Hidden Messages

SERMON: “Hidden Messages”
John 2:13-32
March 15, 2009 Dr. Dennis Ginoza

When our son Aaron was eight years old, we were
moving to a new church in San Fernando Valley.
The movers were unloading the truck and it was hectic
time. Aaron said, to me, “Dad, can we set up my bed?”
I said, “Aaron, we don’t need to, because we’re not
sleeping here tonight.” He said to me gain, “Dad, will you
put up my bed?.” I said, “We don’t need to.” So we didn’t.

Today, as I look back, I realize that I missed a hidden
message from our son Aaron. He was saying to me,
“My bed up is important to me, because it’s my security.”
What I learned that day is, I need to listen to the hidden
messages from our children. I really felt bad ‘cause I missed
the moment.

In the game of baseball we have hidden messages. On our
little league team our coach taught us that we need to stay
one step ahead of the other team. So we had a system of
signals. For hit and run, it means on the next pitch the
runner goes and the batter swings at the ball to hit it.
When the coach brushes his hand across the chest,
that means hit and run. But.. the play isn’t on until the
coach touches first the tip of his cap then runs his hand
across the chest. If he touches his chest,
or touches his ear first, then runs his hand across the chest,
the signal is not on. Only when he touches the tip of his
cap first, then runs his hand again his chest, then it’s on. The
other signal we had was for a squeeze play. A squeeze
play means, on the next pitch the runner from third breaks
for home and the batter has to bunt. The runner scores
and you win the game! All you need is one run ahead
of the other team to win. This coach made our team a
championship team.

In everything that we see and experience, there is a hidden
message. Some messages are really obvious and some
you have to dig for.

In John chapter 2, beginning with verse 13, Jesus went up to
the temple and he saw that they were selling cattle,
sheep, and doves. The money changers were at the tables.
In his anger, Jesus got a whip and drove them away. He said
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to them, “Stop making my Father’s house a den of thieves.”
The message here was obvious. The temple is a place of
worship, it is not a place for profit, it is not a market place.

Then the Jews asked him, “What sign can you show us for doing
this?” Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and in three days,
I will raise it up.” Now, this didn’t make sense. They said,
we’ve been building this temple for 46 years, no way
can anyone build this temple in three days.

But in this story, there was a hidden message. There were people
who didn’t know who Jesus was. This man is not just a man.
He is the one sent from God. When Jesus was at the river
Jordan and Jesus came to be baptized, John the Baptist recognized
him right away and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” This is the man
--he is the Messiah! Jesus was put to death and on the third he
rose again.

God for many of us is still a puzzle.
Yes, we say, we believe in God, but then we can’t see him.
So then, we eventually forget about God..
We turn our attention elsewhere, to ourselves.
So now we ask, what is in for me?
We become self occupied.
Whenever we live only for self,
we get caught in a life of doubt, and a life
without meaning.

I have here two horseshoes connected by two chains. Around
these chains are two rings. When I first saw this
puzzle and was told, “Can you get this ring off?” I
looked at it and said, “Impossible.” “No way!” Then
I started to play with it. Walla! I got it!

Several years ago, I was appointed to a church that was having
trouble. Like in most churches, problems are people
problems. It’s people not getting along. It’s pastor
and people bagging heads. It’s a faith and practice
problem. It’s a value problem, finance and stewardship
problem, not healing the hurts, theological differences,
one ego versus another ego, and it goes on and on. There
was one thing the superintendent told me. “Dennis,” he
said, “just love them.”


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Remember Peter. He was strong headed guy and he probably
was the oldest of the disciples. But, at times Peter didn’t
get it. –Just like some of us—
He denied Jesus three times. But when he got it, when
he saw the resurrected Christ, he finally understood that
everything Jesus said was true. In Christ everything
is made new.

After Pentecost, after the Holy Spirit filled the disciples
with power, Peter and John were going to the temple. It
was three o’clock in the afternoon. They met a man who
was lame and he was begging for alms. Peter looked at
him and said, “I have no silver and gold to give you, but
what I have I give; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
stand up and walk.” Peter reached out with his hand and
immediately, the man’s feet and ankles were made strong.

When I first began my ministry, I didn’t have a secretary or a
computer. We had a manual Gestetner machine. Then I got
a part-time secretary. In the next church, we didn’t have
a sanctuary. We met in the social hall. The third Sunday
I was there we had a ground breaking for the new sanctuary.
When I went to the next church, I found out that they were
not paying their apportionments. I asked the finance committee,
why aren’t you paying the apportionments. They said, they
were angry at the bishop and the conference, because they
had a bad pastorate. In the next church that I was appointed
to, there was a major building program and half the church
was in favor of it, the other half was not. Over 100 people
had left the church. Then I was appointed to Fallbrook—
and you know the rest of the story. In that church and in
every church I have served, it is the same problem. It is a
people problem. We cannot solve our problems alone. We
must rely on the invisible hand of God. We need to learn
to see the hidden messages.
Without God, we will be stuck in traffic. Without God we
become like cars at the intersection where there is no traffic
light and that’s a problem.

In all these years, I have learned that God does provide. the most
important thing is: We are here to build our inner
character. Our link to God is a spiritual link, soul to
soul and mind to mind. “Do you not know,” says Paul,
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“you are a temple of God?” Jesus teaches us that the
ruling principle of every thought, every idea, every
action, is love. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God.
Life does not stop on earth. Spiritual life is a continual
stream. It’s like a tapestry that goes on and on and on to
Infinity. In time and space and spirit, there is no barrier.

Let me explain. If you’ll just close your eyes for one moment,
your thoughts have no time barrier—remember when you
were 4, remember when you were 12, remember when
you were 18, remember when you were thirty,
remember when you were 50, remember when you were
70, remember when you were 90. One day someone will
say to you, remember when you were 120. Wouldn’t that
be neat?

I close with the words of Joseph Bayly who wrote
Psalms for My Life:

Lord of the compost heap
you take garbage
and turn it into good soil
for seeds to root
and grow
with wildest increase
flowers to bloom
with brilliant beauty.
Take all the garbage of
my life,
Lord of the compost heap,
turn it into good soil
and then plant seeds
to bring forth
fruit and beauty
in profusion.