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"Trash Cans or Treasure Chests" Page 3  | 1 | 2 | |
Leonard Sweet  With his refreshingly unconventional approach to Christianity, Len comes from Madison, NJ where he serves as dean of the Theological School and Vice President of Drew University. Len speaks from a unique perspective as one of the few who really have a finger on the spiritual pulse of the nation. Author of numerous books, including the critically acclaimed FaithQuakes, Len uses wisdom and wit to challenge us to examine ourselves as Christians in a postmodern age. |
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In 1823 there was a
student at a British school, Rugby School, his name was William Webb Ellis. He was playing
soccer one day and he forgot through a mental lapse what game he was playing and instead
of kicking the ball, he caught it. William Ellis caught the ball, ran to the goal, and all
of a sudden, instead of hearing the cheering crowds he heard a mocking crowd, a laughing
crowd. This student, William Ellis, at this British school called Rugby, was so humiliated
and embarrassed he took his life. But someone was at that school, watched what William
Ellis had done, and said "You know, that is not a bad idea, that is a whole different
sport."  They used that
mistake to found a whole different sport, named it after the school that it started at,
and it became known as rugby, which is the predecessor to football. But it did no good for
William Ellis because he could not trust that a trash can could become a treasure chest.
The whole story of the scriptures - go through it from beginning to end, from Genesis to
the maps, and you will find over and over again, sisters and brothers, this story of how
God takes what is worst, least, contemptible, lowest, and does what is greatest, best, and
strongest. It is the story of the gospel. |
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| Numbers 12:14 14: The LORD replied to Moses, "If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back." |
We have images for this over and over again in the scriptures. We have an image
for it on Ash Wednesday. What are ashes that we put on our forehead - ashes are burnt
garbage. But perhaps the most powerful image that we have in all of the scriptures is the
ultimate insult that you could do in the Bible ~ specifically named in Numbers 12:14 ~ and
that is to spit on them. The ultimate insult! To spit on another human being, to curse
somebody by spitting on them. One of the stories that came out of the Civil Rights
Movement was about a third-grader, and eight year old by the name of Thelma. She was the
first student to integrate the Mississippi public school system. When she came to school
the first day her mother put her in a cute little pink dress. She showed up at school and
the teacher said "Thelma, I want you to stand right there by your seat. You are not
to sit yet." And so Thelma stood by her seat as the rest of the class marched in
front of that seat and spat in her seat. An entire class of third graders. When they all
went to their seats the teacher said to Thelma "You can sit down now." Spitting,
a symbol of insult. What did Jesus do when he wanted to heal the blind? He spat and he
scooped out of the ground some earth. He used his spittle in that earth to make a healing
compound and transformed a symbol of cursing and insult into an activity of healing and
redemption. Read your Bible, over and over. What does God do? God turns cursing into
curing, turns belittling into blessing, turns burrs into spurs. The curse of being hanged
on a tree was transformed into a symbol of forgiveness and salvation. This is the gospel
in a coffee bean, that what is the worst, the least, the last in your life God can turn it
around and make it your greatest instrument for healing and for blessing. Moses was a
murderer, he recycled his rage and hatred and became the greatest leader in Israel's
history. Jacob was a thief and a rogue. He recycled his cunning and became the father of
the nation. David was an adulterer. He recycled his passion and became the greatest of the
kings. Peter was a boastful, swearing fisherman. He recycled his pride and became the rock
upon which Christ built his church. Mary Magdalene recycled her love and became a saint.
Zaccheus, a tax collector recycled his miserliness and became a disciple of Jesus. Saul of
Tarsus, a persecutor, a hater of Christians, recycled his hatred and became the greatest
of the missionary theologians. Esther, a harem girl, recycled her sex appeal and saved the
Jewish people from history's first Holocaust. Ruth was an idol worshipper. But she
recycled her foreignness and she became a progenitor of Jesus the Christ. You. You. What
is worse than you? What is least in you? What is the very dregs of your life? God wants to
turn it around - inside out, upside down, topsy-turvey and make it into a source of
healing, wholeness, and redemption.Do you believe that God
can turn your trash into treasure? Do you believe that God can make your Sheols into
Shilohs? Do you believe that God can take the worst out of your life and turn it into the
best?We are going to sing
"We Believe in God" the song you sang just a few minutes ago. We are going to
sing it one more time. But we are going to change something about the words. We are going
to put the words up here. It starts off - we believe in God - that is not enough. We have
a lot of people who believe in God. The Bible says even the devil believes in God. We need
people out there, this church needs people, this world needs people who don't just believe
in God, but who believe God. There is a realm of difference from believing in God, to
believing God. If you believe God you can never be the same. We have a God who can turn
trash cans into treasure chests. (Congregation sings song) Closing Words: Well, if you didn't accidentally eat your coffee bean already, you might want to save it and put it somewhere where you will see it a lot and remember that, just like with that coffee bean, God dips down deep into the trash can and pulls each one of us out, and he says "Hey, I think I can use that!" Miracles happen when the divine intersects with the ordinary. Go this week, be encouraged. God loves you, God can make your trash cans into treasure chests. Amen. |
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