Peter Semeyn, Pastor Emeritus
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 0:02
And all God's people said, Amen. So, as Gregg mentioned, I was the lead pastor here for about six years.
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 0:12
It's unbelievable to me that I retired from the Lead Pastor job five years ago. wasn't like that. It is a long time ago. Yeah. That seems a long time ago to Gregg because now he carries the load. And some of you, you know, I know and some of you know me, and you're right, another one. There's something different about Rev. This isn't a new hairstyle. has he gotten gray hair? Or has he lost 60 pounds? Item C, thank you very much. And some people are very kind like, though they don't know quite what to say about weight loss, because at my age are kind of going, are you okay? Which is an acceptable way of saying, Are you sick? And my answer is, yes, I am. I was sick. I was sick of being overweight. So I did something about it. So I've been healthy. It's been good. And the last time I actually preached here at Elmhurst church on this platform was Labor Day weekend of 2021. And I can remember exactly when it was, I preached the sermon, I lead the service, I stepped down off the platform and everybody everything seemed just a little weird. I mean, like weirder than usual. And Sunday mornings, I couldn't quite figure out what was going on. I remember having a conversation with Gregg, which I vaguely remembered I had this confidential client, which I couldn't make sense of, but that's not that unusual. It just didn't feel right. And so my fear is my go-to when I don't feel well: McDonald's diet coke. Here are all problems. So I got my car, and I go to McDonald's. I sat in the line and tried to order the drive-thru. And finally, people were honking their horns, and the person was screaming at me through the intercom and saying, we can't understand a word. You're saying we don't know what's going on. And you just have to move. So what do you do next? You drive home. I drove home, and I couldn't. I didn't use the button in my car to open the garage door. I tried to punch in the code. I wasn't doing anything that made sense. And I went inside, and Becky said you don't make sense. I'm going. Yeah, okay. It's been 49 years of that. But long story short, I apparently had a TIA stroke that day. And had all the tests and everything. They can't figure out exactly why it happened. They gave me some medicine. I should be okay. I'm going to be great. Pastor Gregg came and visited me in the hospital. It was a wonderful visit. He's such a good friend, and a pastor meant a lot to me. But then, when he wrote me an email a couple of weeks ago or a couple of months ago up preaching on Sundays, I hesitate to do this after what happened last time, which was more about him than me. He didn't want to pick me up after I fell off the floor if it happened again. But so I'm glad that we're here. I have to give a special shout-out over there to my section of the worship center where Becky and I usually see it, so yeah, so on Sunday mornings there. Yeah, you over there. Good to see you all nice to be able to show up. You must not have known I was preaching today. But it was good not to have the off-key loud singer in your section this morning. That was probably good for all of you. We've been hanging out together this summer at almost church in this first commandment. And I had enough training and teaching, and I was a pastor long enough to realize that not everyone, buddy, even if you've heard every sermon in this series, remembers everything that was said. And so let's let me just give you a little summary of where we've been kind of catching up and then dive into what I'm going to talk about this morning.
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 3:53
Just a reminder, this is what it says in the first commandment from Exodus 20. Starting at verse one. "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and out of the land of slavery. You will have no other gods before me. You shall not make yourself an image in the form of anything and heaven, above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them for I the LORD your God. I'm a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and who keep My commandments."
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 4:43
And in the first message that we had about idols. Pastor Gregg reminded us about the general idea about what idol form idols can take. And simply defined idolatry as anything that replaces God is the number one thing in our Life. Anything that replaces God has a number of things. And it can be a lot of different things. And so then we went on to kind of look at these things. What are American Idols? What are the idols that you and I have? What do we battle on a regular basis, common everyday things? They're not limited to statues or carvings or the sun or the moon, or thunder or lightning or anything like that. They can be very common things that we're not even aware of as an idol for us. But they are if we stop and look and listen to talks about how political viewpoints can be an idol. In our nation, you're on one side or the other. And not only do worship, but your idolatry is also limited to the political viewpoint that you hold or the platform of that party, or the institutions that they have. And the other side is the enemy. That makes it an idol. Your side is right, their side is wrong, and that makes it an idol. You don't listen to any other opinions that make it an idol. Last week, Pastor Klein did show and tell. You had all these sports trophies out here, and it was talking about how sports and he owned it himself, which was great, right? He was not preaching anyone's, you know, I'm preaching to myself, sports is an idol for him. I don't understand that. I don't like sports. But Jeff does. Actually, I have more trophies than him. I just couldn't bring him today. So
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 6:26
politics, not bad. It's not a bad thing. I was a political science major, I love politics till it gets ugly and dirty. I love sports, sports is not a bad thing. It's only bad when we make it bad. When it becomes an obsession when it gets out of perspective or out of proportion. And I don't think any of us set out oh, you know what, I think I'm going to make sports my idol. That isn't the way you start out. You start out innocently, and then it starts to consume you; I'm going to make music, my idol. Now you like music, and then allthe of su,dden music becomes so consuming that it becomes your idol. We don't start out saying we're gonna make this an idol, it becomes an idol, and most of the time, we kind of ease into it. And we're not even sure what happened or how we got there. But at some time, we wake up hopefully and discover that that's the case. Some people work as their idols. And this great quote from John Calvin, because I wouldn't be reformed unless I quoted Calvin. "The human heart is the factory of idols." And what he is alluding to there is what I just described, we don't start out to make things an idol. But in our hearts, they become that way. And we make them that. So today, I want to look at another form of idolatry that Jesus teaches about in the Sermon on the Mount. So the context is that Jesus was teaching a group of people; the Scripture said it was a hillside of people filled; they're not sure exactly how it all happened. But some people have suggested that if you took all the teaching of Jesus and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the Gospels, and you got rid of everything except the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew five, six, and seven, you'd have the essence of what Jesus wanted us to know. This is the stuff. I'm glad we had the other stuff because it gives me more things to preach about, but Matthew five, six, and seven, this is from Matthew chapter six, where Jesus was talking about the concerns that we have in everyday life. You know, how we live, what we wear, what we eat, what we drink. Listen to what he says in verses 31 through 35, which is kind of a summary toward the end of his teaching on these things. "Do not worry saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them?" Hang on to that right there; not bad. Our heavenly Father knows that we need what we wear, what we eat what we drink; he knows we need that. "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things will be given to you as well." Therefore, or because of that teaching. Do not worry about tomorrow. for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Amen to that.
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 9:49
I have a friend who's an investment counselor. He helps people, you know, manage their money, prepare for retirement set up during his investments, and he's told me stories about that profession. I know we have some of you in the room, the ones who are tearing their hair out right now because of our economy. But he says, he's told me, he said, You know, I have clients who call me all the time about their investments. But the phone rings off the hook when the stock market starts to dip. And it starts to go down. And as it goes down, they'll call me every single day about what to do and how to do it. Where should I go? And how should I maneuver and all this other stuff they want to know about their investments and what's going to happen? When we all like to know what's going to happen. There are people who are obsessed with their investments, they look at their portfolios every single day. Not a bad thing. I kind of get it. But none of us can control it, including our investment counselors; all they can do is kind of advised us on what to do. People get obsessed with these things, though. We get obsessed with money. Some people get obsessed with clothes, others with shoes, some about cars, and some about electronics. I remember one time getting I think I've said this before, but I'm old. So I forget.
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 11:14
I remember getting an advertisement in the mail from a telephone carrier one time about new phones that were available. And you wanna know what that advertisement said, to entice me to get a new phone to satisfy your need for new. That's it. That's it. Some people have to have the newest latest thing, right? How else do you explain people who sleep overnight on the sidewalk outside the Apple store to get the newest phone? When I don't do that, I pay someone else to wait for me. Some are obsessed with homes and second homes. We collect a lot of stuff in America. We live in a nice little townhouse development. Everybody's things neat and tidy. We're all old people kind of but a lot of people in our development, you know, park their cars outside their garage. I don't really understand it. But I do when they open the garage door. Their garages are full of stuff; they couldn't get a car in there if they tried. One of the most booming businesses in America today: storage facilities. They're everywhere. Now they've gone upscale, so you can pay more to store more stuff. We have so much stuff we have to run someplace to put our stuff. We have stuff in our house that we're saving for our great-grandchildren. I think I don't know back to what we are doing with all this stuff? Someone might want that. Oh, yeah, someone might let him buy it at a garage sale. Now, I have my own issues with stuff. Some people know Gregg knows this, but not everybody knows that. I have a thing about hats. Okay, this is my hat collection. But it's not all of my hats. Oh, there's an H hat there. What is that for? Huh? Anyway, oh, there's a Chicago Bears hat. There's an old one I was reminded of today of that Oregon hat I bought. I bought it exactly six years ago on this weekend when I was in Oregon officiating a wedding for a member of our congregation for Yeah. Now, this is not all my hats because this is just my winter hats because my summer hats are in the closet and another stack. I've got hats upon I could never wear all of these hats. Some I only wear on certain occasions somebody doesn't want to wear when I'm golfing or outside because then you get sweat all over him and you got to wash him, and then you got to buy a new hat for some people it's shoes anybody know anybody with a shoe thing? Okay, don't raise your Oh, you have a shoe thing? Thank you for being honest. Did you talk about that with God and the prayer confession we had a minute ago because some people jeans right? Dresses suits. I had a friend who had he told me that I have 25 golf shirts in my closet that still have the tags in the package. I haven't even been open yet. 25 I'm going well get rid of some of why they did something to me. Money. None of them are bad things. Hats are not a bad thing. Hats are great. Ask me I'll tell you. But if you're obsessed with anything like that, it becomes an idol. It becomes if you spend the money you shouldn't spend on something. the first clue that it's an idol. And if you want to identify your idols, if you want to look and see well, well, I'm not sure what I haven't, I mean, unless it's gonna be two suggestions. It's not new to me. It's from other people as well. Look at your calendar and your checkbook. And you'll find out what your idols are, how do I spend My time, and how do I spend my money? Those are usually the things that are our idols. Now our obsession with material things and money is not the problem in and of itself. It's a symptom of another problem. And the problem is that somehow we're trying to fill a void in our life. Something is missing. And somehow we've come to think that these things will fix it. If I just had these things, then I'll feel better about myself. My life will change. People will like me more, whatever the case might be acceptance, status, power, self-worth. Those are the deeper issues that we are trying to satisfy with stuff. Have you ever had this experience where there is something that you want? Or something that maybe you don't even want? Did anybody do the Amazon days things last, let's say last week, you go online to Amazon, they had Amazon sale, you go on Amazon, Amazon days, that what they call it? Right? Did he go on there, and there is stuff that you don't need, but it's advertised. And if you're Dutch, it's on sale. So you buy it, even if you don't need it because it's on sale. But I've never had the experience where you there's something you want to buy.
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 16:32
And if you had that, you would be satisfied. Doesn't make any difference. It could be a new car, could be a house, could be a second home, could be an airplane, could be a new hat, whatever. If I had that hat, my collection would be complete. And then I buy the hat. And I will guarantee that two weeks later, there is another hat that I would need because I have that hat already. So now there's another one that I need. The reality is, is that whatever voice I'm trying to fill has not been satisfied with that particular purchase. We do with things and money as Gregg and Jeff suggested that we do with politics and sports. We don't start out saying, I think I'm gonna worship these things. But soon, they overtake our life, and they become the number one thing, and that's when they become idols. So Jesus' suggestion is, well, don't worry about these things. Don't worry about what you're going to wear, what you're going to eat, or what you're going to drink. Now, telling someone not to worry is a little bit like telling someone not to breathe. You know, we are people for whom worrying is natural. Right? I have some friends who this year are sending their kids off to college for the first time. I will guarantee that they will worry; they will worry about those kids. You know where they're living situation be okay. Will they get along with their roommate? Are they going to go to class ever? What are they going to eat? When are they going to make friends? How are we going to pay for this? I mean, it's just you're filled with worry. These are the things we worry about. Worry is natural to worry is a part of life. Jesus isn't saying that we should never worry. And he's not talking about that kind of worry. He's talking about the kind of worry that moves into an obsession, worry that makes us sick, worried about things that are difficult for us to control, and then worry controls us. And we're constantly worrying we can't sleep at night. And his commentary on this chat text Michael Wilkins says worry is inappropriate when it is misdirected in the wrong proportion or indicates a lack of trust in God. When it's misdirected, inappropriate, wrong proportion, or lack of trust in God. My son taught junior high for eight years. And we did not commit him to an asylum; after that he did something else. But he taught junior high for eight years in an upper-class suburb in the Chicago area. And he would have moms that were so concerned about their junior high kids and how they were going to perform. They were constantly after him as a teacher. But he said the most obsessive thing about these people was that some of them would come into the junior high during the day and clean their kids' locker and organize it for him; hmm I mean, they were so worried about their kids, and how they're going whether the thing was, they came in and did it for him. They were obsessed with their children, and I know that sounds little nuts, but I can introduce you to these people. worry and worry about wealth are idolatrous when they go to extremes when we are obsessed when they're out of proportion, their intended use.
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 20:10
But Jesus doesn't identify a problem without offering a solution. Sounds simple to us and rolls off your tongue very easily "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be given to you as well. "When we're seeking God first in our life, all these things will be added unto us. Does that mean I'm gonna have a big pile of money that never goes away? Does that mean I have everything that I want? Absolutely not. You know, what's the first the kingdom of God does? It gives you perspective on life, it sorts out your priorities, I no longer need all those hats. Well, that's not true. Don't go that far. We don't need the stuff we think we need. Because the number one thing is that relationship with Jesus in His settle all that for us, that's how he adds it onto us. It puts it in the right proportions. And there's a lot of stuff in life that if we just seek Jesus first and put things in a proper perspective. Now, this principle of seeking first the kingdom of God and fighting our idols with that can be applied to many areas of church life as well. Within the life of the church, we have a tendency to elevate things to the level of importance that they intended to have.
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 21:30
And we obsess and worry about things and the way that things are done in the life of a congregation. We have things that we like about our churches and the way they do things. And it's a very short trip. From what I like, this is the way it ought to me. This is what I like, oh, no, this is the way it ought to be. I like this. Everybody should like this. It should always be that way. It's a short trip. Things become traditions that we have a hard time giving up. Now I'm going to share some of those things. And things that I'm gonna share are things I've actually experienced in 48 years of ministry. I'm not going to make up tales. All right, I could, because I'm really good at it. But I'm not going to make anything up. How to traditions, let me get started. There's a story of a young couple who are early married, and the man decides to fix dinner for his wife. And he's gonna fix her a beautiful ham dinner. He's had all the stuff that goes with it. And he cooks the ham and a pan, and he puts it on the table and places it before on a platter. And she notices that the end is cut off the ham. And she goes, Why did you cook it that way? Why do you kind of think Well, that's the way my mom always did it. So that's why I did it. Interesting, she said; I wonder if there's something that I didn't learn when I was growing up. So they go to Easter dinner at his family's house; the ham is on the platter, and sure enough, the end is cut off. And so his wife says to her mother-in-law. Why do you do it that way? Well, that's why my mother did it. So that's why I've always done it. A couple of years later, they go to grandma's house for Easter dinner, and the ham is on the platter Sure enough to end his cut-off. "Well, Grandma, why don't you do it that way? " "Well, because the ham wouldn't fit in the pan. So I cut off the end just so it would fit." And that's how the tradition got started. Absolutely nothing to do with the taste of the ham, the cooking of the ham, the proper position of the ham, but it became a tradition. And that's the way you did it.
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 23:41
Churches are filled with traditions with the way we do things what we do and how we do them and how they should be done. Then when I was growing up, and younger, and even in this congregation until COVID hit, we serve communion, right, and silver trays, right. The elders would come down in their suits and ties, they'd all stand around the communion table, they'd have the silver trays, and they go in they pass them to you, take a little cup out. And so I'm sort of convenient, right? That's the way it should be done, doggone it. And then COVID hit. And we discovered, you know what, it doesn't have to be done that way; we could actually get a little plastic to-go cup with gluten-free wafers on one side and juice on the other. And it never changes the significance or meaning of the sacrament. It's the same thing. In theological terms, we talked about the sacrament is a great mystery. I don't understand whether it gets better in a tray or not better in tray out understand where there's a better play. It doesn't make any difference. The Holy Spirit uses whatever we take. It's not the tradition that we worship. It's the exercise of the Lord's Supper. When you've been in ministry for 40 years, I started in the 70s. And there was basically a tradition around pastoral attire. What do pastors wear when they preach. This is uh, this is hard to see; it's a little grainy, but that's actually me. The cool college chaplain with the beard and the long hair. Yeah, I know. You didn't know I was a cool DJ back in the 70s. I was that cool. And you noticed what I have on a robe and a stole and my partner in chaplaincy at the college Jerry even he says on the preaching roll the Genevan robe would you know, we were dressed to the nines on Sunday morning. Today, not so much.
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 25:40
Now, I am a better preacher today than I was in the 70s Because I've had 47 years of practice. I wasn't a better preacher because I wore a robe. I wore at Christ Church of Oak Brook. I wasn't a better pastor at Christ Church of Oak Brook than I am today. Because I was inexperienced, I was still learning. It has nothing to do with what I wear every Sunday. I served with a staff member once at a church I served in who's from a different theological persuasion. And in his theological persuasion, celebration, Joy. Laughter That's what you that's, that's what you accentuated Jesus brought joy into your life, which I don't deny whatsoever. I like Joy. I'm all about it. Okay.
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 26:27
But it's one so far for him that he didn't like the season of Lent because one does not joy. And he particularly disliked Monday, Thursday, and Good Friday, they were too somber, too negative, and too much about death and dying and suffering. And he didn't even want to participate? Was I right? Or was he right? Which tradition is right? I can worship in either tradition, kind of. So now you're waiting. I'm going to step into this landmine because I don't have a job anymore. And you can't fire me. But hang on to your seat, Rob. So there's nothing in the world that has caused more angst in the church than church music and the transmission of church music. I've lived through the worship wars, I'm scarred I'm bruised. I've dodged bullets and HIV and AIDS, but I'm still alive. Okay. Some people really love what we call traditional music. The hymns that we sing are played by the organ and the piano. That's what I grew up with. That's what I live within the churches. I served for most of my life until about the mid-90s. But it was great. Some people, however, find the organ and the piano and that kind of music. You know, boring. They want more contemporary music. And it's a little bit like politics, we divide on one side or the other. And I've heard people say, drums have no they should never be on a platform, get rid of those things. That's disgusting. God doesn't want that there. And I'm going I didn't see that in the Bible. But okay. And others will say I can't worship if it's an organ or the piano is too boring for me. But if you seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, to strip away all the things that you like and don't like, and just realize that it's what you like and don't like, and it isn't God's preferred way of doing things. It can change everything, and you can worship anything. This morning, I had my request. On this one, we sang the song "Reckless Love." That song destroys me every time we sang it. And I'm sure that the Bode's were wondering if Rev is going to be able to preach his crying through this whole song. Especially the verse that says, "When I was your foe, steal your love have fought for me. You've been so so good to me. When I felt not worth anyone, when I didn't feel worthy, you paid it all from you gave your life. You said I was so worried that your son would die on the cross on my behalf. You've been so so kind to me." Wrecks me every time because that's my biography.
Peter Semeyn "Rev" 29:31
But I was equally moved by Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning. Well, not that early. It was 10. Early in the morning, early in the morning, our song will rise to thee; it isn't what I like or don't like. Isn't this tradition, or that tradition? It's about seeking first The Kingdom of God. John Calvin is right. The human heart is a factory of idols. But when we kneel and seek first the kingdom of God, everything changes. We pray with me, please. Thank you for who you are. Thank you that you are willing to put up with all of our idiosyncrasies. Do you really need to tolerate our idol worship? But you also give us the means to overcome it. We thank you, oh Lord, for Your overwhelming love and graciousness that we experienced every single day. May God bless us, everyone. Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai