2 Erasers
Trey Little | 5-Sep-10
"Supply List: 2 Erasers"
Well, two weeks of school are in the books--before you know it we will be planning our summer vacations. This morning we are in our second week of using AISD's sixth grade school supply list as a tool to help us consider some essentials we need to remember as the body of Christ.
So turn with me to Romans 10: 9-10 (pg. 1121 in your pew Bibles).
The second item on the "official supply list" for the sixth-grade class is 2 erasers. When I saw this on the list I immediately thought--what kind of erasers? Are they the little erasers that slide over the top of an already existing eraser on the No. 2 pencil or are they those pink colored, rectangle shaped erasers. One of those two choices seemed most obvious but then I wondered, could they be the erasers used for a chalk board? What about erasers used for a dry-erase board?
Well, at the risk of over-analyzing the plethora of erasers on the market--I decided to instead focus my attention on the function of an eraser. Typically speaking, an eraser is used for rubbing out mistakes. Perhaps a misspelled word, a change of thought, a need for a different answer--whatever the "mistake" an eraser allows you to start over--a clean space, or line, or board to start fresh.
Then it occurred to me: we could all stand to have a fresh start. Because, let's face it, there are times when we say things, or do things, that really weren't what we should have said or done. It's times like that when we would benefit greatly from some kind of HUGE Eraser that we could trust would rub out our mistakes.
Romans 10:9-10 reminds us of 2 erasers that are available--they are "Confess" and "Believe."
Take a look at verse 9, Paul says, "if you CONFESS with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,"..."
When I went to Africa last summer, I learned so much from those sweet people. But one thing that really stuck out to me was their consistent greeting. In Africa, when Christians greet one another--which is every time they walk up to one another they shake hands and say, "Bwana Asifiwe." Which means, "Praise the Lord!" Upon which the one being greeted is supposed to respond, "Amen." Every time they opened their mouths they gave a verbal affirmation that the Lord was worthy of their praise.
Paul reminds us that if we want to have a fresh start--if we want a new beginning--then we must CONFESS that Jesus is Lord.
Have you CONFESSED with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord?
1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
Have you CONFESSED to Him that you are "mistake prone' and you desperately need Him to ERASE your mistakes in order that you can start over?
You see, when you CONFESS with your mouth that "Jesus is Lord" you are acknowledging that you ARE NOT lord. You welcome Jesus to not only erase your mistakes but also take control of your life.
But if you will recall, our list called for 2 Erasers. If the first is "CONFESS" then the second is "BELIEVE." Paul said, "CONFESS" with your mouth--get it out there verbally--but also, BELIEVE--get it in there internally by believing it in your heart. It's not enough to just utter words--we must BELIEVE what we say. He said, "and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead..."
Do you BELIEVE in Jesus or do you just like to talk about Him?
Do you BELIEVE in your heart that He is capable and willing to ERASE your mistakes or do you believe He's too busy to pay attention to you.
Do you BELIEVE in your heart He rose from the dead to usher in abundant life or do you think it was over on the Cross?
Do you BELIEVE in your heart that there is more to it--that there is more to living for Jesus than you are currently living.
Friday night--we had the privilege of hosting the After-Game Fellowship here at MMPC. I would guess there were close to 200 people out on the basketball court--most of which were youth in grades 7-12 but there were also plenty of adults. Leading up to the Friday night event--for several weeks--we had run an ad in the newspaper to promote the event. The ad simply said, "Someone BIG is coming. Who is it? Join us to find out." Then it gave details of time and place, etc.
People were saying the "someone BIG" was Colt McCoy--after all, we did play Jim Ned on Friday night. Others thought it was Jason Castro. But I would say that most everyone that came Friday night thought the "someone BIG" was going to be someone famous--some type of celebrity or athlete.
Well, the someone BIG was Jesus--we had an artist come and paint a huge painting of Jesus (splatexperience.com). I must say, it was one of the most amazing experiences I have had in ministry--to watch what the artist did was fantastic--but then to witness what Jesus did was simply breathtaking.
Do you BELIEVE in your heart that Jesus is HUGE or are you worshiping fame and fortune?
Friends, I BELIEVE that God's grace in Jesus Christ is sufficient to ERASE any mistake we make and give us a fresh new place from which to write a new word--HOPE.
Paul says, if we CONFESS and BELIEVE we will be saved--the old has gone and the new has come--we have a new page; a clean slate; a white board. And you know--as I consider the fact that in a few minutes we are going to celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion--I can't help but think about the significance Jesus' body and blood played in erasing our mistakes. And you know the Good News about all of this--erasers can be used over and over again. You make a mistake--CONFESS and BELIEVE. You feel hopeless--CONFESS and BELIEVE. You feel lost--CONFESS and BELIEVE. Are you just going through the "religious" motions--CONFESS and BELIEVE.
Let me close with a story of Will Willimon, now a United Methodist Bishop but formerly the Dean of the Chapel at Duke University. He got a call from an upset parent, a VERY upset parent. "I hold you personally responsible for this," he said. "Me?" Will asked.
The father was hot, upset because his graduate school bound daughter had just informed him that she was going to chuck it all ("throw it all away"" was the way the father described it) and go do mission work with the Presbyterians in Haiti. "Isn't that absurd!" shouted the father. "A BS degree in mechanical engineering from Duke and she's going to dig ditches in Haiti."
"Well
Well, two weeks of school are in the books--before you know it we will be planning our summer vacations. This morning we are in our second week of using AISD's sixth grade school supply list as a tool to help us consider some essentials we need to remember as the body of Christ.
So turn with me to Romans 10: 9-10 (pg. 1121 in your pew Bibles).
The second item on the "official supply list" for the sixth-grade class is 2 erasers. When I saw this on the list I immediately thought--what kind of erasers? Are they the little erasers that slide over the top of an already existing eraser on the No. 2 pencil or are they those pink colored, rectangle shaped erasers. One of those two choices seemed most obvious but then I wondered, could they be the erasers used for a chalk board? What about erasers used for a dry-erase board?
Well, at the risk of over-analyzing the plethora of erasers on the market--I decided to instead focus my attention on the function of an eraser. Typically speaking, an eraser is used for rubbing out mistakes. Perhaps a misspelled word, a change of thought, a need for a different answer--whatever the "mistake" an eraser allows you to start over--a clean space, or line, or board to start fresh.
Then it occurred to me: we could all stand to have a fresh start. Because, let's face it, there are times when we say things, or do things, that really weren't what we should have said or done. It's times like that when we would benefit greatly from some kind of HUGE Eraser that we could trust would rub out our mistakes.
Romans 10:9-10 reminds us of 2 erasers that are available--they are "Confess" and "Believe."
Take a look at verse 9, Paul says, "if you CONFESS with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,"..."
When I went to Africa last summer, I learned so much from those sweet people. But one thing that really stuck out to me was their consistent greeting. In Africa, when Christians greet one another--which is every time they walk up to one another they shake hands and say, "Bwana Asifiwe." Which means, "Praise the Lord!" Upon which the one being greeted is supposed to respond, "Amen." Every time they opened their mouths they gave a verbal affirmation that the Lord was worthy of their praise.
Paul reminds us that if we want to have a fresh start--if we want a new beginning--then we must CONFESS that Jesus is Lord.
Have you CONFESSED with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord?
1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
Have you CONFESSED to Him that you are "mistake prone' and you desperately need Him to ERASE your mistakes in order that you can start over?
You see, when you CONFESS with your mouth that "Jesus is Lord" you are acknowledging that you ARE NOT lord. You welcome Jesus to not only erase your mistakes but also take control of your life.
But if you will recall, our list called for 2 Erasers. If the first is "CONFESS" then the second is "BELIEVE." Paul said, "CONFESS" with your mouth--get it out there verbally--but also, BELIEVE--get it in there internally by believing it in your heart. It's not enough to just utter words--we must BELIEVE what we say. He said, "and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead..."
Do you BELIEVE in Jesus or do you just like to talk about Him?
Do you BELIEVE in your heart that He is capable and willing to ERASE your mistakes or do you believe He's too busy to pay attention to you.
Do you BELIEVE in your heart He rose from the dead to usher in abundant life or do you think it was over on the Cross?
Do you BELIEVE in your heart that there is more to it--that there is more to living for Jesus than you are currently living.
Friday night--we had the privilege of hosting the After-Game Fellowship here at MMPC. I would guess there were close to 200 people out on the basketball court--most of which were youth in grades 7-12 but there were also plenty of adults. Leading up to the Friday night event--for several weeks--we had run an ad in the newspaper to promote the event. The ad simply said, "Someone BIG is coming. Who is it? Join us to find out." Then it gave details of time and place, etc.
People were saying the "someone BIG" was Colt McCoy--after all, we did play Jim Ned on Friday night. Others thought it was Jason Castro. But I would say that most everyone that came Friday night thought the "someone BIG" was going to be someone famous--some type of celebrity or athlete.
Well, the someone BIG was Jesus--we had an artist come and paint a huge painting of Jesus (splatexperience.com). I must say, it was one of the most amazing experiences I have had in ministry--to watch what the artist did was fantastic--but then to witness what Jesus did was simply breathtaking.
Do you BELIEVE in your heart that Jesus is HUGE or are you worshiping fame and fortune?
Friends, I BELIEVE that God's grace in Jesus Christ is sufficient to ERASE any mistake we make and give us a fresh new place from which to write a new word--HOPE.
Paul says, if we CONFESS and BELIEVE we will be saved--the old has gone and the new has come--we have a new page; a clean slate; a white board. And you know--as I consider the fact that in a few minutes we are going to celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion--I can't help but think about the significance Jesus' body and blood played in erasing our mistakes. And you know the Good News about all of this--erasers can be used over and over again. You make a mistake--CONFESS and BELIEVE. You feel hopeless--CONFESS and BELIEVE. You feel lost--CONFESS and BELIEVE. Are you just going through the "religious" motions--CONFESS and BELIEVE.
Let me close with a story of Will Willimon, now a United Methodist Bishop but formerly the Dean of the Chapel at Duke University. He got a call from an upset parent, a VERY upset parent. "I hold you personally responsible for this," he said. "Me?" Will asked.
The father was hot, upset because his graduate school bound daughter had just informed him that she was going to chuck it all ("throw it all away"" was the way the father described it) and go do mission work with the Presbyterians in Haiti. "Isn't that absurd!" shouted the father. "A BS degree in mechanical engineering from Duke and she's going to dig ditches in Haiti."
"Well
