What Really Matters
Sermon
Gospel Subplots
Story Sermons Of God's Grace
Larry and Evelyn Schmidt lay awake long past their usual time for sleep. It was midnight at least. They awaited a telephone call from their son-in-law Jeff. Their daughter Annie was in labor, and at ten o'clock they finally went to bed, but without hope of sleeping. Larry and Evelyn had been married 42 years, and only now awaited the birth of their first grandchild. All evening they'd been in the mood to talk, recounting Larry Junior's birth, eleven years after their marriage, and then the surprise of Annie, eight years later.
Larry Junior was always "Little Larry" until his sophomore year in high school when he was taller than his father and declared he was no longer "Little Larry." It took all involved -- friends and relatives -- a few years to get used to, but especially when Larry starred in basketball, and went on to play his first two years of college, the word "Little" was doomed. Larry Junior was determined to be a teacher and a basketball coach. When someone argued that he could earn much more money in other professions, Larry Junior said, "Being a teacher and coach is enough for me."
Larry and Evelyn had always wanted children; then when Larry Junior was born they wanted more children, and with what medical help was available they attempted to do so. They had the disappointment, however, of three miscarriages. Finally, when Evelyn was 40 and Larry 41 they paid a surgeon to make sure that "contra-" would be placed permanently before "-ception." Only then did Evelyn become pregnant with their miracle child.
That evening after Jeff had phoned to say that Annie's contractions were five minutes apart and they were leaving for the hospital, Larry and Evelyn had talked about the mystery and joy of their first child Larry Junior. Larry said, "He pretty well raised us."
"He certainly taught us how to be parents," Evelyn said.
Larry Junior would always be their mystery child -- the child who introduced them to the mysterious love that grows in those who nurture children. But then Annie came along when Larry was eight, and she was always the miracle child. Two very special children. They had wanted more, but they had enough.
Yet even with a miracle in the house, life began a slow decline for Larry and Evelyn. Evelyn went through a difficult early menopause, and suffered physically and emotionally for years, consulting many physicians and counselors. Larry had his own crises. He could say honestly he had never committed adultery, but adding up all his flirtings they did not come much short of adultery. And then Annie was diagnosed with polio. Not supposed to happen. One in a million chance. They never knew if it was because of an ineffective batch of vaccine, or if the vaccine itself gave the disease. But Annie at seven was stricken. The effects of the disease hit the whole household. Larry and Evelyn naturally turned their attention to Annie, and did their best to parent Larry Junior, but they knew he did not get all the love he needed. Yet he had his sports and friends, and he always managed to survive.
For Annie the virus meant weeks in the hospital and then months of convalescence, and Evelyn and Larry learned how to manipulate her body to keep her muscles supple. But emotionally it was more than Larry could do. He tried a few times, but emotionally he was unable to cause Annie pain. So while Annie was recovering, not only did Evelyn begin home schooling, but three times a day Evelyn lifted Annie into a hot bath and pressed and twisted and manipulated her body until Annie's own commands to her left leg would work again. Each treatment was a dose of hell. Annie would cry; Evelyn would cry. And when Larry was home, he would stand outside the bathroom and cry.
One evening while Larry was standing hopeless and helpless outside the bathroom door -- Annie begging to stop and Evelyn encouraging Annie for a couple more repetitions -- Larry decided he had no more resources. He was out, dry, depleted, empty. He simply could not go on and did not have the slightest idea how he had managed until now. Years had passed since he told Evelyn how miserable he was, and both of them had shriveled emotionally under the burden of Annie's illness. But standing there Larry decided to go to church on Sunday, and he promised whoever might be above that he would do so. On Sunday, Larry merely announced to Evelyn he was going to church, and left. They had a church to attend on Easter and Christmas Eve, so he knew the way there, and knew the pastor's name, even though they had never spoken beyond a handshake at the door.
This morning, Larry did not see the pastor. When it was a time for the sermon, a woman stood up behind the pulpit and apologized that Pastor Darrell was on vacation and she was giving the sermon. Larry's heart sank. Of all the days to get stuck with a substitute. But he was desperate enough to listen. The lady in the pulpit said, "There is a lot I don't know or understand about the Bible, about the New Testament, about Paul, about his Galatian letter, but you can't live by what you don't understand. You have to live by what you believe. So out of all the Bible, I chose Galatians 5:22-23 to talk about. Because Jesus has been raised from the dead, he sends his Holy Spirit to produce in us the same kind of life he lived, which is a life filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The main reason I believe in Jesus' resurrection is that I believe the Holy Spirit works in my life to bring about this character of Jesus -- what Paul named, 'the fruit of the Spirit.' "
That afternoon Larry asked Little Larry -- (Sorry, Larry Junior) -- to please use his calligraphy pen and write the contents of Galatians 5:22-23. The next day Larry had the paper framed and he hung it in the bedroom over the head of his and Evie's bed. And the next Sunday Larry went to church again, telling Evie she could come along if she wanted, but he was going. He had heard all the excuses for not going to church, the hypocrites, the asking for money; but he went to church that Sunday and the next Sunday. Then Evie started to attend with him, and when Annie was able they brought the kids. And the whole family was soon in Sunday school classes, and youth groups, and adult groups, as the family formed itself around the resurrected Jesus and into his body, the church.
Annie recovered but with a limp. Even with one shoe built up, she limped, always would; but she more than limped, she skipped. The little kid was so glad to be out of the house and back to school that as her strength slowly returned so did her skip. People on the street would see her going to school and note the skip and talk to one another about it. The Schmidts' neighbor, Lila Sontag, told her son and his wife when they visited her. The next morning at 7:35 the three of them were at the window to watch Annie skip to school. Lila said, "See what I mean?"
Her son answered, "Yeah, a skip with a hitch. Seems like the happiest kid on the block."
Larry Junior went to the university and became a teacher and coach, and was pretty good at both; but a couple of years into the teaching profession, he phoned his parents and said, "I think God is calling me to be a pastor. What do you think?"
They were both positive about the idea, but he seemed to want them to say more. "Son," Larry said, "I don't know a lot about the Bible or the Christian faith -- a lot I don't know about Jesus and Paul and the rest of them. But you can't live by what you don't understand. You've got to live by what you believe. I believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and that his Holy Spirit is here to help us live as he did. I feel God's Spirit with me every day, trying to make me more like the character of Jesus. I think God's Spirit has got hold of you too."
Larry Junior attended seminary, met his wife there, graduated, was ordained, and now was serving his second congregation. His son's sermons usually disappointed Larry Senior. "They all sound like classroom lectures," often so dull Larry Senior would nod off. But Larry Junior's congregations grew and his parishioners loved him. Many things mattered far more than how he preached.
Years later Annie followed her brother's footsteps, though of course they did not match exactly, to the University and a teaching degree. She met Jeff there and brought him home to meet the folks. But as Larry said, "Jeff is one of the three quietest people I've ever met and I can't remember the other two."
Evie suggested, "Maybe if we'd just grab him by the neck and shake him he'd talk to us." They could hardly get more than "Yes" or "No." But how he loved Annie, and when he and Annie were alone they chattered like chipmunks.
They married immediately after college and set off to be teachers in a small town 300 miles east of Larry and Evie. For all the time it took Larry and Evie to get pregnant, the opposite occurred with Jeff and Annie. For Annie it became a race to see which would come first, the end of her first year of teaching or her baby.
So Larry and Evie Schmidt lay awake and awaited the phone call. Together they had reviewed their children's births -- the mystery and the miracle of physical life through them to others. Now they prayed for the life soon to enter the world through Annie. Maybe they had been to sleep, hard to tell; but around two the phone rang. Each leaped from bed. Larry got to the phone first. It was Jeff, "Dad, this is Jeff."
"Yes, Jeff, how's it going?"
"Mother and infant doing well."
"That's wonderful," Larry said.
"I'm going to phone Larry Junior now and get back to Annie."
"Thank you, Jeff." He hung up and turned to Evie, "Jeff said, 'Mother and infant doing well.' He certainly is a man of few words."
"But Lar, is it a boy or girl?"
Larry looked at her blankly, as if it were the last thing on his mind. "He didn't say."
They stood staring foolishly at one another and Larry said, "I guess it doesn't really matter."
What really mattered was what Larry believed years before, what he practiced every day, and what was printed in Larry Junior's careful handwriting on the plaque over their bed, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.
The Apostle Paul
Galatians Chapter Five
Verses Twenty-Two and Twenty-Three."
Discussion Questions
Text: Galatians 5:22-23
1. What immediate responses do you have to the story?
2. If you could have a conversation with one of the characters in this story which would you speak with and what would you ask or say?
3. Do you identify with any character in the story?
4. Who has suffered most in your life -- your spouse, children, parents, siblings or yourself? What did that suffering do to your relationships with these people? What did the suffering do to your relationship with God?
5. Can you name a turning point in your life or faith?
6. What caused your greatest step in Christian maturity? What was going on? Who was involved? What were the circumstances?
7. In the last half of your life (or, if you became a Christian later in life, the last half of your Christian life) what difference has Christ made in your personality or character, in your behavior or lifestyle?
8. In that Christ rewrites our lives, what from this story would you like to have happen in your life?
Larry Junior was always "Little Larry" until his sophomore year in high school when he was taller than his father and declared he was no longer "Little Larry." It took all involved -- friends and relatives -- a few years to get used to, but especially when Larry starred in basketball, and went on to play his first two years of college, the word "Little" was doomed. Larry Junior was determined to be a teacher and a basketball coach. When someone argued that he could earn much more money in other professions, Larry Junior said, "Being a teacher and coach is enough for me."
Larry and Evelyn had always wanted children; then when Larry Junior was born they wanted more children, and with what medical help was available they attempted to do so. They had the disappointment, however, of three miscarriages. Finally, when Evelyn was 40 and Larry 41 they paid a surgeon to make sure that "contra-" would be placed permanently before "-ception." Only then did Evelyn become pregnant with their miracle child.
That evening after Jeff had phoned to say that Annie's contractions were five minutes apart and they were leaving for the hospital, Larry and Evelyn had talked about the mystery and joy of their first child Larry Junior. Larry said, "He pretty well raised us."
"He certainly taught us how to be parents," Evelyn said.
Larry Junior would always be their mystery child -- the child who introduced them to the mysterious love that grows in those who nurture children. But then Annie came along when Larry was eight, and she was always the miracle child. Two very special children. They had wanted more, but they had enough.
Yet even with a miracle in the house, life began a slow decline for Larry and Evelyn. Evelyn went through a difficult early menopause, and suffered physically and emotionally for years, consulting many physicians and counselors. Larry had his own crises. He could say honestly he had never committed adultery, but adding up all his flirtings they did not come much short of adultery. And then Annie was diagnosed with polio. Not supposed to happen. One in a million chance. They never knew if it was because of an ineffective batch of vaccine, or if the vaccine itself gave the disease. But Annie at seven was stricken. The effects of the disease hit the whole household. Larry and Evelyn naturally turned their attention to Annie, and did their best to parent Larry Junior, but they knew he did not get all the love he needed. Yet he had his sports and friends, and he always managed to survive.
For Annie the virus meant weeks in the hospital and then months of convalescence, and Evelyn and Larry learned how to manipulate her body to keep her muscles supple. But emotionally it was more than Larry could do. He tried a few times, but emotionally he was unable to cause Annie pain. So while Annie was recovering, not only did Evelyn begin home schooling, but three times a day Evelyn lifted Annie into a hot bath and pressed and twisted and manipulated her body until Annie's own commands to her left leg would work again. Each treatment was a dose of hell. Annie would cry; Evelyn would cry. And when Larry was home, he would stand outside the bathroom and cry.
One evening while Larry was standing hopeless and helpless outside the bathroom door -- Annie begging to stop and Evelyn encouraging Annie for a couple more repetitions -- Larry decided he had no more resources. He was out, dry, depleted, empty. He simply could not go on and did not have the slightest idea how he had managed until now. Years had passed since he told Evelyn how miserable he was, and both of them had shriveled emotionally under the burden of Annie's illness. But standing there Larry decided to go to church on Sunday, and he promised whoever might be above that he would do so. On Sunday, Larry merely announced to Evelyn he was going to church, and left. They had a church to attend on Easter and Christmas Eve, so he knew the way there, and knew the pastor's name, even though they had never spoken beyond a handshake at the door.
This morning, Larry did not see the pastor. When it was a time for the sermon, a woman stood up behind the pulpit and apologized that Pastor Darrell was on vacation and she was giving the sermon. Larry's heart sank. Of all the days to get stuck with a substitute. But he was desperate enough to listen. The lady in the pulpit said, "There is a lot I don't know or understand about the Bible, about the New Testament, about Paul, about his Galatian letter, but you can't live by what you don't understand. You have to live by what you believe. So out of all the Bible, I chose Galatians 5:22-23 to talk about. Because Jesus has been raised from the dead, he sends his Holy Spirit to produce in us the same kind of life he lived, which is a life filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The main reason I believe in Jesus' resurrection is that I believe the Holy Spirit works in my life to bring about this character of Jesus -- what Paul named, 'the fruit of the Spirit.' "
That afternoon Larry asked Little Larry -- (Sorry, Larry Junior) -- to please use his calligraphy pen and write the contents of Galatians 5:22-23. The next day Larry had the paper framed and he hung it in the bedroom over the head of his and Evie's bed. And the next Sunday Larry went to church again, telling Evie she could come along if she wanted, but he was going. He had heard all the excuses for not going to church, the hypocrites, the asking for money; but he went to church that Sunday and the next Sunday. Then Evie started to attend with him, and when Annie was able they brought the kids. And the whole family was soon in Sunday school classes, and youth groups, and adult groups, as the family formed itself around the resurrected Jesus and into his body, the church.
Annie recovered but with a limp. Even with one shoe built up, she limped, always would; but she more than limped, she skipped. The little kid was so glad to be out of the house and back to school that as her strength slowly returned so did her skip. People on the street would see her going to school and note the skip and talk to one another about it. The Schmidts' neighbor, Lila Sontag, told her son and his wife when they visited her. The next morning at 7:35 the three of them were at the window to watch Annie skip to school. Lila said, "See what I mean?"
Her son answered, "Yeah, a skip with a hitch. Seems like the happiest kid on the block."
Larry Junior went to the university and became a teacher and coach, and was pretty good at both; but a couple of years into the teaching profession, he phoned his parents and said, "I think God is calling me to be a pastor. What do you think?"
They were both positive about the idea, but he seemed to want them to say more. "Son," Larry said, "I don't know a lot about the Bible or the Christian faith -- a lot I don't know about Jesus and Paul and the rest of them. But you can't live by what you don't understand. You've got to live by what you believe. I believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and that his Holy Spirit is here to help us live as he did. I feel God's Spirit with me every day, trying to make me more like the character of Jesus. I think God's Spirit has got hold of you too."
Larry Junior attended seminary, met his wife there, graduated, was ordained, and now was serving his second congregation. His son's sermons usually disappointed Larry Senior. "They all sound like classroom lectures," often so dull Larry Senior would nod off. But Larry Junior's congregations grew and his parishioners loved him. Many things mattered far more than how he preached.
Years later Annie followed her brother's footsteps, though of course they did not match exactly, to the University and a teaching degree. She met Jeff there and brought him home to meet the folks. But as Larry said, "Jeff is one of the three quietest people I've ever met and I can't remember the other two."
Evie suggested, "Maybe if we'd just grab him by the neck and shake him he'd talk to us." They could hardly get more than "Yes" or "No." But how he loved Annie, and when he and Annie were alone they chattered like chipmunks.
They married immediately after college and set off to be teachers in a small town 300 miles east of Larry and Evie. For all the time it took Larry and Evie to get pregnant, the opposite occurred with Jeff and Annie. For Annie it became a race to see which would come first, the end of her first year of teaching or her baby.
So Larry and Evie Schmidt lay awake and awaited the phone call. Together they had reviewed their children's births -- the mystery and the miracle of physical life through them to others. Now they prayed for the life soon to enter the world through Annie. Maybe they had been to sleep, hard to tell; but around two the phone rang. Each leaped from bed. Larry got to the phone first. It was Jeff, "Dad, this is Jeff."
"Yes, Jeff, how's it going?"
"Mother and infant doing well."
"That's wonderful," Larry said.
"I'm going to phone Larry Junior now and get back to Annie."
"Thank you, Jeff." He hung up and turned to Evie, "Jeff said, 'Mother and infant doing well.' He certainly is a man of few words."
"But Lar, is it a boy or girl?"
Larry looked at her blankly, as if it were the last thing on his mind. "He didn't say."
They stood staring foolishly at one another and Larry said, "I guess it doesn't really matter."
What really mattered was what Larry believed years before, what he practiced every day, and what was printed in Larry Junior's careful handwriting on the plaque over their bed, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.
The Apostle Paul
Galatians Chapter Five
Verses Twenty-Two and Twenty-Three."
Discussion Questions
Text: Galatians 5:22-23
1. What immediate responses do you have to the story?
2. If you could have a conversation with one of the characters in this story which would you speak with and what would you ask or say?
3. Do you identify with any character in the story?
4. Who has suffered most in your life -- your spouse, children, parents, siblings or yourself? What did that suffering do to your relationships with these people? What did the suffering do to your relationship with God?
5. Can you name a turning point in your life or faith?
6. What caused your greatest step in Christian maturity? What was going on? Who was involved? What were the circumstances?
7. In the last half of your life (or, if you became a Christian later in life, the last half of your Christian life) what difference has Christ made in your personality or character, in your behavior or lifestyle?
8. In that Christ rewrites our lives, what from this story would you like to have happen in your life?
