UGLY PEOPLE

⁵ Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:5-8)

We don’t exist just to exist.

God created humanity with and for a purpose.  He made us  

1) to reflect the image of God (imago dei)

2) to be productive (fruitfulness) consistent with the Divine nature, and

3) to express both the Image and productivity through community.

In Genesis 6, with probably only a few thousand homo sapiens on the entire planet, all clustered together somewhere on the continental plates of Africa and the Middle East, the human species moved exactly away from our purpose.

They turned against the imago dei.  The people in Noah's time tried to alter their physical image by marrying and mating with “the sons of God”  (Genesis 6:4). 

They pursued fruit-less activities. Our ancient ancestors used their magnificent brains to think up knew and exponentially worse ways to disobey their Creator.

They corrupted community.  Few though they were, they hurt each other.  Noah's world was filled with murder and violence.  Nobody was his brother’s keeper. Every human being in the Pre-Flood era was a danger to himself and to others. 

Humanity had become so exactly the opposite of what God created them to be that letting them fill the planet would have been completely counter-productive.

So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, . . . for I am sorry that I have made them.”

God said, “I’m sorry I even made you.”

Dang!  That’s harsh. But it was totally justified.

The amazing thing isn’t that God decided to literally wash the Earth clean of human influence, but that He decided not to wash the Earth completely clean of human influence.

God preserved the human species by saving Noah and his immediate family.

Noah was “perfect in his generations” (Genesis 6:9).  That doesn’t mean that he was absolutely perfect.  Later on the dude gets sloppy, naked drunk. (Genesis 9:21 ).  “Perfect [sic] in his generation” means that Noah was the best his culture could produce.

(By the way, the next time you turn up your nose at someone else’s dysfunctional family, remember that we’re ALL descended from a guy who got sloppy, naked, passing-out drunk and then cursed out his grandson because the child’s dad laughed about it. That’s Genesis 9:20-24.)

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

This Noah dude was the best pre-Flood humanity had to offer, but this is what GRACE does.  Grace is God working with the best we have when even our best is pretty terrible.

Anybody with an active newsfeed can see how generally ugly and imaginatively cruel we modern, advanced humans are.  Every cultural and political demographic accuses the others of being worse, but all of us are pretty frickin’ terrible.  I mean, do you re-read the stuff you post about THEM?

We prefer lies tailored to our digital profiles to the truth.  (Matthew 24:11-11)

We complain about injustice, and we applaud injustice when it works to our advantage.  (Matthew 24:12a)

 

Christians who preach about love spew liberal and conservative hatred. (Matthew 24:12b)

We exploit each other and feel entitled to do so.

We dismantle and desecrate every kind of human community.  

We are moving exponentially faster and farther away from our purpose.

The Great Flood of Genesis 6 was the result of God being just dog tired of people being ugly to one another.  Look how ugly we've become.

Oh, yes. God is full of grace.  He always has been.  He was in Noah's day, too.

But even God gets tired of ugly.

 ---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

PICKING FIGHTS WITH GIANTS

Jesus lived on Earth as a man of peace who turned the other cheek, but He also walked great distances to boldly confront the most powerful people and institutions of the time.  In other words, Jesus picked fights, but only certain fights.  This is our example. Strange as it sounds, Christians SHOULD pick fights --- but only CERTAIN fights.  

This sermon is about learning which fights to pick.

The message was originally delivered at New Beginnings Church for the pastoral appreciation of Rev. Errol and Jennifer Davis. The title is: PICKING FIGHTS WITH GIANTS.

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

THROWING ROCKS AT THE SAME GIANTS

“We’re all throwing rocks at the same giants.”

I was at the Montgomery Job Corps center waiting to talk to the students on behalf of SAYNO.  The other end of the conversation was staffer for MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).  The students hadn’t arrived yet, but some of the instructors, counselors, and administrators had all come in.  The conversation between adults had turned to the different kinds of red tape between public schools, non-profits, and in–between groups like Job Corps.

It was one of those I-can’t-do-this-but-you-can’t-do conversations.

The words came from somewhere (rather, Some One) deeper than my brain.

I said, “We’re in this together.  We’re all throwing rocks at the same giants.”

When young David of Bethlehem killed the 9 foot tall champion of the Philistine army it inspired the Israelite troops. After 40 days of being too scared to move, they rushed the Philistines and beat them all the way back to Philistia.  (1 Samuel 17)

But.

When you knock down a giant problem, you soon realize that there are a lot more where that came from.   You can only wade so far in the infinite tide of new giants before fatigue overwhelms you.  You can get burned out.

It happened to David. 

When the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines; and David grew faint. (2 Samuel 21: 15)

You can’t do it all.   But guess what?

You were never supposed to.

God knew how many giants there were when sent you to take on the first one, and he made arrangements for those problems to be solved as well.

See, our job isn’t just to slay giants.  It’s to inspire, to instruct, and to connect with other giant-slayers.

The Lord didn’t send David against Goliath just to remove that one big sweaty obstacle.  God sent David against Goliath to teach Israel something they had forgotten since the days of Joshua and Caleb (Joshua 14): Giants can be killed. 

  

Eventually David became king and commander of his own elite team of  warriors---- a team of giant killers.

Then Ishbi-Benob, who was one of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred shekels, who was bearing a new sword, thought he could kill David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him. ( 2 Samuel 21:16-17.)

David’s men were so confident in their giant-slaying skills that they asked David to retire from active combat and take a desk job.   

Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel( 2 Samuel 21: 17.)

David, the monarch, agreed.  He sat down, and his men proceeded to continue kicking gigantic butt!

Now it happened afterward that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the sons of the giant.  (2 Samuel 21:18)

Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also was born to the giant. 21 So when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him(2 Samuel 21:20-21)

Seek out and embrace others who fight as you fight, even if their agencies and approaches are different.   Don’t hog the spotlight.  Recognize.  And celebrate victories in which you had no part.  

And learn how to sit down and let somebody else do their thing.

After all, we’re all throwing rocks at the same giants. 

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

#Awordtothewise

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

THE LESSON OF THE GIANTS

In the movie “Jack the Giant Slayer,” the people of the kingdom have lost their faith in the old stories of giants.  So, when the giants show up again, the people are totally unprepared. 

In a similar way, we Christians have forgotten the stories of giants past.  So, when giant-sized trouble comes, we don’t know what to do.   Follow me on a journey through the Biblical account of giants.  Hear the wisdom embedded in these ancient stories and see how you can apply these ancient accounts to your life right now.   Learn THE LESSON OF THE GIANTS.

Listen well.

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---Anderson T. Graves II   is a  writer, community organizer, and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church and the executive director of SAYNO (Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization) in Montgomery, Alabama.

Call  334-288-0577
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

If you enjoy our work, please help support our work in the community. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
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