where would Jacob be?

Deceptive thief, tricky Jake.

He put his own status, his finances,

his success before God and his family.

Repenting, forgiven, matured out of his weak instincts,

God was way, way more than fair to Jacob.

He became Israel, the namesake of God's chosen people,

the Old Testament.

If God was only fair,

where would woman chasers David and Samson be?

And murderers Moses and double-centered David,

who was both a woman chaser and a murderer.

Where would they be?

If God was only fair,

where would ruthless, ambitious John

and belligerent Peter be?

If God was only fair,

where would violently fanatical Paul be?

And if God was only fair,

where would you and I be?

We'd all be fairly judged and doomed.

Mighty bad sinners.

But the heart of God is transforming.

It's way, way, way, way, way more than fair.

It reaches, it forgives, it makes us into world changers.

Yes, heaven's greatest treasure

is a sinner ripe for repentance.

We need to face who we are.

So I've prepared a short survey.

It's really serious business,

and I need Bruce and your helpers at this point.

This is an exercise that may be a bit stunning to us.

I'll keep one.

Probably children don't need to have this one.

It'll be an experience they'll be part of,

but they won't need to fill it out.

We have pens for you to fill it out.

I'm hoping our whole survey can take about five, six minutes

and we can go on and analyze it

after we've faced our own situation.

There are 14 questions on here,

and I'm not going to read each one.

I'm gonna let you read it silently

and just mark it as truthfully and honestly as you can.

But don't put your name on this paper

because someone else is going to have it in their hands

within about 10 minutes.

And we're going to see in a visible way

our true condition and our situation.

If you have misgivings about participating in this,

it's all right.

I think it's a moving exercise.

I've done this with a whole camp meeting

and it was remarkable in that most conservative section

of our conference when we really faced who we are.

We're taking some pains to safeguard

the anonymous nature of your survey response.

But we'll see how even a good church

has been under attack through the years of our lives.

And it helps us see really where we are.

We're gonna move from this place emotionally quickly

as soon as we hear and see the responses

and go to the fabulous reassurance

of the nature of Jesus Christ our Savior.

What we're going to do now

as soon as they get these in your hands

is you're going to take someone else's survey result.

And when I read the item on the survey,

if the person who marked the survey you hold in your hands

marked that one, then we're going to ask you to stand.

There'll be some up and down here.

So I'm sorry if that's hard on someone.

If you have to, just raise your hand, that's okay,

but it'll be more of an emphatic impact on you if we stand.

Number one, this is not you we're talking about.

This is the person who filled out your survey,

but we'll have you stand representing

the fact that we're under attack

even in committed Christian environment and family.

Number one, have you ever struggled with depression?

If the person in your survey marked it, please stand, okay?

Thank you, thank you, you may be seated.

Number two, have you ever struggled with fear or anxiety?

If you can stand, go ahead.

Stand if you can stand and raise your hand if you can't.

All right, now number three,

do you have anything in your life you regret?

Thank you.

Number four, have you ever been physically abused

or abusive?

You ever been the abuser or been abused yourself?

Thank you.

That's a pretty big percentage for a small group.

I don't know if you saw how many there were there.

There were nearly 10 out of 60.

All right, number six, have you ever thought about

or attempted suicide?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Number seven, have you ever cut

or intentionally harmed yourself?

That's good.

Number eight, ever been sexually active outside of marriage?

Thank you.

Number 10, do you have any unshared secrets?

Thank you.

Number 11, have you ever abused drugs, alcohol or food?

Thank you.

Do you struggle with attractions, temptations

or thoughts outside God's will?

Thank you.

Let's just stand right, stay there for a minute.

You know, this is a painful exercise

and I want you to, you're concentrating on standing

and sitting at the right time, but from up here,

and I'm hoping you're getting some of it too.

Those in the back can see those in front of them.

There's a lot of suffering that's gone on.

There's a lot of devil attack that goes on.

Thank you.

Let's look at number 13.

Have you ever lied to hide your actions?

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thank you.

And number 14, do you doubt that God is pleased with you?

That's a sad one.

Thank you.

Thank you all for participating

in something quite unusual for church.

It's to prepare us for the tremendously good news

the rest of this message will have.

Now we know who we are.

Let's move out of this sad place as quickly as we can.

To stay in an emotional space like this very long,

it is not a reliable measure of our life.

We got a quick step out of here, move forward,

only pausing long enough to benefit from this brief stay.

I wanna take you to London, England,

and there's Sir Winston Churchill at the dinner table.

He was a statesman, a leader of the free world,

and they had guests that night.

He was called away for some

dutiful call, a telegram or a phone call he had to take.

And so he stepped away from the dinner table

and the guest asked Lady Churchill,

what was Sir Winston doing when he made this gesture

around the linen tablecloth

near your place at the dinner table?

And she said, oh, that was Sir Winston telling me

he'd walk the world over on his knees

to have my forgiveness for the argument

that they'd had just before dinner.

He was willing to admit he was wrong.

It's probably a major factor in what made him

one of history's great statesmen.

Being able to admit when you've had weakness,

when you've been wrong, is the only way you get

to the mercy of a heavenly father with all that grace

he's waiting to give.

The last shall be first, but only the last.

Only those willing to admit where they are

and where they've been can receive that generous

outpouring and overflowing of God's mercy.

Have you admitted that you were wrong lately?

Have you asked for forgiveness recently?

Have you had to reap the rewards of your deeds sometime?

Have you had to throw yourself on the mercy

of somebody else?

Have you had to face it, I'm last?

It's the only way to become first with God.

All the 12-step programs, AA, narcotics anonymous,

overeaters anonymous, they find victory

in recognizing themselves as forever an alcoholic,

forever an addict, forever a glutton,

forever in need of the higher power,

but not as a person who is in need of the higher power.

But not active in it anymore, not terrorized

by the handcuffs to that addiction and habit,

but always vulnerable.

In truth, the closer and the longer you walk

with the one who freed you, the less you are addicted,

the less you are an alcoholic,

the less you are a narcotics addict,

the less you are an overeater,

but recognizing your dependence on the one who freed you

is essential to staying free.

All right, let's get out of here.

Let's quit thinking about us.

Let's turn and think about the Savior.

There are 89 chapters in the Gospels.

And out of all those verses,

in the 89 chapters of the biblical text,

there's only one place in the four Gospels

where Jesus tells us about his own heart.

Perhaps it's the most wonderful words

ever uttered by a paralipse.

It's in Matthew 11, 28 and 29.

I'm reading from the New Revised Standard Version.

Come to me, all you that are weary

and are carrying heavy burdens.

There's been some burden bearing in this congregation.

Do you see how we stood?

So many.

Come to me and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

And here he is.

He's unbuttoning his shirt.

He's letting you see down through the T-shirt

through the skin, past the rib cage,

to the very pulsing heart, the heart of Christ,

what motivates and makes him work.

He says, I am gentle and humble in heart.

I actually like the good old King James Version

a little bit touch better here.

For I am gentle and lowly in heart.

And ye shall find rest until your souls.

Gentle and lowly.

The Bible doesn't say, I am austere and demanding in heart.

We're not told, I am exalted and dignified in heart.

We're not even told that Jesus is joyful and generous in heart.

When he himself gave definitive phrases

about his own nature, he says,

I am gentle and lowly in heart.

Jesus isn't harsh.

He isn't reactionary.

He isn't easily exasperated.

He's the most understanding person in the universe.

This would be a good place for a congregation wide amen.

Amen.

That's what he's like.

The posture that's most natural for Jesus is not this.

It's this.

That's gentle and lowly Jesus.

We project onto Jesus our skewed instincts

of how the world works where we live.

We think the wealthier a person is,

the more they tend to look down on people that don't have as much.

That's not Jesus.

We tend to think that the more beautiful a person is,

that the less they have any sense of interest in somebody

who's not attractive or downright ugly.

That's not Jesus.

That's not Jesus.

We quietly assume that one so high and so exalted

can't stand to draw near to despicable and unclean me.

That's not Jesus.

That's not Jesus.

We really mess it up when we think like that.

We think that when Jesus comes close to us, he does this.

We think it's like the little boy who first touched a slug.

You know, there it is.

Sure looks slimy.

Do I want to touch this thing?

Ah!

That's not Jesus.

That's not gentle and lowly Jesus.

That's not gentle and lowly Jesus.

Our very fallenness is most irresistibly attractive to him.

I know that's hard to believe, but it's the truth.

And gentle and lowly, he was telling you how he feels about you

with the history we've displayed here.

The same one that reached out to touch lepers,

puts his arm around our messy souls

to answer our half-hearted pleas for mercy.

He puts his arms around oozing sore lepers and people

who've come through messy things in our lives.

As deep as our sinfulness runs, ever deeper runs his gentleness.

When we sin, the very heart of Christ is drawn out to us.

He doesn't turn his back and say,

I died on Calvary for them.

No, he comes near to us when we sin,

and his heart is broken for us.

The sins of those who belong to God open the floodgates

of his heart of compassion to us.

And then the dam breaks because he sees us at our worst.

That's what draws the heart of Christ.

That's what pulls out of him his deepest love.

The things about yourself which make you cringe

are what makes God hug the hardest.

He's gentle and lowly of heart, and we shall find rest unto our souls.

Jesus said it himself, the last shall be first.

Now we read in John 20 the story of Mary Magdalene.

I love how you have a reflection that kind of hides the time in your clock back there.

But I'm going to shortcut and not read the long passage,

but it is John 20 and verse 11 through 18.

It's the resurrection of Jesus. It's Mary coming to the tomb.

This is Mary. Two other Gospel writers say that she had seven devils cast out of her.

But here she is at the tomb Sunday morning.

She's there because the love response for the forgiveness

that's been freely poured all over her sin life draws her automatically in a response.

She has to be there. She has to be there.

Mary had been last. Simon the Pharisee publicly berated her.

What manner of woman is this? She's a sinner. He was right.

When she fell, she fell all the way to last.

She sinned grievously over and over and over.

At first she was duped by someone who said, I love you, because she needed it so badly.

She became last, perpetual in her wasteful sin, her sin controlled her.

She had to leave Bethany and she moved way up north to Magdala

and became the disgrace when they said Mary Magdalena.

The people of Magdala said, oh, what a fame to have.

We don't want her name even heard and associated with our town.

When they dragged her from the very bed of her sin, had she grabbed the sheet or even a pillow slip?

Her guilt was obvious.

He wrote the accuser's sins in the sand, that savior who forgave her.

He must see our sin for what it really is too.

Only the last shall be first, but he didn't write Mary's sin in the sand.

She was already sorry. She was already broken with her guilt.

She was already to hear him say, neither do I condemn you.

Go and sin no more.

I didn't say that strong enough.

Neither do I condemn you.

Go and sin no more because it hurts you.

It doesn't change my love for you.

It changes whether you can be with me forever.

I can't bear the idea you wouldn't be.

And so she who had been last in sin was first whom he greeted in the morning of his resurrection.

She remembered the soft-shouldered forgiver.

She remembered his words when she saw them take his body down.

She remembered how he didn't condemn her when their tears fell into his wounds

as they savved his body for the embalming.

She saw them bring the body down.

She knew she'd been last in sin and she was last to leave the tomb of her savior.

She who had been last in sin was first whom he greeted in the garden.

On Friday, the separation from his father was literally tearing the sinews of his myocardium muscle in his chest, his heart muscle.

When he cried out, why hast thou forsaken me?

It was her sin, our sins that was tearing the muscle apart in his chest.

But on Sunday morning, he did not immediately ascend to the Father.

He couldn't stand the separation on Friday afternoon.

You've forsaken me, but on Sunday morning, he didn't fly immediately, transported to heaven to be in the Father's arm.

What was it that would take a separation that was so painful it broke his heart?

And yet he stayed in the garden lingering with a sniveling, crying, last but forgiven.

And now first before the Father, forgiven sinner.

The thing that heaven treasures more than anything in the universe is a sinner ripe for repentance.

In Hebrews 12, there's a picture of something that I didn't have in my theological agenda until several quarters back now, a couple of years back.

We were studying the book of Hebrews and it described the second largest celebration in celestial history.

A celestial celebration in heaven where all the angels that are up there and overflowing out into the unfallen universe celebrating the second biggest celebration in heaven.

It's the enthronement of the Son of God with Father God in glory after the crucifixion.

It's the inauguration of the new covenant that saves mankind.

I see some of you wanting to turn there. It's Hebrews 12, 22 and 23.

It goes like this.

You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to myriads of angels, a festive gathering, to the assembly of the firstborn.

Who's that? That's Jesus, firstborn from the dead.

Most importantly born. Most important one to be freed from a sepulcher.

It says, whose names have been written in heaven. God spoke to the Son, your throne, O God is forever and ever and the scepter of your kingdom is the scepter of justice.

They were ready for the ceremony in heaven. The enthronement of Jesus after the crucifixion.

The heavenly event manager was very anxious.

The capital of the cosmos was about to explode in celebration.

All was in readiness, but Jesus had not yet departed the garden where he had just emerged from his tomb.

Why was the celebration delayed?

He knew that groping in the shadows of the garden was a woman weeping because she loved.

She who'd been last would now come first.

The gates of paradise were wide open for the risen Christ.

The angel choirs, 10,000 times 10,000 had been practicing for the triumphal return.

With a drop of a downbeat, the choral director of all of those multi-parted voices was about to start the anthem of glory.

Who is this king of glory?

The Lord strong and mighty.

There was to be an antiphonal response where the angel chariot that was to carry Jesus back to the presence of the Father.

They would sing and those at the gate in heaven would sing and it would come echoing back and forth, but it was delayed.

The guard of honor was lining the shining path through space.

The Father longed for the reunion with his son.

From a long way off, he was ready to run and throw his arms like the prodigal's father and greet his return.

His joyous cry was about to ring through the universe.

This my son was dead and now he is alive.

He who knew no sin became sin for those who sinned.

He who never strayed was lost for those who were lost.

And now he's coming back.

But the Father waited.

The choir director waited.

The guard of honor waited.

The 24 elders waited.

The heavenly throng waited.

All this because a stumbling, sobbing, sinful, but cleansed.

Once lost, now first sinner still knew her need of Jesus.

When Jesus travels the corridor to heaven next time,

it will be to take the saved from earth with him back for the greatest celebration of all.

He'll be taking the saved of the earth with him.

He waits today for more who will admit their last so he can make them first.

Can you admit your need of Jesus today?

Are you willing to humble yourself this Sabbath for the one who can't stand the idea

that his beloved sinner now cleansed and forgiven would not spend eternity with him?

Let's tell Jesus.

I submit weak sinfulness to my gentle and lowly Savior.

I am last and give you permission to make me first.

Would you like to tell him that?

I invite you to rise.

So, dear Lord, maybe we haven't been publicly exposed adulterer,

but maybe we've harbored evil in some other corner where the human heart can do it.

And we say to you, cleanse me, O Savior.

Let me go home from church this Sabbath without a question

because you are the one who's tender and lowly in heart, and we give you ourselves.

Amen.