From Sampler to Sower

“Come Home” a sermon first preached by Pastor Bradley Buhro at Decatur Trinity Church of the Nazarene, Sunday morning, March 12, 2000.

(I used to host this sermon on Geocities.  In light of it’s immenent closure, I’m moving this here.)

Introduction to Sermon:
Headlines taken from AP Wire Reports in 1 24 Hour period, 10:00 p.m. Friday night to 8:00 p.m. Saturday night

4 Shot to Death in Rural Mo. Home

TROY, Mo. (AP) — Four adults were shot to death following an apparent domestic dispute at a rural eastern Missouri home, and authorities suspect the husband of one of the victims.
The gunman remained at large Saturday afternoon.
“We’re out there looking for him,” Lincoln County Sheriff Jim Johnson said Saturday. “He could only do himself harm now.”
The names of the suspect and the four victims were not released. Five young children inside the house, including three of the suspect’s, were unharmed.

Funeral Held for Slain Firefighter

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A firefighter killed in an ambush shooting while trying to save a burning residence took his last ride on a fire truck Saturday aboard a pumper named for his father, a firefighter who also died on the job.
Lt. Javier Lerma, 41, died along with another firefighter and a Shelby County sheriff’s deputy Wednesday when a gunman opened fire on them as they responded to a house fire. The suspected gunman’s wife also was killed. He and a bystander were wounded.

Ammo Removed From Doctor’s House

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities on Saturday removed the last of 27 canisters packed with plastic explosives and other hazardous materials from the home of doctor suspected in an assassination attempt on his business partner.

Violence Soars in LAPD Scandal Area

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gang-related violence increased nearly 40 percent in the area of Los Angeles plagued by a police corruption scandal, figures showed.

1 Boy Killed After Ga. School Dance

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A teen-age boy was shot to death and two others were wounded outside a high school late Friday as hundreds of students left a dance honoring the girls’ basketball team.

Lawyer: Police Let Bank Robber Die

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police who allowed a bank robber to bleed to death after a wild bank robbery shootout got away with murder, an attorney told a federal court jury. . . .

Eleven officers and six civilians were wounded as Matasareanu, 30, and Larry Eugene Phillips Jr., 26, both wearing body armor, tried to get away by firing automatic weapons at police. The shootout lasted nearly an hour.

Air Force Officer Found Guilty

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AP) — An Air Force helicopter pilot honored for leading a daring rescue off Iceland was found guilty at a court-martial Friday of repeatedly molesting two underage girls.
Col. James A. Sills, 48, was also found guilty of assaulting his estranged wife, having an unprofessional relationship with his secretary and lying during a security interview.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison and dismissal from service. He faced more than 30 years.

Do you ever get the feeling something is horribly wrong with our world? Like the walls of violence are closing in around you? Like the very fabric of our society is coming unraveled before your very eyes? Ever feel like the world is broken like one big Humpty Dumpty which all the Kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t even begin to repair?

Do you ever get that feeling about yourself—the feeling that something is horribly wrong and needs to be repaired? Do you ever look at your life and see nothing but brokeness—broken homes, broken families, broken friendships, broken promises, broken lives? Do you wish there was a way to repair things? A way to put things back in order? A way to make a real difference?

I want to tell you about someone else who had a thirst for restoration like that. You all have probably heard his story before. A cocky young boy decides he’s had enough chores and homework and decides to drop out. He asks his dad for his share of the inheritance early and hits the road. While he has money he had fun, but soon the cash was gone and so were his options. Famine swept through the land and food was hard to come by. He took up a job feeding slop to a herd of pigs, quite the fall from the high life. He was so hungry the pig’s slop actually started to look good enough to eat. Songwriter Clara Williams captured what must have been going through his mind:

Feeding on the husks around me
Till my strength was almost gone
Longed my soul for something better
Only still to hunger on. (“Satisfied” by Clara T. Williams)

As he sat there hungering, the Gospel of Luke says that he came to his senses. He looked around himself and said “There’s something wrong here—something broken. But I remember what it was like back home . . .”

Back home . . . In your world of brokeness do you have a back home to remember? Was there a time when your walk with God was close, fresh and alive? A time when you knew God was smiling on you, pleased with what he saw?

Or have you never experienced that joy? At the end of your rope, tired of trying to find the thing that will satisfy your longing only to be dissatisfied and hungry?

Whether it’s something we’ve tasted and slipped silently away from, or a joy we know must be out there but have never found, we know when we’re lost. There’s a hungering deep inside that nothing can satisfy. A thirst that is never quenched. A sense that this isn’t the way we were meant to be. We were meant for more than this. And something tells us that things just aren’t right. We realize that we are hopelessly broken. And we long for something we know we were created to know. A place we were meant to be. We long for a place we can only describe as home.

Here’s the good news—your hunger isn’t the result of some neuroses. The sense that something is wrong isn’t a mild form of paranoia. The hunger to go back home isn’t a delusion. The fact that we know things are broken and hunger for home is a sign that there is at least something still right in our life. In the John chapter 16, Jesus tells his disciples that He will send the Holy Spirit into the world to show us the truth of our sin. Our sense of brokeness demonstrates that by God’s grace at least something in our life is still working right. God is still able to get our attention and call us to return home.

Here’s the even better news—that hunger that you can’t seem to shake, that thirst that never leaves, that persistent longing for home, there is something that will satisfy. In the Gospel of John, seven times Jesus says “I Am.” To the one hungering for God, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” To the one lost in the darkness of sin Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” To the one wishing for a little security in the world of thieves and robbers, Jesus says, “I am the gate that keeps the sheep safe.” To the one searching for guidance, Jesus says “I am the Good Shepherd.” To the one fearing the certainty of death, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” To the one wondering how to get back to God, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” And to the one longing for success and meaning in life, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, stay connected to me and you will find meaning. You will produce fruit that will last.” Jesus says to a hungry world “I am everything you are longing for. I am exactly what you need. Follow me, I know the way back home.”

It’s just like the last verse of Clara Williams song that we mentioned earlier says:

Well of water ever springing,
Bread of life so rich and free
Untold wealth that never faileth,
My Redeemer is to me.
Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings,
Through His blood I now am saved.

If you’re hungry, there is an answer. If you’re broken, there is restoration. If you’re lost, there is a way back home.

And here’s the best news of all—This answer is available today. God stands with open arms, inviting us to return. Right now. No matter where we are no matter what we’ve done, God invites us to come back home. Just listen to what God says . . .

In Isaiah 1 verse 18, God invites:

Come now, and let us reason together,
saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool.

Later in chapter 55 he says:

If you are thirsty, come and drink water!
If you don’t have any money,come, eat what you want!
Drink wine and milk without paying a cent.Why waste your
money on what really isn’t food? Why work hard for
something that doesn’t satisfy? Listen carefully to
me, and you will enjoy the very best foods. (55:1-3)

In Matthew Jesus says:

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (11:28-30)

In John, Jesus gives us this assurance:

“I am the bread that gives life! No one who comes to me will ever be hungry. No one who has faith in me will ever be thirsty. I have told you already that you have seen me and still do not have faith in me. Everything and everyone that the Father has given me will come to me, and I won’t turn any of them away.” (John 6:35-37)

Over and over the Bible reminds us, the door is open, the invitation is extended, come home. Come home now. And it is an invitation God hand delivered to humanity. He sent is Spirit to make us hungry for home. He sent is Son to pave the way. And He reaches out his loving arms and says, “Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter, come home.”

Before becoming pastor at Oak Hills Church of Christ in San Antonio, Texas, Max Lucado spent five years as a missionary in Brazil. While there he met a Brazilian preacher who told this story (taken from No Wonder They Call Him The Savior, © 1986 by Multnomah Press, 157-159):

In a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of a small village there stood a small one-room home where Maria and her daughter Christina lived. They shared the one room, which was their bedroom, living room and kitchen all in one. Their home was modest, but it was home.

Maria’s husband died when Christina was still an infant. Maria got a job as a maid and earned a living for her and her daughter. Christina was now 15 and the time had come for her to go to work also to help provide for the family.

Christina was beautiful. She had an infectious laugh and the uncanny ability to make the people around her feel special. And there was a constant string of suitors at her door, but Christina wasn’t too keen on the traditional idea of marrying young and raising a family. She had goals. She had desires. She had dreams.

She dreamed of one day moving out of the village. Going off to the excitement of the big city. Of course Maria wasn’t really happy with this idea. Maria had lived the hard life already. She knew how rough the real world could be. Maria told Christina about the realities of life. “People are cruel. Jobs are scarce. Life is hard. If you made it to the city, what would you do for a living?”

Deep inside Maria had a nagging sense of just what would happen if Christina went through with her dreams. Maria had heard the stories. She knew what happened to run-aways. That’s why she was destroyed when she woke up one morning to find Christina’s bed empty. And that’s why she knew what she needed to do for her daughter. Maria quickly packed a bag and gathered up all the money she could find. On the way out of town she stopped at the drug store and spent all the money she could spare in the little photo booth taking snapshots of herself. Then she boarded a bus and headed off to the city.

Maria knew her daughter all to well. And she knew the realities of life. She knew jobs were scarce and Christina was stubborn. There’s no way her daughter would give up. And when the money runs out, hunger makes people do things they would never consider under normal situations. Maria made the rounds of all the bars and nightclubs and cheap hotels. Maria went every where you would go to find street walkers and prostitutes. And at every stop, on every bathroom mirror and in every lobby window and on every bulletein board Maria left behind a photo of herself. And when her money and photos ran out, Maria got back on a bus and headed back to the village.

A few weeks later, Christina came walking down the stairs of a hotel. Her once beautiful skin was now lined with the worries of life. Her shining hair and grown dull and frayed. And her recent lifestyle had stolen her laugh. She longed of home, but was too stubborn to surrender. But as she came down the last flight of stairs she looked up and there looking back at her was a familiar face. She walked over and took a small picture of her mother off the lobby mirror. She strained to see through the tears welling up in her eyes as she read the back of the photo. There these words were written:

“Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter, come home.”

She did.

Will you?