Sermon for 4/30/2000--Sermon Series:
"Come, Meet the Lord of Life."Lord of Life Lutheran Church
Title: "The Lord of my past"
Text: John 21: 10-19
Introduction: Illus.: THE LIVED OUT REGRET OF SARAH WINCHESTER
Theme: For Jesus to be Lord and Savior of
my life, we must surrender the control and let him be the Lord of our past circumstances
so that he can deliver to us the peace of mind which only he can give to us.
If Jesus never rose from the dead and was the Lord of past sins. . .
If Jesus is the Lord of our past. . .
REMORSE
Sarah was rich. She had inherited twenty million dollars. Plus she had an additional income of one thousand dollars a day. That's a lot of money any day, but it was immense in the late 1800s.
Sarah was well known. She was the belle of New Haven, Connecticut. No social event was complete without her presence. No one hosted a party without inviting her.
Sarah was powerful. Her name and money would open almost any door in America. Colleges wanted her donations. Politicians clamored for her support. Organizations sought her endorsement. Sarah was rich. Well known. Powerful. And miserable.
Her only daughter had died at five weeks of age. Then her husband had passed away. She was left alone with her name, her money, her memories, ... and her guilt.
It was her guilt that caused her to move west. A passion for penance drove her to San Jose, California. Her yesterdays imprisoned her todays, and she yearned for freedom.
She bought an eight-room farmhouse plus one hundred sixty adjoining acres. She hired sixteen carpenters and put them to work. For the next thirty-eight years, craftsmen labored every day, twenty-four hours a day, to build a mansion.
Observers were intrigued by the project. Sarah's instructions were more than eccentric ... they were eerie. The design had a macabre touch. Each window was to have thirteen panes, each wall thirteen panels, each closet thirteen hooks, and each chandelier thirteen globes.
The floor plan was ghoulish. Corridors snaked randomly, some leading nowhere. One door opened to a blank wall, another to a fifty-foot drop. One set of stairs led to a ceiling that had no door. Trap doors. Secret passageways. Tunnels. This was no retirement home for Sarah's future; it was a castle for her past.
The making of this mysterious mansion only ended when Sarah died. The completed estate sprawled over six acres and had six kitchens, thirteen bathrooms, forty stairways, forty-seven fireplaces, fifty-two skylights, four hundred sixty-seven doors, ten thousand windows, one hundred sixty rooms, and a bell tower.
Why did Sarah want such a castle? Didn't she live alone? "Well, sort of," those acquainted with her story might answer. "There were the visitors..."And the visitors came each night.
Legend has it that every evening at midnight, a servant would pass through the secret labyrinth that led to the bell tower. He would ring the bell...to summon the spirits. Sarah would then enter the "blue room," a room reserved for her and her nocturnal guests. Together they would linger until 2:00 a.m., when the bell would be rung again. Sarah would return to her quarters; the ghosts would return to their graves.
Who comprised this legion of phantoms? Indians and soldiers killed on the U.S. frontier. They had all been killed by bullets from the most popular rifle in America -- the Winchester. What had brought millions of dollars to Sarah Winchester had brought death to them.
So she spent her remaining years in a castle of regret, providing a home for the dead.You can see this poltergeist place in San Jose, if you wish. You can tour its halls and see its remains.
But to see what unresolved guilt can do to a human being, you don't have to go to the Winchester mansion. Lives imprisoned by yesterday's guilt are in your own city. Hearts haunted by failure are in your own neighborhood. People plagued by pitfalls are just down the street .. or just down the hall.
There is, wrote Paul, a "worldly sorrow" that "brings death." A guilt that kills. A sorrow that's fatal. A venomous regret that's deadly.
How many Sarah Winchesters do you know? How far do you have to go to find a soul haunted by ghosts of the past? Maybe not very far. Maybe Sarah's story is your story. In the Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado Word Publishing, 1991 Page 193-195
PAST, living in
One man said to his friend: "Say, you look depressed.
What are you thinking about?"
"My future," was the quick answer.
"What makes it look so hopeless?"
"My past."
PAST, overcoming
Putting Your Past Behind You, E. Lutzer, Here's Life, 1990, p.13ff
I wish there were some wonderful place called the Land of
Beginning Again, Where all of our past mistakes and heartaches, And all of our poor
selfish grief, Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door And never be put on
again.
RESTORATION
J. Stuart Holden tells of an old Scottish mansion close to
where he had his little summer home. The walls of one room were filled with sketches made
by distinguished artists. The practice began after a pitcher of soda water was
accidentally spilled on a freshly decorated wall and left an unsightly stain. At the time,
a noted artist, Lord Landseer, was a guest in the house. One day when the family went out
to the moors, he stayed behind. With a few masterful strokes of a piece of charcoal, that
ugly spot became the outline of a beautiful waterfall, bordered by trees and wildlife. He
turned that disfigured wall into one of his most successful depictions of Highland life.
Swindoll, The Quest For Character, Multnomah, p. 49ff
John 21: 10-19
10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught." 11 Simon
Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even
with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have
breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew
it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with
the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was
raised from the dead. 15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
"Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes,
Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my
lambs." 16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He
answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of
my sheep." 17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love
me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love
me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus
said, "Feed my sheep. 18 I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed
yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands,
and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." 19 Jesus
said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to
him, "Follow me!"