Today, cures are being found for all sorts of diseases, research is being done to find the cures for others.  Laser surgery can be performed which means certain people no longer need to wear contacts or glasses to see clearly.  Open heart surgery is common place. The quality of life and the longevity of life has increased and what do we do?  We marvel at the advancement of medical technology.  We pat ourselves on the back and say well done.

In less than a week, the world’s best athletes will gather in Australia to compete in the Olympics.  Who knows what records will be broken.  Will we see an athlete dominate his or her sport as Mark Spitz did when he won seven gold Olympic medals or when the American basketball dream team swept through their opponents as though they weren’t even on the court?  Will we see the favored athlete lose because of the heroic effort of an underdog?  As we watch, what will we do?  We marvel at the conditioning, the drive, the dedication of the athlete.  We will applaud their effort.  Will we applaud the giver of those athletic abilities?

Will we be astonished by God?

Since the day Jesus stuck his fingers in the deaf man's ears and spat on his tongue and said, "Be opened."  A lot has changed.  We live on the same planet, but we live in a different world.  A world which has the capabilities to be astonished, but seldom is astonished in the way the people were in this morning’s Bible story.

"They were astonished beyond measure, saying, 'He has done everything well; He even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.'"

"He has done everything well."

I don’t think there is another human being that this can be said of.  As a human race we have the capacity to do everything well, but we don’t.  Why is that?

Because the will of God is not important any longer.

In life and death, the only thing Jesus was concerned with was carrying out the will of God.  The words he spoken in the Garden of Gethsemene, summarizes His entire life,

"Not my will, but Thine will be done.

As people observed Jesus they said,

"Everything He does, He does well."

What would people who observe your life say about you?

The lesson you and I need to learn from this story, is a lesson of discipleship.  Jesus is the model of what it means to live within the will of God.  We are to seek to do everything well. We are to strive for godly excellency in all we do.

We are to strive to bring wholeness in the midst of fragmentation;

to work for reconciliation;

to seek justice where injustice abounds;

to seek peace in the midst of disharmony and violence;

to work for reconciliation in a world filled with division and hostility;

In 1990, Terry Shumpert was chosen by the Kansas City Royals.  He was supposed to be the player which the team would be built around.  Terry’s career has turned out as everyone expected.  He has never signed a mega-million dollar contract.  In ten years he has spent only two full seasons in the majors.

Terry spoke about his professional ups and downs.

"I look at all the great prophets and people God used in the Bible, Job, Joseph.  They all had trials.  That’s the way God builds us up.

This is my testimony.  We are all a living testimony to something.  People have seen my walk in the good and bad times.  Instantly they see Jesus.  They know I’ve been faithful in my walk, that I’ve been obedient.  So I just think all that has happened is God’s purpose. God uses us to bring glory to His name."

What will people say of us who seek to follow Him?

Will they observe our striving for excellence in the ways and wills of God?

Will they observe a gaping chasm between our verbal confession of faith and the testimony of our conduct?

Will our lives astonish people with the presence of God?

May it be said of us who seek to follow Jesus,

"They do everything well."

Amen

Past Sermons

Prayer Requests

E-mail

Home