“God Said to Jesus: ‘Put the World Right’” by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

   If you have ever seen a professional sporting event on television, you have probably seen someone holding up a sign that says: John 3:16. Or if you ever went to Sunday School as a child, in a church where they encouraged you to memorize scriptures, you probably know this one: “For God so love the world, that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” It’s a very common verse.

    I guess folks hold up that sign because they think it might be their one shot at getting some of us to turn to Jesus and get our lives lined up with God’s path for us. It is our message: we want people to “get it” that they belong to God – and life with God is better than life separate from God.

    You could sum up the message of the New Testament like this. God said to Jesus, “Go , put the world right.  It’s a mess down there. Get down there, and get those folks to turn to me. You’re my son; if you can’t do it, no one can.”  Talk about your parents putting pressure on you.

    The Christian movement really is just that simple. We follow the way of Jesus. Our church’s mission statement gets it. If we all follow Jesus we really can change the world. We can help Jesus “put the world right.” It’s really that simple, Follow Jesus, Change the World.  But how do we do that?

    God sent Jesus to do it, to put the world right – with our help. God loves us so much that God sent Jesus, knowing that his love was so radical, that the powers of this world, would likely kill Jesus. He was just too threatening to their political power. Jesus’ message of love was so radical that they could not take it – so they killed him. But he showed them. Jesus never backed down. He never rejected God. He never gave into fear. And when they killed him, he overcame death in resurrection.

    Thankfully, God does not ask most of us to go to the death to stand up for our faith.
Instead, we get face little life choices every day. Choices that move us toward God, or away from God; choices that move us toward the light, or away from the light.  In John’s Gospel, he describes the human condition this way: "This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is."

    John says we seem to have a knack for choosing darkness. It’s as if we’re afraid of God’s light. We make it a habit of doing evil. We are addicted to denial and illusion. But we CAN choose to live in the light and truth and we can choose to welcome the God-light into our lives.  The challenge every day, every day, is to pay attention to those little signals we get from inside that tell us, which way God is leading us to go.

    So I want to tell you a little story about getting one of those signals.  More than 20 years ago now, I was living in Cincinnati, as a young pastor. I was single and I joined some organization of young single professionals in Cincinnati.  This was a social club. They met downtown for social events, going to Reds Games, meetings for mixers after work. They did some community service projects too. I had no family in Ohio and I was trying to make friends, and yes, I’ll confess, I was trying to meet guys.

    One weekend the event was to go to the horse races across the border in Kentucky. I had not been to a horse race since I was a kid, once on vacation. So I signed up to go. I guess was curious. I got there and discovered they had rented us a private room from which to watch the races. There was a bar, and TV’s to watch the races, and windows where we could look out and see the races. And we had our own betting window. I had no idea how to bet. I don’t think I even made one bet that night. It just did not interest me. I was pretty bored most of the night. At one point I walked out into the main area where the “regular” people were, and I saw a couple of sad, old guys wearing grubby old clothes. They looked just like out of a movie --with  rolled up newspaper and a pencil and that look of desperation. They looked like the homeless guys I had worked with when I was in seminary in Atlanta. I don’t know for sure that these guys were gambling addicts. But I can tell you one thing. They were not getting wealthy at the race track betting on the races. And I am pretty sure they did not look happy to me.

    I went back into the room with all the young professionals who were betting $10 or $25 here and there and I thought: “I don’t have money to blow on this. This is just stupid.”  I was bored. I would rather have been at home alone watching TV, than hanging out at this race track. I was not this desperate to meet guys. I might have enjoyed seeing some beautiful horses, I couldn’t see horses, I would have seen them better on TV, and the whole gambling thing just ruined it for me.

    This was not my scene. This did not bring me joy. The scripture from John says that when we are living in God’s way for us that we will have a whole a lasting life. This experience was not giving me fullness of life. When I looked at the faces of those men who clearly spent a lot of time at the racetrack, I did not see people who were experiencing joy and fullness of life.  I didn’t see people who were making choices I wanted to make.  So I made a life choice that day, that for me, gambling as a leisure activity is not going to give me rest and relaxation. It’s not going to restore my soul.

    Actually, this makes me a Methodist through and through. Some of you do not identify as Methodists, and that is fine. Everyone is welcome at The Village Church. Others of you don’t have any idea what it means to be a Methodist and that’s ok too. We are connected to the United Methodist and United Church of Christ. There are many interesting things about our history as Methodists, but one of them is this: we have a history of working against gambling. So in the interest of learning about our roots, I’m going to take just a few minutes today to educate us all about this. Some of you have asked me what I think about the new casino going in and so I thought it was about time I let you know where our denomination stands on the issue of gambling. And by the way, the United Church of Christ shares the view of the Methodists when it comes to casinos.

    There are plenty of Christian denominations that have raffles, and bingo and casino nights. So clearly good Christians are divided on this one. And this is not a litmus test. You are welcome at The Village even if you go to Vegas on your vacation. In fact, my husband will go there for a business conference next month.

    But hard core Methodists, and your pastor, are not gamblers. The reasoning is stated in a book called The Book of Resolutions of the United Methodist Church.  And while I don’t agree with every thing in our Book of Resolutions, I very agree with this one and here’s why:

1) Gambling feeds on greed and materialism. It is based on the value that if we have lots of money our life will be better. This is a form of idolatry. Gambling encourages us to put our trust in possessions rather than God. Oh sure, we can say it’s just for fun. But if the games are just for fun, then why don’t we just play the games for the games, and give up the betting? When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said, “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” Putting our love toward money puts it ahead of God, and makes money an idol.

2) Jesus says the second commandment is almost as important: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  I’m quoting the United Methodist Book of Resolutions now: “In relating with compassion to our sisters and brothers, we are called to resist those practices and systems that exploit them and leave them impoverished and demeaned. . . . Organized and commercial gambling is a threat to business, breeds crime and poverty, and is destructive to the interests of good government. It encourages the belief that work is unimportant, that money can solve all our problems, and that greed is the norm for achievement. It serves as a "regressive tax" on those with lower income (seen these internet cafes, which are for gambling popping up in poorer neighborhoods? I have). In summary, gambling is bad economics; gambling is bad public policy; and gambling does not improve the quality of life” (From The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church — 2004. Copyright © 2004 by The United Methodist Publishing House).

    Yes, of course, again, I have heard all the arguments. I know many people can go to the casino with $X in your pocket and decide that is what you are going to spend. You don’t become a gambling addict. You go for fun just like you would go to the movies or snow skiing. But the other side of the argument is this: the gambling industry also brings with it the potential for preying on poor people, it brings with it organized crime, the victimization of women through prostitution, and host of other problems. Not to mention the fact that for one person to win, lots of people have to lose. The system depends upon lots of people losing.

    The lure of gambling has caused what our church describes in this way: “Dependence on gambling revenue has led many states to exploit the weakness of their own citizens, neglect the development of more equitable forms of taxation, and thereby further erode the citizens' confidence in government”  (From The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church — 2004. Copyright © 2004 by The United Methodist Publishing House).

    So, we have a new casino opening in Toledo. Some of you who need jobs will choose to work there. Others of you will choose to go there.  I know that. And most of you will not turn into gambling addicts. But someone here may have a gambling addiction, or you know someone with one. You may know someone who is buying lottery tickets and really can’t afford them. You may know someone who is getting payday loans months after month and getting deeper into debt and digging a hole that they cannot get out of without help. You may even be that person.

    Or you may have some other addiction, or life choice that you know is pulling you away from the light of God. We make jokes about a slippery slope but it is really not a joke.
It’s life. We all make choices every day, don’t we?

    We all make choices and some of them draw us closer to God, and some of them take us farther away from God.  The message of the Scripture from today is that God sent Jesus to PUT THE WORLD RIGHT. More specifically, God sent Jesus to put us right – to draw us into the light. 

    Because you see, for some reason – no matter how much we say that we want to follow Jesus, and stay close to the light – we just seem to veer off into the darkness.  We just get off track. Our world gets off its axis.

    And we need Jesus to pull us back.  What is the thing that pulls you away from God?  It could be any number of things.  You know what it is, don’t you? What practice, thought, or habit pulls you away from God’s desire for your life?

    I’m going to stop here for a minute and give you time to think about that (really, take a minute and think about this: What is it that pulls you away from God’s desire for your life?).

    Here’s the thing, God loves you so much, that God sent Jesus into the world – to pull you away from that practice, or thought or habit – and to pull you back toward God’s love for you.
Here’s what the scripture said, “God didn't go to all the trouble of sending this Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. Jesus came to help, to put the world right again.”

    That’s why God sent Jesus. Because God loves us, and God knows that we don’t want to live in the darkness. We want to live in God’s light. We just need to be reminded of that over and over and over again. That’s why we need Jesus.   So take the time to time to figure out where your darkness is.  And then take the time to find the light. It’s out there.

    If you need help finding the God light for your life, come join us.  We’re at the corner of Conant Street & the Anthony Wayne Trail in Maumee, Sundays at 10:30.  We’ll help you find that light, the light God has for all of our lives.  There are no exceptions, no exclusions, God loves us all.  Come be part of a group of people who struggle, like you with darkness and struggle to find that light.