Slippery Sublety – Sermon Summary

Genesis 3:8-15.

Living right is full of distracting temptations.  Last week we looked at Ezekiel as he witnessed the valley of dry bones coming together, with muscle forming and tissue developing, and the four winds of God’s Spirit entering the bodies to produce a mighty army – that’s us!

So as we move forward and prepare to think forward as a church, allow me to offer a word of warning.

Clearance Sale

Everything must go!  Our family recently participated in a yard sale as we continue to make preparations for moving.  Just like everybody else who has such events, we had zero desires to take any of these “treasures” back into our house.  Our words to passersby and potential customers were something like this, “If you see something you like but don’t like the price, speak up!  We can take care of that for you.  This is a clearance sale and everything must go.”  To our delight and surprise, all but two medium-sized boxes remained.  God is good!

I doubt that the apostle Paul had any yard sales, but I do believe that one point he was making to the church in Philippi had some similar principles.

The Shower

I wonder what Peter was thinking.  Jesus himself was washing the feet of the disciples.  He must have been disgusted with them for allowing their Lord and Master to do such a lowly thing.  “I won’t allow Him to do this to me.  It’s not right,” he must have thought.  Jesus had no business doing the work of a servant.  Besides, did Peter really need cleaned?

When Jesus got to Peter and heard his protests, He offered a couple of statements; “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me,” and “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.” (John 13:8b, 10a, NIV)

Sunburn

I hate sunburn.  It is both annoying and painful.  It is painful in that it actually burns the skin and requires various lotions and potions to ease the constant sting of the burn.  It is annoying in other ways.

First, there is the peeling that follows.  Having recently been sunburned, I have an understanding of how annoying this is.  Having lost plenty of hair over the past few years, I still fail to remember a hat for that first time of overexposure to the sun.  This is an annual event that is frequently followed by remembrance of a cap for the rest of the summer.  This past week, the identical scenario played out.

Losing Weight

Yes, I’m a bit overweight.  That is, if you consider 40 pounds to be a bit!  I have no doubts that the next time I see my doctor, he’ll look me squarely in the face and say something like, “Let’s do something about these extra pounds.”

As if he is actually planning on helping!  I know what I need.  It’s the standard “diet and exercise” answer.  These will either help my body return to proper health or they kill me.  In my present physical condition, I can’t say that I’m feeling great about either.  Proper health is my goal; it’s the actual losing of the weight that I fear.  It will take a lot of work to get rid of that which I need to lose.