WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.519 Howdy! You know, one of our sister congregations 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:09.160 in our Lutheran Church circuit asked me if I 00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:13.160 wanted to attend a men's retreat in Montana over 00:00:13.160 --> 00:00:16.940 Labor Day weekend. I thought, why not? I'd like 00:00:16.940 --> 00:00:19.480 to escape Houston and the concrete jungle that 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:22.940 we have here. I wasn't sure what to expect, but 00:00:22.940 --> 00:00:25.940 it turned out to be an amazing time of fly fishing, 00:00:26.300 --> 00:00:29.660 boating, hiking, shotgun practice, and whatever 00:00:29.660 --> 00:00:32.280 struck our fancy up there. Believe it or not, 00:00:32.380 --> 00:00:36.759 I caught five fish! Five times more than I ever 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:42.500 caught before! Yes! Ah, increased lifetime from 00:00:42.500 --> 00:00:46.020 one to six, oh man. And some guys went golfing, 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:48.479 but I have absolutely no golfing skills, I can 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:52.439 barely even do putt -putt. So, I find myself 00:00:52.439 --> 00:00:56.039 on that Saturday, standing on the edge of a cliff 00:00:56.039 --> 00:00:59.920 about 40 feet in the air, looking down into a 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:03.479 river. From below, it hadn't looked all that 00:01:03.479 --> 00:01:06.400 high. But once I climbed up and stood on the 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:09.870 edge, I realized... The cliff was higher than 00:01:09.870 --> 00:01:14.450 I expected. Now, I had seen a few people already 00:01:14.450 --> 00:01:18.950 jump, and everyone was fine. The depth was over 00:01:18.950 --> 00:01:23.349 100 feet. I had my water shoes, and I was jumping 00:01:23.349 --> 00:01:26.049 in feet first like everybody else. Everything 00:01:26.049 --> 00:01:32.170 was fine, but my knees started to shake. My heart 00:01:32.170 --> 00:01:36.349 was pounding, my stomach dropped, my hands gripped 00:01:36.349 --> 00:01:40.099 the rock behind me. And I thought, what am I 00:01:40.099 --> 00:01:43.719 doing up here? Now, something you should assume 00:01:43.719 --> 00:01:47.000 about your pastor is that he turns almost everything 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:50.780 into a spiritual metaphor. I even have the mug 00:01:50.780 --> 00:01:55.079 to show it. I thought to myself, what if God 00:01:55.079 --> 00:01:57.840 were telling me to jump? Don't worry, He wasn't 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:02.180 telling me to jump. But what if? Would I trust 00:02:02.180 --> 00:02:08.039 Him? Would I obey even if I was afraid? Now I 00:02:08.039 --> 00:02:10.539 know God doesn't work like that. He doesn't just 00:02:10.539 --> 00:02:13.740 tell us to jump off of cliffs to prove our faith. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:16.680 But I had been scared a lot when I was a kid. 00:02:17.460 --> 00:02:20.919 I avoided too many challenges that would have 00:02:20.919 --> 00:02:24.060 helped me when I was younger. So since then, 00:02:24.099 --> 00:02:27.639 I sometimes look for things that make me a little 00:02:27.639 --> 00:02:31.879 uncomfortable, safe things, but to give me those 00:02:31.879 --> 00:02:36.169 experiences. And that's where my mind went. If 00:02:36.169 --> 00:02:38.330 God asked me to do something scary, something 00:02:38.330 --> 00:02:41.949 that made no sense to anybody else but me, would 00:02:41.949 --> 00:02:45.330 I obey? And then another thought hit me. Why 00:02:45.330 --> 00:02:48.750 climb all the way up here if I'm not going to 00:02:48.750 --> 00:02:52.990 jump? I had already made the climb. The choice 00:02:52.990 --> 00:02:55.789 was in front of me. I couldn't stay neutral. 00:02:56.110 --> 00:02:58.509 You don't just stand on a cliff for the rest 00:02:58.509 --> 00:03:01.870 of your life. Was I going to stand still and 00:03:01.870 --> 00:03:04.870 make my friends wait another hour and a half 00:03:04.870 --> 00:03:08.449 while I stood there? Or was I going to leave? 00:03:09.590 --> 00:03:14.949 So I jumped. Life in Christ requires we choose 00:03:14.949 --> 00:03:18.789 Him daily. Isn't it amazing how we can take the 00:03:18.789 --> 00:03:21.289 simplest of things and make it into something 00:03:21.289 --> 00:03:25.009 complicated? Moses faced something like that. 00:03:25.009 --> 00:03:27.729 He had brought the children of Israel out of 00:03:27.729 --> 00:03:31.810 Egypt. And they kept complaining, I'm going to 00:03:31.810 --> 00:03:34.729 save you from the oppression and the slavery. 00:03:35.469 --> 00:03:40.530 But we are just tired of walking. God just wanted 00:03:40.530 --> 00:03:44.110 the people to follow Him. Moses showed them that 00:03:44.110 --> 00:03:47.090 God's Word isn't far away or unreachable. His 00:03:47.090 --> 00:03:51.449 commands are not impossible. His will is acceptable. 00:03:52.650 --> 00:03:56.330 And yet they kept hesitating and pulling back. 00:03:57.129 --> 00:03:59.689 When we realize that we have a choice before 00:03:59.689 --> 00:04:04.870 us life and prosperity with God Death and destruction 00:04:04.870 --> 00:04:09.810 without him God calls his people to decide We 00:04:09.810 --> 00:04:12.310 are meant to choose life not by looking for the 00:04:12.310 --> 00:04:15.449 quick thrill of jumping into a river But by loving 00:04:15.449 --> 00:04:18.730 the Lord walking in his ways and holding fast 00:04:18.730 --> 00:04:22.990 to him That is what leads to life and blessing 00:04:23.980 --> 00:04:26.860 And here's where the metaphor of my cliff jump 00:04:26.860 --> 00:04:32.199 stopped being just a metaphor. Because when I 00:04:32.199 --> 00:04:35.100 hit the water, I didn't cross my arms the way 00:04:35.100 --> 00:04:39.199 I should have. The impact caught me right in 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.639 the chest, the spot in my sternum where my chest 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:45.300 muscles were weakened years ago by cancer radiation 00:04:45.300 --> 00:04:49.639 therapy, and it fractured. Yes, I am preaching 00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:53.709 with a fractured sternum right now. Following, 00:04:54.329 --> 00:04:58.110 even in a silly practice metaphor like that jump, 00:04:58.730 --> 00:05:02.810 cost me something. It hurts, and it still does. 00:05:03.370 --> 00:05:06.089 There's plenty of ibuprofen in my office at this 00:05:06.089 --> 00:05:09.110 moment. But that's the reality of the Christian 00:05:09.110 --> 00:05:12.750 faith. Following Christ is not just about the 00:05:12.750 --> 00:05:16.089 moments that work out neatly, or prayers that 00:05:16.089 --> 00:05:19.490 get answered in exactly the way we wanted, or 00:05:19.490 --> 00:05:24.199 paths that always feel smooth. Sometimes faith 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:28.819 costs. Sometimes obedience hurts. Jesus doesn't 00:05:28.819 --> 00:05:32.300 hide that. In Luke 14, Jesus said to the great 00:05:32.300 --> 00:05:35.000 crowds, if you want to follow me, count the cost. 00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:38.160 Whoever does not carry his cross and follow me 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:42.139 cannot be my disciple. He says it plainly, count 00:05:42.139 --> 00:05:47.019 the cost. Don't pretend discipleship will be 00:05:47.019 --> 00:05:51.000 painless. That's how life often works, right? 00:05:51.620 --> 00:05:55.139 We all face these cliff -edge moments. We oftentimes 00:05:55.139 --> 00:05:58.660 want our Christian faith to be just a neutral 00:05:58.660 --> 00:06:01.720 choice. It's just the default. The default for 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:05.500 normal people. Where we just cruise along the 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:08.000 river and watch the cliffs from a distance. Wouldn't 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:10.379 that be a great way for Christian faith just 00:06:10.379 --> 00:06:13.500 to be? But there are moments in our lives where 00:06:13.500 --> 00:06:16.560 we find ourselves at a place where neutrality 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:20.399 is no longer possible. where indecision itself 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:23.220 becomes a decision. When you try to say, I don't 00:06:23.220 --> 00:06:27.420 want to take a side, and that actually default 00:06:27.420 --> 00:06:31.399 gives you a side already. Do we stand for the 00:06:31.399 --> 00:06:34.279 people that are being oppressed? Do we tell someone 00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:36.319 when they've gone too far and we cannot accept 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:39.600 it any longer? The question is always the same. 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:43.000 Am I willing to jump? Am I willing to take the 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:47.100 risk? Am I willing to pay the price? We need 00:06:47.100 --> 00:06:51.230 to count the cost. when we follow Jesus. And 00:06:51.230 --> 00:06:53.550 often it's not the climb that's the highest part. 00:06:54.629 --> 00:06:57.470 We may talk a good talk, saying what we would 00:06:57.470 --> 00:06:59.730 do if the choice was in front of us, how we must 00:06:59.730 --> 00:07:03.389 be willing to choose what isn't what others would 00:07:03.389 --> 00:07:07.230 accept. It's the choice at the top that matters, 00:07:07.829 --> 00:07:10.009 when we don't feel the ground under our feet 00:07:10.009 --> 00:07:14.629 and we have to keep moving forward. It's the 00:07:14.629 --> 00:07:17.709 moment when the cost becomes clear, when we realize 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:22.060 This could hurt when we know not everyone, maybe 00:07:22.060 --> 00:07:25.439 not even those closest to us, will agree or understand. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:30.560 That's when faith gets real. But don't miss this 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:36.680 either. Life on the other side. Life is on the 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:40.779 other side of that leap. When I told my mom later 00:07:40.779 --> 00:07:43.220 on because yes, I went ahead and called her afterward 00:07:43.220 --> 00:07:45.879 You know, that's what you do because I knew how 00:07:45.879 --> 00:07:48.339 bad it would be if I saw her sometime in the 00:07:48.339 --> 00:07:50.379 next month And she gave me a hug and I Winston 00:07:50.379 --> 00:07:53.600 Payne and she were to say what's going on if 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:56.259 I didn't tell her she'd be very unhappy I'm like, 00:07:56.339 --> 00:08:01.279 okay, let's just do it. Hey mom Her immediate 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:07.079 response Why would you do that? And then after 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:12.560 a nice long pause, she added, well, you're 45 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:16.000 years old. You can make your own decisions. Thanks, 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:20.639 Mom. And she's right. Nobody could make that 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:22.800 decision for me, not even the people who love 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:26.199 me the most. But isn't that when we make the 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:28.500 most important decisions in our lives anyway? 00:08:29.959 --> 00:08:33.120 Jesus was very clear in Luke 14. He's walking 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:34.980 along with the crowds, and He turns to them and 00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:38.320 says, if you want to follow Me, count the cost. 00:08:39.059 --> 00:08:41.980 This won't be easy. It may mean putting Me before 00:08:41.980 --> 00:08:43.759 your family, before your possessions, before 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:47.120 your comfort. It will cost you everything, and 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:52.580 that's a hard word. It's one thing to cheer Jesus 00:08:52.580 --> 00:08:56.379 when He heals us, when He multiplies bread and 00:08:56.379 --> 00:08:59.919 fish. Thank you for letting me walk better, Jesus. 00:09:00.220 --> 00:09:03.039 Thank you for making sure we had plenty to eat 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:07.379 for lunch today. But to follow Him? To really 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:10.159 follow when we're called to eat His body and 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:14.299 drink His blood? To accept the sacrifice that 00:09:14.299 --> 00:09:17.399 He showed us on the cross and that now defines 00:09:17.399 --> 00:09:20.799 our lives? That means putting our lives in His 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:25.840 hands. Even if it bruises us. Even if it costs 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:31.549 us. Even if it breaks us. even if it kills us. 00:09:33.370 --> 00:09:38.470 And then Jesus starts talking about salt. If 00:09:38.470 --> 00:09:41.870 salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made 00:09:41.870 --> 00:09:45.730 salty again? How does that make any sense? Have 00:09:45.730 --> 00:09:49.470 you ever had your little canister in the pantry 00:09:49.470 --> 00:09:51.809 and gone up and grabbed something out of it and 00:09:51.809 --> 00:09:54.029 said, ooh, that tastes like sugar? Well, if you 00:09:54.029 --> 00:09:56.129 did, your dad probably was pulling a joke on 00:09:56.129 --> 00:10:01.429 you. But salt is salt. How is salt not salty? 00:10:03.049 --> 00:10:06.070 Now pure salt, the kind we buy in stores today, 00:10:06.450 --> 00:10:10.370 it doesn't lose its saltiness. Pure sodium chloride 00:10:10.370 --> 00:10:14.570 and ACL, table salt, it cannot stop being salty. 00:10:14.750 --> 00:10:18.289 It's a stable compound. If you put it on your 00:10:18.289 --> 00:10:21.149 tongue in a hundred years, that's great because 00:10:21.149 --> 00:10:23.190 that means you live to be a really old age. But 00:10:23.190 --> 00:10:28.409 it's still going to taste like salt. But in Jesus' 00:10:28.789 --> 00:10:32.159 day, salts often came from places like the Dead 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:36.179 Sea, where it was a mixture of salt, gypsum, 00:10:36.340 --> 00:10:39.879 sand, and other minerals. And if that mixture 00:10:39.879 --> 00:10:44.340 was exposed to moisture, the actual salt would 00:10:44.340 --> 00:10:48.299 dissolve away, and it would leave a chalky, tasteless 00:10:48.299 --> 00:10:52.700 white powder that looked like salt, but tasted 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:56.840 like nothing. It was useless. Always wondered 00:10:56.840 --> 00:11:02.279 what... Jesus was referring to. That's what discipleship 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:05.519 without commitment is like. It still looks like 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.980 the real thing on the outside, but it's lost 00:11:08.980 --> 00:11:11.980 its purpose. That's what happens when we claim 00:11:11.980 --> 00:11:14.759 to follow Christ, but we back down when others 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:16.519 look at us and say, why would you want to do 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:20.019 that? Why would you want to do that thing that 00:11:20.019 --> 00:11:26.379 Jesus would say? See, a disciple who loses their 00:11:26.379 --> 00:11:30.649 distinctiveness their flavor becomes like that 00:11:30.649 --> 00:11:35.330 residue. Still looks like salt, but no longer 00:11:35.330 --> 00:11:38.409 useful. And that's what it felt like on that 00:11:38.409 --> 00:11:43.129 cliff, when suddenly, a young girl climbed to 00:11:43.129 --> 00:11:47.649 the top. Now, I'd already been up there for an 00:11:47.649 --> 00:11:50.649 hour by then, and her father went up there with 00:11:50.649 --> 00:11:54.110 her and showed her how easy it was, and he jumped. 00:11:55.309 --> 00:11:59.330 And then her older sister, came up and held her 00:11:59.330 --> 00:12:02.789 hand to jump with her. Only the young girl let 00:12:02.789 --> 00:12:05.629 go at the last second. I looked at her and it 00:12:05.629 --> 00:12:08.549 was like, that was slick. That was slick. Well 00:12:08.549 --> 00:12:14.490 done. Now, she stood there with me for at least 00:12:14.490 --> 00:12:17.710 another half hour while others were trying to 00:12:17.710 --> 00:12:20.070 convince her to jump. They kind of gave up on 00:12:20.070 --> 00:12:22.450 me. And they were triggering to convince her 00:12:22.450 --> 00:12:27.480 to jump. For some reason, Some comment made by 00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:31.279 her father. He had climbed back up again brought 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:34.139 to mind a physics lesson for me because well, 00:12:34.139 --> 00:12:38.220 of course it did and I started rambling about 00:12:38.220 --> 00:12:41.720 how the law of gravity unlike other laws that 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:44.419 may change is just the appearance of gravitational 00:12:44.419 --> 00:12:47.120 acceleration in the universe made to appear as 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:49.580 if it's a downward momentum because of living 00:12:49.580 --> 00:12:51.500 on what appears to be a flat surface, but is 00:12:51.500 --> 00:12:54.840 actually curved and Then the girl looked at me 00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:57.779 and said Why are you talking to me about this 00:12:57.779 --> 00:13:03.259 instead of jumping?" Forty -five seconds later, 00:13:03.259 --> 00:13:07.980 I jumped. And two minutes after that, she jumped 00:13:07.980 --> 00:13:12.240 with her family. Why did that comment get me 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:16.399 to jump? Because we realize that the very thing 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:18.700 that gets us to do the hard things is when we 00:13:18.700 --> 00:13:21.600 realize our part in living in faith for the next 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:27.779 generation. didn't want that girl to let my fear 00:13:27.779 --> 00:13:31.759 become an excuse for her to avoid something she 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:35.379 really wanted. Something that maybe she needed. 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:38.620 I wanted her to be brave in ways that I wasn't 00:13:38.620 --> 00:13:42.360 when I was a kid. When we come back to church, 00:13:42.440 --> 00:13:45.740 when we have our own children, we walk away from 00:13:45.740 --> 00:13:48.720 abuse because we can't let others see that as 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:51.679 an example of how to live. When we leave our 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:54.120 dream job so we don't miss out on spending time 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:57.179 with our nieces and nephews. When we stay with 00:13:57.179 --> 00:13:59.399 a lower paying job so we can spend time with 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:03.700 the kids who need us the most. But salt isn't 00:14:03.700 --> 00:14:06.679 something that changes how salty it is over time. 00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:10.759 Salt doesn't decide to lose its saltiness during 00:14:10.759 --> 00:14:13.240 college and then find it again after the fun 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:18.580 years end. Salt is either salt or it isn't. Are 00:14:18.580 --> 00:14:23.509 you salt? And if you are, where is your flavor? 00:14:25.070 --> 00:14:28.230 See, here's the question. Where are you standing 00:14:28.230 --> 00:14:33.129 at the edge right now? What cliff has God brought 00:14:33.129 --> 00:14:37.929 you to? Maybe it's a decision to forgive someone 00:14:37.929 --> 00:14:41.730 who hurt you. Maybe it's a call to give more 00:14:41.730 --> 00:14:45.269 generously than feel safe. Maybe it's speaking 00:14:45.269 --> 00:14:47.549 about your faith in a place where you'd rather 00:14:47.549 --> 00:14:51.370 keep quiet. There are introverts. It happens. 00:14:52.610 --> 00:14:54.950 And maybe it's letting go of something that you've 00:14:54.950 --> 00:14:57.850 been clinging to. It just feels a little too 00:14:57.850 --> 00:15:01.269 scary to let go of. Maybe standing on the edge 00:15:01.269 --> 00:15:05.549 is scary. But frankly, the leap may bruise you. 00:15:06.309 --> 00:15:10.250 It may even fracture something. It may mean people 00:15:10.250 --> 00:15:12.549 close to you shake their heads and say, why would 00:15:12.549 --> 00:15:17.850 you do that, Christian? But the leap is where 00:15:17.850 --> 00:15:21.350 faith becomes real. It's where life with Christ 00:15:21.350 --> 00:15:24.309 begins. And as a church, that is our calling 00:15:24.309 --> 00:15:29.909 too. To follow Christ, not to jump off cliffs 00:15:29.909 --> 00:15:35.009 per se, but we're called to be salt. Not to look 00:15:35.009 --> 00:15:39.169 like salt, but to live without flavor. We are 00:15:39.169 --> 00:15:43.309 meant to live with flavor, with distinctiveness, 00:15:44.190 --> 00:15:47.440 with faithfulness that endures. We are called 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:49.620 to be a people who don't just stand on the edge 00:15:49.620 --> 00:15:52.600 of the cliff admiring the view, but who leap 00:15:52.600 --> 00:15:56.659 into the waters of God's promise. Because here's 00:15:56.659 --> 00:16:00.100 the truth, choosing life in Christ isn't about 00:16:00.100 --> 00:16:03.000 avoiding pain. It's about trusting that the life 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:06.100 he gives is greater than any cost we could bear. 00:16:07.019 --> 00:16:11.419 Moses said it long ago, choose life so that you 00:16:11.419 --> 00:16:14.809 and your children may live. Jesus says it even 00:16:14.809 --> 00:16:17.470 more clearly, whoever loses his life for my sake 00:16:17.470 --> 00:16:23.450 will find it. So may we not hesitate at the edge. 00:16:24.370 --> 00:16:28.610 May we count the cost and still leap. May we 00:16:28.610 --> 00:16:32.490 choose life by choosing Christ. And don't forget 00:16:32.490 --> 00:16:36.629 to cross your arms when you jump. Thanks be to 00:16:36.629 --> 00:16:36.769 God.