May 27, 2007

Attitude Adjustments: Humility

Riding On the Shoulders of God

Acts 2:1-4

Opening Words: Austrian psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor Victor Frankl said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: To choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.” He knew what we often forget, our attitudes about life is extremely important. They affect the way that we experience life. It is for this reason that I have decided to dedicate this section of our year to examining our attitudes. I have called this fourteen week sermon series, Attitude Adjustments. Today we look at our attitude about humility. Do you consider yourself a humble person? Let me call this message this morning Riding on the Shoulders of God.

Today is not just Memorial Day weekend. It is also Pentecost. The holiday of Pentecost is rooted in the Old Testament. It was a celebration of the harvest. It came fifty days after the Passover. From our Christian perspective it comes fifty days after Easter. The text that we hear today is traditional. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit had been reserved for a select group of military and political leaders. Pentecost changed everything. The Holy Spirit was now available to all believers and the church was born. The primary text fore today is Acts 2:1-4.

Acts 2:1-4 1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

James W. Moore tells the story of a respected professor at the University of Chicago. Every Thursday afternoon his preschool granddaughter would come and visit him at his office. He would show her off by walking through the campus hand in hand. That sight became quite common to the university community. One day she came to visit her grandfather and asked if she could ride on his shoulders. He granted her wish and off they went. They came across one of his students, who saw the girl riding high on his shoulders. He looked at her and said, “My goodness. Haven’t you grown in a week?” The little girl responded as only a three year old could by saying, ”Not all of this is me.”

I like that story because that is the story of our lives. We go through our lives riding on the shoulders of other people. Sometimes we appear bigger then we really are. I appear bigger then I am. I am riding on the shoulders of my parents, my family, my teachers, my mentors, my church and my staff. In addition, I go through life riding on the shoulders of great Americans and Christians. On this Pentecost weekend let me mind you of this divine truth. As disciples of Jesus Christ we go through life riding on the shoulders of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Those early Christians knew they were riding on the shoulders of the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine the scene? For it was on that day the disciples were transformed. Up until this point the disciples were confused and afraid. Then the Holy Spirit comes. So to speak they were lifted up on the shoulders of God, himself. It was at that moment that everything changed. Those confuse and frightened disciples became decisive and courageous. Physically, they hadn’t changed. They were the same size. Mentally, they hadn’t changed. Their IQ score hadn’t changed. The only way they had changed was spiritually. God had reached down and lifted them on his shoulders and they were transformed into something new. But it wasn’t just them it was the church, itself. That is why we look bigger then we really were.

The church has been riding on the shoulders of God for a long time. Peter and Paul were riding on the shoulders of God. James and John were riding on the shoulders of God. Andrew and Barnabas were riding on the shoulders of God. Priscilla, Aquila and Timothy were riding on the shoulders of God. Augustine, John Calvin, and John Wesley rode on the shoulders of God and they beat the odds. Not because of their own efforts and abilities. They beat the odds because of what He did through them. That is why they look bigger then they really were.

Here is the good news for today! We too are riding on the shoulders of God. We will go far beyond our abilities because God is working through us. We are riding on the shoulders of God so we look bigger then we really are. The Holy Spirit maximizes our efforts. There are many ways but let me just talk about three. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

The Holy Spirit enables us to forgive.

Because we are riding on the shoulders of God, the Holy Spirit enables us to forgive. That is not a natural thing to do. We do not like to forgive. We find it much easier to get even. Let me make this perfectly clear. The farther away you are from God. The harder it is to forgive.

When the Civil War finally ended Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it." It is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, let bitterness take root and poison the rest of our life.” Robert E. Lee was right. It is important to forgive. Psychologists tell us the only one we really hurt by not forgiving is ourselves.

Not long before she died in 1988, in a moment of surprising candor in television, Marghanita Laski, one of our best-known secular humanists and novelists, said, "What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me." On the day you accepted Christ as your Lord and your Savior you climbed on the shoulders of God and you were forgiven. That was a good thing. The hard thing is that now you are expected to forgive other people but you can do it with the help of the Holy Spirit. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

The Holy Spirit enables us to love unconditionally.

Love sounds simple but love is really complex. Someone once wrote of love in this way.

Love is silence--when your words would hurt.

Love is patience--when your neighbor's curt.

Love is deafness--when a scandal flows.

Love is thoughtfulness--for other's woes.

Love is promptness--when stern duty calls.

Love is courage--when misfortune falls.

Because we are riding on the shoulders of God, the Holy Spirit enables us not just to love but to love unconditionally. That is not a natural thing to do. We do not like to love unconditional, we like to love conditionally. The more someone is like us the easier it is to love them. That is why spiritually immature people believe our entire mission efforts should stay within our community. The people that are within our community are the most like us. The farther one lives away from us the less they are like us. People who live in other communities, people who live in other parts of the world are not always lovable. Spiritually mature people are connected to the Holy Spirit, who enables them to love everyone unconditionally.

This is the truth. On the day you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you climbed on the shoulders of God and saw for the first time true love. For it is from the shoulders of God that you get the best view of the cross. It is only from there that you are able to see the true pain and suffering. It is only from there that you begin to understand that true love is not flowers, candy and hand holding. True love is sacrificing. How much sacrificing have you done for someone who is not like you? And all of God’s loving people said, “Amen!”

The Holy Spirit enables us to build the church.

Because we are riding on the shoulders of God, the Holy Spirit enables us build the church. One of the things I remembered when I was in Florida was the mission of the church. We are to make disciples for Jesus Christ. Disciples maximize their impact for Jesus in this world and prepared themselves for eternity when they leave this world. So very often I forget that divine truth because I find it natural to distill the ministry down to numbers. How many people where in church last week or month? Are we being enough money in the meet the budget? What percentage of our apportionments have we paid? It is so easy for me to forget that ministry is not numbers. Ministry is people. It is not just true of me. It is true of you as well.

One of my father’s favorite movies was Mr. Holland’s Opus. The story revolved around a man by the name of Glenn Holland. As a young man he dreamed of movie to Hollywood and composing music scores for movies. Instead he became the band director at John F. Kennedy High School. For thirty years he patiently taught young people about music and for thirty years me felt like a failure. He felt like he had wasted his life. He longed for Hollywood. On the last day of his teaching career he cleans out his office and expresses his regrets to his wife. Do you remember how the movie ends? Mr. Holland walks through the halls of that high school for the last time and he hears a noise coming out of the auditorium. He sticks his head into the auditorium to check it out and makes a wonderful discovery. The auditorium is filled with many of his students of the past thirty years. Many had grown up and moved away. They had found success in life but had returned to John F. Kennedy High School to one reason. The wanted to tell Glenn Holland, high school band director, that he had made a difference in their lives.

Your perspective changes when you are riding on the shoulders of God. Through the eyes of God numbers don’t matter. People are the only thing that matter. Let me say this clearly. With the help of the Holy Spirit we are matter a difference to people and this is all that really matters. The Holy Spirit is our guide, our strength, our inspiration, our comfort and our teacher. And all of God’s difference makers said, “Amen!”

One New Year's Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas. That is not our story!

We are riding on the shoulders of God. We look bigger then we really are. Because we are riding on the shoulders of God, the Holy Spirit enables us to forgive. Because we are riding on the shoulders of God, the Holy Spirit enables us to love unconditionally. Because we are riding on the shoulders of God, the Holy Spirit enables us build the church. And all of God’s empowered people said, “Amen!”