Covenant
United Methodist Church
Sunday School 9:45 Worship 8:30 & 10:45 am
Epiphany 1-Trash Cans or Treasure Chests" I Corinthians 1:25-31
25: For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
26: Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
27: But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
28: He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are,
29: so that no one may boast before him.
30: It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
31: Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
I want to work with you this evening on a certain text. The text is from I Corinthians, so if you have your Bible turn with me to it. But as you do I want you to make sure everybody here has a coffee bean. Does everyone have a bean? If you don't have a bean we are going to get some people to help you get a bean. You need a bean for tonight. Take out your coffee bean. Did you smell it? These have just been opened today. These are pretty expensive coffee beans. They are foreign beans, not made in America Anybody taste it - put it in your mouth? Have you heard about the most expensive coffee in the world. There is only about a couple of thousand pounds of this coffee that comes up on the world market every year. It is called Kopi Luwak coffee. It only comes from one part of the planet. A part of the planet that is known for its great coffee, Indonesia. The island is Sumatra. That is how we get the name java, from this island. This coffee bean has an interesting story. This is supposedly the most exquisite, exotic, and is the most expensive coffee in the world. It costs $300 a pound. They sell this coffee by the ounce, the only coffee they sell by the ounce. Kopi is Indonesian for coffee, Luwak is Indonesian for the name of how we get this coffee. Luwak is a cat. It is a Civet cat, it lays around in trees. This is a nocturnal creature, comes out only at night. This cat is about the size of a fox, in fact it looks a lot more like a fox than a cat. It has this long snout, that makes it’s sense of smell very good, and it has an interesting story. This cat is the Juan Valdez of the animal kingdom. This cat only picks the most perfect coffee cherries to eat. It comes out at night and wanders all over the island of Sumatra and will only pick the most perfect coffee cherries to eat. It would rather starve than to feast on a Kona coffee bean, or a Blue Mountain coffee bean. It will only pick the most perfect coffee beans. It eats those coffee cherries and digests them. In the morning the locals harvest these beans. Everyone of these beans for Kopi Luwak coffee comes from that Civet cat. Anybody put it in your mouth?. Each one comes out of the poop of the Civet cat. No that isn’t what you have. I’m too cheap for that. These are coffee beans for Ethopia. I got them at Target. They cost about $6 a pound…Had you going though didn’t I… Isn't it amazing how God works though! See, in nature you see this over and over again. What is honey? The nectar of nature. But what? Bee poop. That is what honey is. In Asian cultures Geishas spend days trying to look beautiful with this white paint. Do you know what this white paint is that they put on their faces? Nightingale poop - you got it! What do mushrooms grow in? What makes them so succulent and tasty? Well, you know what it is! I want to challenge you to go to the fish market at Meijer and ask the guy behind the counter for a sardine. They will laugh in your face. You see, there is no such thing as a sardine fish. Sardine is a name that we give to trash fish that they put together in a can. There is a halibut, and there is haddock and salmon, but no sardine. It doesn't exist. My favorite way of expressing how God works and bring nature and theology together is in the dove. The dove does not exist. It is a poetic name for a trash bird called a pigeon. And God chose as the symbol of the Holy Spirit a trash bird. We prettify it by calling it a dove, but really it is a pigeon. Isn't it amazing how God works! Jesus had a mustard seed. I have a coffee bean today. But the whole gospel is right in this coffee bean. It is all right here
Where was Jesus born? Jesus comes to this earth and is born in a trash place of the planet called the city of Bethlehem, the city of David. And where was he born? In a stable. What goes on in a stable? More poop. And so what were Jesus’ first smells as he was born into this world? What were Jesus’ last smells as he exited this world? Where was he crucified? A place called Golgotha, which was the garbage dump for the city of Jerusalem, the trash place.
The gospel is about the way in which what is most weak, what is most despised, what is most contemptible in your life, in this world, can become, through the power of the Holy Spirit, what is most beautiful, what is most radiant, and what can be most a blessing. You see, we have a topsy-turvy upside down, inside out gospel. Like you do to a sock, you turn it inside out, upside down, topsy-turvy. And that is what the values of the gospel do to the wisdom of this world. If you want to be first, you have to be willing to be last. Do you want to be strong? You have to be willing to be weak. Do you want to win? You have to be willing to lose. We have an upside down, topsy-turvy gospel that says whatever is buried trash in your life, God can turn into buried treasure. Whatever you think are the trash cans of your existence, God can turn them in to treasure chests.
And the biggest trash can of all that God turns into a treasure chest is the cross of Christ. Our scripture says it is foolishness to those who don’t believe, but to those who believe it is the power of God!
This past week I got the privilege of going to the hospital with the Halwes as Katie had her eye surgery. I say a privilege because I get to see true intimacy from time to time at the hospitals, even in the midst of pain. This wasn’t just taking a cataract off her eye. They were actually operating on her eye ball. This was serious stuff… Katie was a little antsy before the surgery, and afterwards she stayed in recovery for quite a while. Finally, after the surgery, they let Denny and I go back to recovery to see her. When we first went back she was laying on her stomach with her head facing down. She had one of those little dishes by her side for people who are sick to their stomach. I thought she might still be asleep because she looked pretty lifeless. When we walked toward her she reached out her hand for Denny and took it and said, “Denny my eye hurts.” Denny took her hand and said, “I know honey, it will get better.” One of those intimate moments that ministers get the privilege to witness. One of those moments when you see one human being loving their mate in the midst of pain. I thought how privileged I have been over the years. How many scenes I have been a part of just like that one, with one partner hurting and the other partner comforting the best they can someone they love.
… I have been at funerals where family members walk by the coffin of their deceased and they touch the dead person’s hand or face as they say goodbye. A moment of tenderness, a moment of love….We human beings know how to be intimate, loving, loyal, and trusting. It is something inborn within us, and it is when we are our most beautiful… it is when we are most like God! Then we see Christ on the cross lift out a bloody hand to you and me and say, “God forgive them for they know not what they do…” God’s wisdom sometimes doesn’t make sense. Why is it a cross that God uses to reach out a hand to you and me? God uses foolishness, to confound what we think is wisdom. God uses weakness to confound what we think is strength…God uses love and trust and loyalty to make us his children, and as he reaches out to you and me all he wants is for us to reach out to him in response…How do you respond today…