Oak Hills Church, Folsom: Recent Episodes
Oak Hills Church, Folsom
Oak Hills Church in Folsom, CA presents weekly messages about the reality of God and a vision of life under His guidance and leadership
The point is that even in the midst of the hard, difficult, uncomfortable situations where we are having to wait through, we still have a job to do. We can still live true to our calling to be children of light no matter what the situations. Knowing that the time of waiting, this time of enduring discomfort is not just a meaningless waste, but that it will be redeemed.
If we don't acknowledge our privilege and wealth, we will forever be pursuing it. Because you see, there's never a number. There's never an amount where we say that's enough. And so, our lives become concerned with two main things: getting rich and staying rich. And neither of those two concerns has anything to do with the reality of the kingdom of God.
How much of this precious life, of what God is about in the here and now, do we miss because we plan and strive and worry and focus on the future?
Humility waits for God to notice, for God to reward, for God to lift up. So it is not concerned with self-lifting up, with self-promotion, and it is definitely not concerned with putting others down, especially not behind their backs.
The people of God, the church, every person who calls them self a Christian, needs desperately more than patriotism, more than social criticisms, more than political partisanship, and more than national fervor. We need to remember our first love, our first loyalty, our first priority. We need to remember that the way of Christ is a way of surrender.
To live well in today's world as Kingdom citizens we desperately need Gods wisdom. We need his heart. Think of all the issues that are just sitting at the tip of the tongue when we start talking about what's going on in the culture, what’s going on in the world. Think of all those issues probably racing through your mind right now, and here’s the thing, we desperately need Gods wisdom. We need his heart, his mind, his perspective, his priorities, as we navigate life and the issues in our world.
I want to talk about sacred silence in a real life situation. When conflict is on the rise, the moment is getting tense. Anger and defensiveness are rising. Hurtful words are loaded in the chamber. When the other is talking, they simply sound like Charlie Brown's teacher; wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, we hear sounds, but we're really not listening to them anymore. Right then, at that moment, a sacred silence is needed. A moment to pause, slow down, wait, be silent, even for just a few seconds. This moment is sacred. Why?
You are a teacher to someone. If God is just sort of an attachment to our lives, then let the free-for-all begin. But if he's our king, then he's our rabbi. He's our teacher and we're his student. So, our primary occupation, your primary occupation, if he's your king, our primary vocation, our primary career, if you will, regardless of what our job or career is, is to be a teacher of the kingdom through our example and our words in that order.
Faith is not a wish and there is really no such thing as blind faith in the Christian perspective. Faith is not a theoretical or intellectual ascent. It is confidence that God is king.
"There are things in this world that are not the way they are supposed to be, and they are not how God would want them to be, and genuine faith in God, according to James, compels those who have such genuine faith to do something about the brokenness that is in the world...
"Now, God can make crushed gravel into orange chicken if he wants to. He can turn grass clippings into clothing if he wants to. But his preference, his plan, is to meet needs through faith-filled people who act on their faith. See, faith that offers little more than sanctified slogans, faith that sits quietly and benignly in our heads, faith that does not inspire the hands and feet to do something in response, is what James calls, "dead faith.""
"Mercy doesn't replace judgment. It reframes judgment. Mercy says—while hanging on a cross—forgive them, because they don't know what they're doing. See, this is the way of the Kingdom. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Mercy doesn't replace judgment, mercy reframes judgment. We model Jesus and His Way when we're agents of mercy in an increasingly judgmental world where the people judging are certain their judgments are correct. Mercy reframes judgment, and God help us, the world needs a huge dose of mercy that reframes our judgment."
There are plenty of vulnerable and hurting people who not only do not believe in God or follow him, they make choices that go against him and his ways. I'm asking if you believe that there are vulnerable people crossing our paths whose vulnerability is because of their choices. What do we do then?
Being Saved means much more than going to heaven when you die. When the New Testament writers speak about being saved, they’re referring to being rescued or freed from the penalty, the presence, and the power of sin. While there’s a past component of being saved which was accomplished and done in the death and resurrection of Jesus and there is a future component of being saved which we are looking forward to in spending eternity with Jesus and God for all eternity. There is a present part of being saved which is still very much in process. This is what James is referring to when he says in James1:21, the Word that can save you. God has spoken us into new life, new creation by the Word of Truth, the Gospel. That word is planted in us like a seed and can have the effect of freeing us from the power and presence and penalty of sin in our life, but only if we do not merely listen to the Word of Truth, the Gospel, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Do what the Gospel says.
Listening helps develop curiosity. It also puts us in this posture of wondering rather than assuming that we know. It's one of the most stressful things in the world when we believe that we can read other people's minds. Have you ever noticed that?
The Christian narrative provides a grand and sustaining vision through the difficulties that we face in life. It's not that we pretend to be joyful and then minimize the heartache as though it is irrelevant, but rather to walk with God through the difficulty and ask him to redeem the heartache by reframing it in a kingdom perspective.
In every single one of us, whether we realize it or not, there is a desire for something higher, wider, and deeper than anything this life offers. And every now and then if we listen, if we tune in, we might notice it rumbling. We might notice it rustling somewhere deep within us.
It's really hard to look at the world without wanting God to handle certain things in a certain way. We want God to make it easier for us to believe in him. We want him to help the hurting. We want him to eradicate evil. I mean, who wouldn't want to do that? We want him to protect children. What sort of God would not want to protect children 110% of the time? We want him to do away with homelessness. We want him to eliminate suffering. We want him to answer our prayers the way we want them to be answered. We want to be happy. What's wrong with that? And God disappoints because ultimately his ways are not our ways.
Another significant chapter in Israel's history occurred when the Babylonians conquered Israel in 586 BC. After that happened, thousands of Jewish people were deported from Israel to what is today Iraq. And there they lived for 70 years as exiles. Exile is a description of God's people throughout history. I am an exile. Living in a context where God's kingdom and ways were not being upheld by the government or empire that was in charge. Jesus was born a Jew, and he spent his entire life surrounded by signs and symbols reminding him that the empire of Rome was in charge. That's why his message that the kingdom of God had come near was so politically charged and problematic because it directly challenged the empire.
While the anonymous woman in our story, perhaps part by personality, but certainly influenced by her life circumstances, had learned to live in the way of passivity, to avoid, to hide. Don't make any noise, just blend in. She sneaks up from behind Jesus, reaches out and touches his coat and then hightails it out of there. And I would suggest her way and her approach has much to say to those of us who gravitate toward the way of passivity.
The danger in religion comes when our confidence, when our faith is transferred from the God with whom we are trying to connect and become centered on the various beliefs and practices and rituals essentially the “rules” of our religion. Because, you see, ultimately the rules of our religion have absolutely no power to do anything for us.
This is how othering happens. See them, hear them, think about them, label them, see it, hear it, and an inner dialogue starts to grow in the soil of our minds that is watered and fertilized by our favorite media source. And as we process and sift and sort, often with only ourselves or with those who happen to share our perspective, we draw conclusions without ever having to engage with the person or persons about whom we're drawing the conclusions. We just write out the label, slap it on them, and go on our way. The lazy sin of labeling.
Our King Jesus is the almighty ruler of the universe. And our strength is not the physical power of this world. But our strength is in the invisible, untamable power of God who is working his plan, his way to save the world.
If new creation has any chance of reshaping and remaking us, then we have to do the hard work of listening. And here's the thing. If we are listening to Jesus, we are going to be rattled now and then. Our way is going to be out of alignment with his way now and then. And then we have to choose who to follow. From Luke 6, let me just rattle it off. Love enemies. Pray for those who mistreat you. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Refuse to use violence to get back at those who've used violence against you. Help the hurting. Be kind to those who are not grateful for your kindness. Be merciful. Judge yourself. Forgive. Let me say this in case it's not obvious yet. New Creation Living is not exclusively owned by any of our political parties. A Christian's priority is their citizenship in God's kingdom.
Children intuitively know that this world is amazing and amazing things happen in it all the time. Even kids in tough circumstances, any of you who's ever been around a kid going through a really, really hard time, they still know, and they will instinctively default to celebrating the goodness of this world. They feel called to it. It's like an obligation. They see this celebration as the work to which they have been called. Just a little side note on the on the child in my house that decided to dig the holes in the middle of the grass. Before the whole digging hole event thing, my wife had actually come to this child and asked this child, "Would you like to go to Chick-fil-A and celebrate the grand reopening of Chick-fil-A?" To which the child responded, "No." And I quote, "Because he had a lot of work to do.” Referring of course to this project of digging holes just for the sheer joy of digging holes.
Without identity restoration, rebuilding, we cannot have reconciliation with our brothers and sisters. And our reconciliation happens when we encounter the ultimate other of humanity, that becomes a human being, that is Jesus. And when we encounter Jesus and our identity changed and transformed, we're able to relate to others in a different way.
This idea when Jesus envisioned his people, his family, he designed it so that each member would need each other. It's the picture that we get from this passage that we read at the beginning of the message. This one body with many parts, each with its own role to play, each with its own ability to make contributions. And it's a great analogy because when of course you think about the parts of your body, literally there is no part that can survive on its own without the others. And literally any part of the body that is removed the whole body feels it. Even the appendix, you take it out, you're going to feel it. Which once again, nothing in our culture prepares us for that. Nothing in our Culture shapes us or forms us or trains us for this. Almost everything in our Culture is working to make us more independent, right? So much so that the suggestion that we should be in a place where we depend on others for anything, actually almost feels wrong, doesn't it?
Our current series is called practicing faith because faith works like a piano. We practice it. It slowly gets into us, and we are gradually trained in how to live with and live under God with increasing trust and confidence in him. But if we don't practice it, it sits there maybe in some way part of us but not a shaping part of us. And yet faith is not meant to be a decoration. Faith is meant to be played. It's meant to be lived.
Prayer begins with his daughters and sons interacting with Their very good Father, being with their very good Father. Imagine if all we did this week, in these in between times is go back to this prayer. And I would encourage this for some of you, if all we did was pray the opening line, “Our Father in heaven”. Our Father, good and loving Father who is right here and right now with me as I go into Raley’s, with me as I search for Buzz and Woody, with me as I do whatever I'm doing. It might surprise some of us how prayer might start to move from being a bore toward being something like a meaningful relationship.
And so in our life of faith in Jesus, we have a similar choice to make as we did with the hypothetical violin. And if you're not into music, then picture getting a brand new set of golf clubs or a pair of snow skis or a new air fryer or whatever it is that captures that sense of new that goes, "Oh, wow. That'd be cool." Right? But we have the choice to make whether we are going to just pack this new life in Jesus that we've received, put it in a box marked religious stuff, and stuff it up in the closet, or are we going to learn how to live it?
There's just something about love that feels too overwhelming, feels too vulnerable. It feels too simple, too easy. It feels even too good to be true. But if we do let it in, even just a little, it becomes the truth that gives us hope, that brings us peace, that fills us with mega joy. Just the fact that God loves us makes even the hardest things in life filled with light. But we, you and I, have to let it in. We have to allow it to count. We have to live in light of its truth. God has done everything. Not just Christmas, but literally everything that he has ever done. God has done it all out of love. But it is up to us to notice. It's up to us to believe it, to accept it, and let it transform our life.
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase the God of the Bible? What's the demeanor of the God who lives in your head? How does he feel about this world? Maybe more personally, how does he feel about you? Don't polish it up. Don't pretty it up when you think, "What does God think about me? How does God feel about me? Does God think about me? Does God feel anything for me?" If you could see his face and survive, what would his face tell you about how he feels about you? What expression is on his face at the mention of your name? Mad, disappointed, frustrated, pity. What emoji would God use when he hears your name; headshake, eye roll, laughter, frown. What adjectives immediately come to your mind when you hear the word God; maybe some of these: holy, distant, righteous, weak, annular, just, powerful, cheery, sinister, impotent, gracious, loving, kind. Question, how about joyous? Is that on the list? Does he laugh? Does his head, if he has a head, throw back when he laughs hard? Does he delight? Does God delight? Does God ever look upon the world? Does God ever look upon the oceans with some measure of, that was a good day. I delight in that. When he sees his cosmic masterpieces, and we've named only a few of them, but when he sees his cosmic masterpieces, is he bored by them now? Has he gotten tired of them? Is your God joyous? Is my God joyous?
Jesus incarnated the way of shalom. He taught us about it. He showed us what it does and how it drastically differs from the ways of this world. See, in the way of shalom, in the way of peace, people love their enemies. They confront violence with love. In the way of shalom, the strong care for the weak. The forgotten are included. The marginalized are valued. The poor are fed. Power is used for good. Reconciliation and restoration replace division and discord. Forgiveness instead of payback. Hope instead of despair. Humility in place of pride, gentleness instead of anger. On and on and on we could go. The Sermon on the Mount is the way of shalom.
May this God of hope help us be lanterns of hope, in the world that we live, in the circumstances we are in, with the people we interact with as we go through Advent, that we may be lanterns of hope. That we may be people whose words and lives and attitudes and actions convey to a hurting world that there is hope and his name is Jesus. And this hope is there no matter what we're facing, no matter what is happening in our world or in our nation, no matter how fragile things are, no matter how disoriented the world is, that we might be lanterns of overflowing hope in this hope starved world.
The step to take here is not to try to forget. The step here is not to try not to remember the event. To not remember what that person said or did to you. The step here is to simply forgive, again. You see forgiveness is more than just a singular event. A one-time thing we got through. Forgiveness is more of a posture. More of a perspective that we take on a particular event or towards a person. Where every time we remember the event. Every time it comes to mind and all the feelings around it come again. Every time we’re faced again with this decision either to demand that that person pay for what they did, or we choose once again to forgive. And not just that time but every time. Until eventually yes, you get so used to having this posture of forgiveness towards that person or towards that situation. That the event no longer stirs up feelings of anger or animosity. You see forgiveness is not a onetime set it and forget it thing that we do. It is a posture that we live in every day.
So you're in the pool and you got a beach ball and it's full of air and you know, so obviously, in in our little example here, the air is our anger, right? So, you’re trying to keep anger under the water. You all can kind of picture what that would feel like. And we spend so much time in life like trying to keep the beach ball under the water, trying to keep our anger from, you know, popping up and showing itself. And you do that, but anybody who's ever tried to keep a beach ball under the water knows that eventually it's impossible to do because eventually, you know, it pops up and there's your anger out there for all to see. Unless, of course, you get rid of all kinds of anger, which in our little example would be to let the air out of the beach ball, right? Because you let the air out of the beach ball, well, it's not going to pop up anymore, right? Which is great. Now it stays under the water. The only thing is that all the pressure around you is still there. All the things that caused your anger to want to pop up, they're still there. And now that you don't have any anger in you, what are you supposed to do? Are you just supposed to live like a shriveled up beach ball?
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.” Ephesians 4:31 Today’s verse is about pivoting away from whatever degree of anger is in us, whatever form it takes, whatever level it’s at, toward a new Kingdom way of being, responding, reacting that is far more beautiful and good. Today is about the action that you and I can take to open a space for the Holy Spirit and to start transforming the anger within us.
Life in the kingdom of God is not a life of just not saying unwholesome things, but of saying things that spread God's grace out into the world.
Ultimately, work is not about how much money it brings into us. It is about how much of us we put into what we do. See, ultimately our work is not about earning our own living. Our work is not about us being able to achieve comfort and self-sufficiency for us and for our family. Our work is not a way to establish our status in society. Our work, us doing something useful with our own hands, according to this passage, is about having something to share with others. Paul writes, "Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with their own hands that they may have something to share with those in need.” - Ephesians 4:28
When you think of anger, where is it in you? How does it show itself? And maybe the most important question of all, what is the story behind your anger? Do you know it? Does anyone who loves Jesus and is near you know it?
One reason why the people of God are called to be mature is because our vocation, yours and mine in this world, is to be Jesus's representatives. To demonstrate the goodness of his way to proclaim the gospel, through our deeds and words, to show the world what it looks like to love God and to love others.
Jesus is our model for attitude, and behavior, and perspective, and concepts. You see, only Jesus, is the whole package. Only Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. If we want to have life, real life, where we don’t just pick and choose aspects of Jesus to incorporate. We don’t pick his death for our sins so that we can get to heaven when we die. We don’t just pick his teachings as pithy words of comfort. We don’t just have him as a friend to keep us company and to keep us from being lonely. We don’t just have him as a champion for our causes, whatever our cause may be. If we want to have life we must learn the Jesus way of life. We must enroll in the school of Jesus. Where Jesus himself is the teacher. Jesus himself is the subject. And Jesus himself is the ultimate standard of truth, but it’s all of him and we have to choose him. Pick a situation that you are in; maybe something that is troubling you, maybe a decision you’re having to make, maybe a place you find yourself in and ask yourself the question, am I allowing Jesus to teach me how to handle this? Do I want Jesus to teach me how to handle this?
The Bible describes a hard-hearted person in Matthew 13:15, This is Jesus speaking, “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes."I have just an observation, you can decide it's not true, but to me it has been. The longer we are Christians, the more certain we become, the more we nurture anger and think it righteous, the higher our risk of becoming hard hearted. And throughout the Bible Gods people have often had the hardest hearts.
Did God really say you can't do this, or you can't do that? This kind of thought gets in our minds and then we nurture the thought. We cultivate the thought and so begins the process of eventually firing God and replacing him with me, ourselves, and off the rails we go to live happily ever after, or maybe not. So let me just bring this down to us again. I want to keep warning us to not let this stir up in us anger with finger pointed to some group out there, that is absolutely fruitless, if not outright uncchristian.The thing for us to do is draw this onto ourselves.So let me show you what I mean. I am at the center of futile thinking. At the center of futile thinking, in other words, is the me and everything the me wants. I want to do what I want to do. I know best. I think this is good. I think that is right. I want to do whatever I feel like doing. What's true for me is true for me, even if it's not actually true. If I think it's true or want it to be true or think it should be true, then it is true enough for me even if it is not objectively or actually true according to reality as established by God. And if all of this is starting to sound just a tad bit absurd, then I am communicating very clearly because it is.
The politics of the world matters; right, left, Democrat, Republican, conservative, progressive. But the church is a community of those whose first identity is who they are in the Trinity and to the Trinity. So, our first passion and first agenda and first focus is not right, left, progressive, conservative, Democrat, Republican. It is kingdom. It is the way of Jesus. Ephesians 4 and verse 15, “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”
Immaturity is one of the glaring problems facing the church in our country right now. Immaturity. Christian immaturity. Christians acting immature. There are far too many who claim to be Christian, standing in their highchairs with nothing on but a diaper, demanding dessert right here and right now. Christians who have not and are not, allowing the gospel to penetrate their pathologies and transform them into a new person who increasingly thinks, feels, acts, reacts, chooses, and responds the way Jesus would if he were in their shoes and in their situation.
You see, whether we realize it or not, we are all living a story. I know some of you in your mind, are in your head just saying, "No, I'm not. I live in the real world.” But you see the real world is a story. The real the real world is a series of connected events and actions by significant characters that are leading to a particular end. You are living a story. The question is, which story are you living? Is it a fantasy? One that you made up in your head? One that requires you to ignore truth and be blind to the realities around you? Or is it the story that makes sense of reality as it is? Is it the story of God?
Jesus comes though not to abolish the tedium of God's laws, but to actually live them out, to show us what a life lived by God's system under God's government looks like. And not only that, he teaches us the details of how with God's ongoing help, we can live that way.
If I were to give you two words for the role of the prophets, they would be, WAKE UP! Remember, they were a people who were to represent the way of God, the alternative to the systems and cultures of the world, but they like us, continue to believe that their ways were somehow better than God's ways. And as we see not just in the Bible, but in both the world without and our worlds within, the way we live comes with consequences.
Maybe the choices that you've made have screwed up your life. Maybe they've screwed up the lives of others. But regardless of which mistakes that you are carrying today or maybe even running from today, the mistakes that we're trying to ignore, the the mistakes that we're trying to avoid, the good news of the story of the kings of Israel is that no matter how bad the mistake, no matter how poor the decision, no matter how far you or I fall. God does not give up on you. He does not give up on his plans for you. He does not give up on his plans of bringing good into your life. If we would just turn, if we would just change our mind, if we would repent from our rebellion against him and allow him to be the actual king of our life.
The story continues to unfold today as it has for thousands of years. God is creating a community that identifies as God's people and they and he interact, relate, and work together toward the fulfillment of his purposes; land, people, God, place, heaven, earth, co-mingling, interacting, intersecting, roots being set down, and all of this adding up to this demonstration to the world. This is who God is, and this is what life can be like under him. See, this is what church means, what I'm describing. This is what church is. And this is why church matters.
Our service on Sunday was a deep breath from the day-to-day crazy of our lives. Pastor Mike encouraged us to sit in this idea that God's invitation to you to follow him, to trust him, to live in his ways, is immense. It covers quite literally everything.” “The one who loves fulfills the law.” - Romans 13:18 Please use this link from The Bible Project to add context to The Never Ending Story: Law message from Sunday.
In Exodus 14:13, Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance that the Lord will bring you today. These Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still. You need only to be still.”
Was it Abraham and Sarah's choices that made a nation, a people, a world where a poor teenage Judean girl could answer an angel? Yes, I am the Lord's slave. May it be to me according to your word. Or was it all God acting, directing, intervening? Yes. And yes, God has willed and designed his creation to be partnership. That is something we have to reckon with every day. A covenant includes two parties and that's the world you live in. The story you've received that is not yet finished, that has come and is coming. And the fulcrum of righteousness is partnership, and trust, and passivity is never an option.
What is church about? Why does it matter? Does it matter? What are we attempting to communicate? What are we attempting to say to one another? What are we attempting to say to ourselves? And what are we attempting to say and demonstrate to a hurting world? There is no one like our God!
But when you think about it for a second, you think about what would have to be true about the world for us all to be walking around naked and feel no shame. What would have to be true about the world? What would have to be true about us for us to live unguarded, unshielded, fully transparent lives with each other? Well it would have to be a world where we were not a threat to each other, where we weren't always trying to manipulate and control each other. It would have to be a world of honor. A world of respect. A world of truth and humility. Not to mention, of course, it would have to be a world with really good weather and completely free of mosquitoes. And when you think about it, you realize that it is actually the perfect phrase to encapsulate the storyteller's opening scene of how God created a world that works. A world of harmony. A world of flourishing. A world where everything is as it should be. In short, it is the perfect phrase to describe this state of being that the biblical authors refer to as shalom, peace, universal flourishing, the way things ought to be.
We never outgrow the need for story. Yet we think we do, don't we? Especially when it comes to this book, we call the Bible. We have made it into a book of rules, rights and wrongs, and dos and don'ts. And yes, there are some rules that teach us how life works best, but if that is what the Bible is to us, we have missed the point altogether. We have made it into a book of character studies and history lessons or facts to be clung to and mastered. A book to be analyzed, dissected, and studied, and these have their place, but again, the Bible is not a textbook to be mastered.
“This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” – John 21:24-25In the last two verses of John's gospel that I just read, John says in effect, I saw all of what I just wrote happen, and I wrote some of it down, and if every one of the things that Jesus did were written down there would not be enough room for all the books that would be written…Just think about what he's saying, my testimony is true, I saw it, I witnessed a lot of this, and if all that had been witnessed, or all that Jesus has ever done, would have been recorded in a book there aren't enough books in the world to record it all. See, he is pointing to Jesus not only as the rabbi he walked and talked with for three years. As a disciple, he's pointing to the Jesus of John 1:1 who, as it says, “In the beginning, the very beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He's pointing to Jesus as the One.
Inhale the victory of the cross and exhale the power of the resurrection. Maybe that gives us something in the thick of the suffering, down deep in the valley of suffering. Inhale the victory of the cross. Exhale the power of the resurrection. This is the way of the Christ follower.And you know what strikes me in all this, as we reflect on this. What strikes me is that this is another one of those occasions where we begin to realize, or we realize again, the business of following Jesus or of living Christian is not some nice idea. It's not a paper transaction to avoid hell. It's not a religious distraction to pretend things are better than they are. Rather, the business of following Jesus and living Christian touches our real lives in every way. It is intensely and immensely practical. It's actually, the center of our lives. It reshapes us. It reorients us and reframes everything around us, including, believe it or not, the valley of suffering.
See, back in the beginning, when this whole thing started, Peter had gotten into this Jesus thing with the idea, with the dream of changing the world. Jesus comes and calls Peter with the promise, “Follow me, I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus had called him to serve, and for a while, Peter had been at the very center of the action. Life change was happening all around him. Miracles were happening. He was right there. Then he screwed up. Then he failed. And it is the question that haunts everyone who has ever failed. Is this the one? Is this the one that gets me benched? Is this the one that takes me out of the game, that relegates me to a spectator in the Kingdom of God, that sends me to the sidelines?
Friendships can be hard; that's just the simple point, they can be hard. We let each other down, we disappoint, we don't come through, we don't show up, we fail as friends, and some of our friends have failed us. And so, friendships in the real world will usually be a mixture of the good and the beautiful and the hard and the painful, but the resurrected Jesus, just by way of vision, models friendship that perseveres through the failure with grace and with the desire to reconcile.
Every person that professes to be a follower of Jesus Christ has a vocation and that vocation is bigger, more important, and more of a priority than our jobs or our careers. This vocation actually encompasses any job or career or trade or roll. This vocation is essentially the same for every single person who follows Jesus. Whether our work is to pick up trash at the park, lead a fortune 100 company, raise our children, or study chemistry. The word vocation comes from the Latin word, vocare, which means call. In the Christian context it means this, what has God called me to be and do?
I believe Dallas Willard used to say, “a good practice was to doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs”; doubt your doubts, believe your beliefs. And when we stay immersed in Christian community, even in the midst of our doubts, that's a good way to do that. Because of course, by staying in community, right, the next time Jesus shows up, Thomas was there, and he was able to encounter the risen Christ. And when he did, he was willing to be wrong. When he sees Jesus, he bows at his feet and declares him "My Lord and my God." No doubt about it, I think if we're honest, we'd have to admit that sometimes we get stuck in our doubts because we don't want the humiliation of having to say, "I was wrong." Sometimes it's just safer to say, "I don't believe."
Part one, thinking it was the gardener, just another day, just another person, just a thing. Part two, she hears her name, he calls her name. And part three, she turned toward him. This kind of just walks right out the door with us on any given Monday. Outbreaks of God’s presence and activity in the ordinary of our lives anytime, anywhere. See a God who can return from the dead can rather easily handle something so pedestrian as omnipresence; present and active everywhere. So, we can encounter him anytime, anywhere if we are attentive. If we are listening. If we have eyes that see and ears that hear. If we’re present in the moments of our lives rather than being behind them or ahead of them, if we’re open to it.
You see God's plan, His vision, is and always has been, to prepare a people for himself in the midst of whom he can dwell. Every aspect of our character, our spiritual formation if you will, contributes to that ultimate goal, that ultimate vision. Jesus is planning on riding through the gates of your life. So ,your renovation matters. Not just be cause it makes your life better. Not just because it benefits the people around you. It matters because you are a part of God's city, God's temple, God's people God's kingdom, that He is building for all eternity. So, when you work to develop a deeper prayer life it matters for God's Eternal Kingdom. When you work on getting deeper into community or being reshaped by the word, it matters for God's Eternal Kingdom. When you seek to make every aspect of your life an act of worship doing everything in the name of Jesus for the glory of God, it matters for God's Eternal Kingdom. When you care for the vulnerable, put others first, learn to see the world through the eyes of a child, make space in your life for others, be meek, and humble in spirit, celebrate with joy, interact with goodness, and kindness, and gentleness. Whatever renovation that you feel God calling you into, you can be sure it's not just for your benefit. It's a part of God's grand vision for his Eternal Kingdom, that he might dwell with his people, for all eternity. That's what the renovation is all about.
In Luke chapter 10, Jesus sends out his disciples on a short-term mission trip. As they go out and experience God working through them, and they come back. They come back Luke says, “full of joy”, because of what they had experienced. God working through them. And so, then they tell Jesus about their trip. And you know what their story about their trip generated in Jesus? If filled Jesus with joy. Jesus already knew what was going to happen and still just hearing about what God was doing, fills Jesus full of joy. This is why the celebrations of the church are all about telling the story of what God has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. Our gatherings on Sunday, our weekly celebrations, are about telling God's story.
God is at work behind the scenes of everyday life stuff, but his name is rarely mentioned. He's working, through all these things. Kind of behind the scenes. So, then we come to the crux of the matter, in verses 16-18, but Ruth replied don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you in me. When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. That's the courageous action that unlocks and unleashes all kinds of Kingdom goodness. And throughout the Bible people come to a crossroads where one path is the clear winner. It makes the most sense. It's the obvious choice. But the person makes an unexpected move. They choose the unexpected path. They courageously act for God's sake and for the good of the Kingdom, even though in practical terms it doesn't seem to make sense.
See, when we come to worship that is a very different thing than going to church. Coming to worship is categorically different than going to church. Because when we come to worship, we come thinking about the offering we are going to give. We come ready to do the work of worship. We come ready to pour out our hearts and our minds and our emotions in adoration and praise to our beautiful King with our brothers and with our sisters. We come and we are willing to risk vulnerability for God's sake and each other's sake. And when this happens, when we come in this mindset, you can try this out, but when we start to come in this mindset, I promise you this worship gathering will change in ways that I am incapable of describing.
Prayer may be the most important practice for co-operating with God as he tenderly pulls up the old carpet in our lives and installs his new creation version. But the triggers around prayer are real. I have a bunch of them myself. You may as well. Prayer may be the most important practice, but in some ways it is also the most challenging and the most confusing. It is challenging, we might say, because it is so confusing. Prayer can be so challenging and confusing that our prayer life sometimes becomes part of the old carpet of our lives, meaning our prayers become rote; somewhat meaningless, boring. We think of prayer as a duty lacking much delight and in either the front or in the back of our minds, prayer raises hard questions for which there does not seem to be very many satisfying answers. Questions like, if God knows everything already and knows what is going to happen, why in the world does prayer even matter? Or, if prayer is so powerful then why do so many prayed for people suffer and get sick and die instead of being healed? There are dozens of these graduate-level questions and there's not too many of them that have an easy answer or any answer. So like most things in life, and most things in the life of faith, prayer is a thousand-piece puzzle.
Paul commands us to not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Because then we will be able to discern God's good pleasing and perfect will. And I do not believe it is possible to resist conforming or to be transformed or have our mind renewed or discern God's will unless we are regularly and consistently interacting with the Bible in ways that shape our inner core in the way of New Creation. If we are not consistently engaging with scripture and being shaped by it then inner transformation is a pipe dream and the renewal of our mind just ain't going to happen.
This is America, where we are free to actually arrange our own gatherings, our own dinners. It’s a constitutional right. You can do it. There’s opportunity for you to connect with folks during the week, on your own. But whatever form it takes there’s just no way to effectively love one another or any of the other one another’s, in theory, or in general, you know from a distance. So maybe for you renewal or renovation or tearing out the carpet in this area of one another for you might mean that you need to show up. That you need to make yourself known. Contact Ashley and let her know you’re interested in a small group. You need to commit to coming to church on Sunday, not just anonymously ducking in and out but expectantly. Praying to the Holy Spirit that he might direct you to someone who needs “one anothering” today. Maybe you need to commit to serving with our children or our youth or our impact or hospitality teams. A place where you can be on mission with others. Maybe you need to pick up the phone and grab dinner with someone you haven’t connected with in a while. Or maybe even with someone that you just met last week. You see it’s really easy to look at our interactions and say, “aaah, we’re just to shallow, it’s just too shallow. They need to go deeper," and you’re right, they do. Here’s the thing, the only way to get to the deep end is through the shallow end. Standing outside the pool only ensures you’ll never get wet.
“In a word, what I'm saying is, grow up. Your kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” ~ Matthew 5:48 MSGThe other day I was walking through this room. No one was here, and I was on my way to that kitchen right there to see if anyone had recently had a meeting where there were more sandwiches than people. And as I strolled in here on a food finding mission, it occurred to me that pretty soon people will be in here, slicing, and cutting, and pulling, and tugging, and prying up, this old carpet. And it might come up easily or the years of foot traffic, and basketball games, and chair legs, might mean the glue underneath the carpet hangs on for dear life. And the challenge of getting this up and out might be extreme. And then this thought, just jumped into my head, where is their old carpet in me that God wants to replace? Where is there a door in the building, that is me, that needs new paint, a chair that needs softer cushions, or some other aspect of my interior world that the Holy Spirit wants my permission to renovate and my cooperation on the project? I mentioned earlier the importance of eyes that see, ears that hear, and hearts that are open to what God might want to say and do in us. My experience in my Christian journey and my experience as a pastor suggests that it is most wise for you and me to assume we don't have eyes that see, ears that hear, or hearts that are open, and I realize that's harsh, but I think it's true.
It’d be a lot easier if we all pulled the same lever, just a lot easier. I'll trade that in any day of the week. There's only one problem, if you have that you don't have the church you've got a group, you've got a click, you've got a hobby club, but you don't have the church. Because, the church by definition is this mess of messy people all over the map going, we're coming to be this, the table holds us together. Jesus Christ is King. We're going to orient to that and we're going to trust that the bond we have in Jesus being King is bigger than our differences. That's the plan. We're held together because we believe Jesus is bigger than our differences. Unity in our differences points to God's power.Pastor Mike Lueken finishes up our "Send Me" series with an interview with Shawn Young who shares how we can recharge and refuel as we go out into the world on mission together for God.
“Our life together as the community of followers of Jesus is the most powerful proclamation of Jesus we can make” ~ Mike LuekenFor people to hear that proclamation they have to be invited in. And so, Jesus sends us out to be hosts, to practice hospitality. The practice of hospitality has been one of the most foundational practices of the church since the beginning, two thousand years ago. All throughout the New Testament, over and over, we are told we are commanded to offer hospitality. In addition to that, we know from the history of the first centuries of the church that hospitality was a mark of the early Christians where they welcomed people into their homes, they cared for them regardless of who they were or whether or not they could pay them back. And while hospitality and practice can take many forms and shapes at its core, hospitality is a spiritual posture. It is an attitude. Hospitality is the posture of making room for the outsider whether this is in our homes, in our work places, in our social circles, in our church community. To practice hospitality is to assume responsibility for the care of the guest. To make sure they feel at home and have what they need. Really it is the spiritual act of adoption. Even if only for a short time so that the guest feels like part of the family. And when we open up space in our Christian community for those who do not know Jesus, they are able to experience the reality of Jesus and not just hear about it. And for a world that is reluctant to talk about Jesus, creating spaces where they can experience it, is essential.
The Bible tells us that God deeply cares for people. He wants none to perish. He wants all to know him and live with him; rulers of Rome, thieves on the brink of their own death, Roman guards, Jewish peasants, the blind, the rich, the sick, the powerful, the person you named when we started. None is too far gone. No one is outside God's loving reach. His heart breaks for those who want nothing to do with him. One day his judgment will come in its full expression. He waits because he wants people to turn to him and his plan A is to send you and to send me to be guests who demonstrate the beauty of the Kingdom.
What better way to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus, who changes lives, than to have people in our life actually see Jesus transform us. Actually, see Jesus transform our character. I mean imagine when the people to whom I have been sent notice that where I used to be consumed by worry there actually now is peace. When the people who could see my addiction to work, my addiction to performance, and success, all of a sudden experience me being free from that. Imagine the power of the people in our lives, who have known us to gossip, or be judgmental of others, finding us being, I don't know, encouraging, thinking the best of others. You get the picture right? I mean this is how awesome the redeeming power of Jesus is. That when we continue in an ongoing process of transformation. When we allow him to do his transforming work in us. Even the rough edges, even the blatant cracks in our character, can be used to declare the praises of him who brought us out of darkness and into his glorious light. So, what comes to mind for you? What has the Holy Spirit been stirring in you during this message?Is there an area in your life that is getting in the way of you proclaiming Jesus?
Paul writes, "and so it was with me brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power." - 1 Corinthinas 2:1-5Paul, here in this passage, is writing to his friends in Corinth at the church that he started there. And he's reminding them about the very clear, focused purpose that he had when he went there. I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Which when you think about it, realistically, is an astounding statement. Corinth, we know from history, was a pretty spiritually derelict city. Paul would have had any number of Shalom-destroying issues to talk about when he goes there. Anything from slavery to temple prostitution, to pagan witchcraft and worship, to economic injustice, to ethnic discrimination. There was a lot of Ten Commandment breaking going on in Corinth in those days.Along with that, of course, we could imagine there was the humanitarian crisis that was typical to any City in the Roman Empire; the poor, the sick, the widows, the orphans. And yet, Paul characterizes his focus, his mission, in the city, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Of all the things he could have been talking about, of all the problems he could have been addressing, Paul, was laser-focused on this singular message, Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. Why?
It's the picture my friend sent me of the flames at the end of his street, that keep me up at night. And again, this is not just the case for the people that I know in Southern California. It is the case for people everywhere, all around the world, all the time. Every major catastrophe, every downward trend, every systemic issue in the world from human trafficking to racism, to road rage, to sickness, and economic uncertainty. All of them are made up of individual people, with individual lives, individual experiences, individual circumstances, and they are in in trouble. And it's not just the people in the crises that are being covered in the news either.Turn off the radio close your laptop and simply scroll through the images in your mind of the people you know, the real people. The person in the house next to you. The person you sit with on the sidelines of your kids’ games. The people in your class in the cubicle next to you, or on the other side of the zoom call. Even those in your own house. An honest look at their lives would reveal trouble and devastation that though unseen on the outside, if we could see inside, we'd see it burning at the same rate and heat as the center of the hottest wildfire. An honest look at the people that we interact with every day, would find them harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. To borrow Matthew's words, and the question in all our minds at this point, is does God even care? He sees the destruction. He sees the pain. He sees the fear. He knows the stress. The anxiety pulsing through the psyche of our friends, of our family, but does he care?
Epiphany sets in front of us the reality that Jesus Christ claims to be King of everything, and everywhere, and every person, and every moment. And all of His truth, goodness, holiness, righteousness, love, mercy, grace and beauty saturates every square inch of His reign. That’s just a really good reminder to savor and soak in here at the beginning of a new year.And to do that, today, I’d like for us to consider what I’m going to call, Three Worthwhile Investments in 2025. And each of these investments is ultimately an investment of our most treasured, precious, important commodity; time. If Jesus Christ is King. If He is Lord of all. If He’s the sovereign One. And if He’s more than a plastic Jesus sitting on the dashboard of our car. If we are someone who is seeking to orient ourselves around Jesus as King, Lord, Sovreign One. Then these three investments of time seem not only reasonable and wise, but I would suggest necessary, for those who profess to follow this King.
All the time, Jesus the Messiah, the one born King of the Jews and of the entire universe for that matter, lay helpless as a baby born to a poor unimportant family, lying in obscurity, literally just a few miles away from Jerusalem. And however tempting it might be to look at Herod, and the Magi, and Snicker, and comment, like the emperor that wasn't wearing any clothes. Probably better, is to see ourselves in this meeting. This meeting between these fake kings. You see, our whole society is like that. People trying to impress each other, with their money, with their degrees, with their accomplishments, their sports team affiliations, how well their portfolio is doing, how attractive their boyfriend or girlfriend is, how smart their children are. And us religious people, we're probably worse of all. Constantly trying to pretend that we are better than we actually are. That we know more than we know. That we are certain, more than we are actually certain. We are half breeds and frauds pretending to be kings. The good news of course is that we don't have to live that way.
Advent, in other words, is a time for wondering and marveling at the Christ child and a time for wrestling with the mystery of life's hard questions like, how, and why, and when? And just to wrap this up, this is not some psychological cathartic purge so we can really enjoy Christmas dinner. This is our faith in action. This is the Christian faith; not sugary, not phony, not surface level, not dabbling here and there, not, oh yeah God's cool, it's not that. This is our faith in the action of real life, where there's real pain, no matter what time of year it happens to be. Confidence we might say, in the reality of God's presence with us. Confidence in the knowledge, and I use that word on purpose. Confidence in the knowledge, the reliable knowledge, that in Jesus, as Simeon said, “our eyes have seen our Salvation”, a light for revelation.
God speaks to whomever he wants to speak, about whatever he wants to speak, whenever he wants to speak to them. The message isn't about how to make God speak to us more. What we're talking about here is how to put ourselves in a posture to listen. To hear when he speaks. And I don't know about you, but if I am predisposed to not want to do what God says, and yes sometimes I'm not. Did you hear that, he's a pastor? The pastor doesn't want to do what God asks him to do sometimes, shocking! But when I am predisposed to not want to do what he says, I'm more inclined to avoid him. Like take literal steps to avoid him. To make myself unavailable when his number pops up on my phone. I'm much more likely to let it go to voicemail, and then conveniently forget to check it.But I've also experienced the opposite. I've also experienced those times and seasons where I've practiced saying yes. Stepping out in faith when I think I hear God asking me to do something, even when it's scary. Even when it feels, at first, like I'm actually losing something. And every time I do, I relearn the lesson, that truly His yoke is easy, His burden is light, He does not lay anything too heavy or unfitting on me. And every step of obedience I've taken, always ends up leading me in the right direction. Sure, God comes and asks these people to do some pretty crazy things in these stories, but man, when they said yes to Him, what a ride! What an adventure! And I believe that those adventures, those experiences, those encounters with God, are available. Available to us, right now, right here, where we are, if only we would listen.
Seems to me Jesus, by his example, prefers a table at the back of the restaurant. He prefers the obscure. The small places. The small people. The small things. So, he works his plan through a carpenter named Joseph. A teenager named Mary. Some Shepherds working in the fields. A little town called Bethlehem. An atmosphere of poverty, powerlessness, and oppression. He prefers the simplicity and the humility of a baby.These are the actors and the factors in the Advent story. Not a random or meaningless group of details. Rather this is the Jesus way and God did it this way because this is who he is, and this is how he works. He is found in the small places. He dwells in the unspectacular. He sneaks in the back door. He prefers the shadows. We find God on the back roads, off the beaten path. So, we find God in children. We find him in the elderly. We find him in the Forgotten. We find him amongst the hurting. He's a community theater God, not a Broadway God, we might say. Big and flashy and loud and impressive are not his way. He can be found there, but often the big and the flash and the loud are distractions that keep us from seeing and hearing and encountering the humble God, who puts on flesh and shows us God's heart.
The story that Luke chooses to begin his telling of the coming of Messiah with, is the story of a couple waiting. And sure, like with everybody else, they are waiting for the coming of the Messiah. Like everybody else in the Jewish Community was in those days. But more personally, Zachariah and Elizabeth are waiting for something else. They're waiting for a baby of their own. And as those who have experienced it know, infertility is a special kind of waiting. When you're waiting in infertility, it's not like waiting in a long line at Costco, where you know eventually it will be your turn. Waiting to conceive, it's waiting for something that you really, really, really, really, want but there is no guarantee that you're going to get it. And there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Oh, I know, there's lots of options for fertility treatments out there. There are tons of things that you can try. But for all our fertility treatments, have only served to further prove the point, getting pregnant isn't something you can control. And so you wait. Of course getting pregnant isn't the only kind of waiting that fits that category, right? There's tons of things that fit the waiting for an uncertain outcome list.
This Faith thing is a we thing not just a me thing. But today we remember that Jesus breathed on each of his disciples. John, Peter, Simon, Matthew and all the rest were filled with His Spirit. Each had a transformational encounter with God and ongoing experiences with him for the rest of their lives. Their lives were never the same. Everyday life was never the same because the Holy Spirit now inhabited each of them. He was at work in and around them.So if you are a follower of Jesus, he has breathed His Spirit into you. And when Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into us we experience God. And the key word is experience. The key emphasis is experience. This isn't the transaction in triplicate form. You know sign here, initial there. The spirit lives in you. You interact with him. He speaks to you and you to him. He teaches you. He reveals things to you. You hear his voice. In The Bible or through another person. He nudges you to take action. He stirs in you when you stray off the path. See, we're talking about an interactive relationship with God, through the Holy Spirit, who right now lives in you. Receive the Holy Spirit. Yes we received him when we first believed and when we first asked Jesus into our lives, but we're not talking about just one experience. We're not talking about an experience with God back then. There are fresh experiences with the Spirit, in the course of everyday life, that without a doubt, hear this really loud and clear, without a doubt, are usually small and unspectacular. Not wild or wacky kinds of things, but real experiences, real encounters.
Jesus sends the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit judges the world and the verdict is guilty and that has implications for the particulars of our lives here at the end of 2024. If Jesus and his way, and His Kingdom, truth, and goodness are true north, the way things are supposed to be. The way God intended them to be. The way God wants them to be. Then the world, that is wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment is morally, intellectually, ethically, and spiritually headed south. When the New Testament uses the term world, there's a whole lot of meaning packed up in that. When it uses the term world it often means, maybe even usually means, that the world and its systems are bankrupt. They're not slightly off course, they are completely off course. Instead of heading toward true north, they are heading toward false South. In every single way, a train bound for nowhere, literally. And the Holy Spirit's job is to alert the world that it's traveling this train bound for nowhere.
Sometimes we wish God spoke more often and more clearly to us about the specifics of our lives. What major should we take in college? Is this the right job? Is this the right marriage partner? Should we move to a bigger house? What President should we vote for? Should I retire? What should I do after I retire? And a million other particulars that we might wish God would just stand in front of us and say, “Do this and don't do that.” But here's the thing, the Holy Spirit's primary goal in guidance is not to give us the answers, but rather to shape us into people who follow and honor God even when the questions remain unanswered. His goal is not to give us specific guidance in every situation. His goal is to guide us to become a certain kind of person who is mature in the character of Christ, so we don't need his specific guidance in every situation. Or put it this way, we don't need to constantly consult the “All Trails App”, because we are an experienced and mature hiker, and we know where the trail is even when it's not obvious.
The other thing that Jesus points out here, is that the focus of the Holy Spirit's communication, his speaking, isn't in the direction of the Father, but it's in our direction. In verse 26 Jesus says, “But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” If the Holy Spirit, Advocate role, was on our behalf before the Father, you would think that Jesus would be emphasizing that the Holy Spirit is saying to the Father. Instead, Jesus is emphasizing what the advocate will be reminding us of. How he will be reminding us of the things that Jesus said. And then there's the fact of who exactly the Advocate is testifying for, on behalf of whom, the advocate is testifying for. Jesus says in John 15:26, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father -- the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father -- he will testify about me.” Jesus is saying that the advocate testifies about Jesus. Which when you put all of this together sure makes it sound like the Holy Spirit isn't so much our Advocate before the Father, but rather Jesus's Advocate before us, before humanity. That in the definition of "paracletos," that I read earlier, you know this definition of a person of high social standing who speaks on behalf of a defendant in a court of law before a judge. That the defendant in this case is Jesus, and the things that he has taught us about the Kingdom of God. That the courtroom is the court of human will. And that the judge, the judge is us.
The holy spirit is here with us right now, comforting us, guiding us, teaching us, challenging us, and yes even correcting us and telling us when we have missed the mark. You see, the Holy Spirit isn't simply God's afterglow or Jesus's afterglow. We'll talk about people in our lives who aren't with us physically, but we'll say stuff like, “well, you know they’re here in spirit,” which is really a way of saying that they're not here. They're really gone, but we kind of, sort of can remember them, sort of thing. I mean, sometimes we think about the Holy Spirit that way, God's afterglow, the things that we remember about him, kind of a passive presence in the corner. A reminder that at some point Jesus walked the Earth, and yes, at some point in the future we'll see him again, but until then, I guess we have the Holy Spirit to remember Jesus by. That's not who the Holy Spirit is! The Holy Spirit is a fully alive, fully present, fully active, member of the Trinity.
A scandal in the Bible is something that causes us to stumble, to trip. A scandal in the Bible then is a rock sticking up ever so slightly, in the middle of the trail, and we don't see it, but our left foot clips it as we walk by, and we stumble, and we might even fall down. 1 Corinthians 1:23, Paul writing, “…. we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block, a scandal, to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Christ crucified, a scandal, scandalous to Jews, and foolishness to Gentiles, why? Because no King, no one with power, no one of importance, no great leader, no one claiming to be the Messiah, claiming to be from God, claiming to be God. No one would die willingly, on a despicable Roman cross. But love the way God does, it is scandalous.
Christian hope is bound to the resurrection of Jesus. When you read the Bible on hope, you find hope very close to language about the resurrection. 1 Peter 1:3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…..” The New Testament's rallying cry is, Remember The Resurrection. It's a good word of encouragement. Kind of a good thing to say to one another, “Hey remember the resurrection.” Remember God raised Jesus from the dead. Remember his power brought him back to life. Remember that the God we follow has that kind of power. Remember the God we follow is greater than the sin, death, decay, and all of the old that author such horrific pain in this world. Remember the God who raised Jesus from the dead is in charge of this world, and he is moving this world toward his will and purpose. And one day he's going to finish the job and all will be well. Remember The Resurrection.
From Mark 5:24-34, “So Jesus went with them. A large crowd surrounded and pressed around him.” Feel the claustrophobic crowd pushing in. Hear the cacophony of voices calling out. Smell the bodies pressing together and sense the excited uncertainty about what Jesus will do next. “A woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.”Twelve years of hoping and of hopes dashed. Twelve years of misery, of pain, of weakness. She is without resources; financially, physically, emotionally, mentally. She is destitute and discouraged beyond words and worst of all she is alone. Belonging nowhere and with no one. I know what it feels like to feel alone even in a crowd, so do you. I wonder what this Woman's name was, despair, hopeless, outcast. Twelve years of an ailment that made her unclean and outside of society and even left without a place to meet with God. She can't go to the synagogue to seek out Jesus where he often taught. She can't even go there to pray. From Leviticus 15:19….“when a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.” But she has not been unclean for seven days but twelve grueling years. Unlike Jairus, who has a position of standing, she is nothing and she has lived this reality every day, year after year.Maybe you've tasted this kind of despair. Perhaps you know pain and doubt is an ever-present companion. You wonder where you belong. If you belong. We all carry our own feelings of unclean, outcast, alone. When God seems distant and faith bleeding, but we are not alone. And somewhere deep inside this broken woman she finds a mustard seed of faith and takes a risk, an audacious risk. She works her way through the crowd until she is close enough to touch Jesus.
Matthew 13:31–32, “Jesus told them another parable: “” The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.””There are a whole bunch of things we could say about this short parable. But one will suffice for our purposes today, and it's this: when flawed and broken people take action in The Power of Jesus, for the sake of his kingdom, however small or insignificant that action may seem, God starts to move. And in ways I don't know how to describe, because I don't fully understand, the Kingdom activates, often slowly, often imperceptibly. We can't see what God is doing. Just like we can't see all that is happening under the ground when the Mustard Seed gets planted. But as God moves, good fruit eventually begins to emerge. And again, it may take a long time to even notice, and we may never notice. But as God's kingdom is established and this good fruit begins to grow, it extends in many directions and as it extends it impacts people. It rescues people. It redeems people. And it changes people. This little mustard seed that sometime in the past was put in the ground by flawed and broken people eventually becomes a kind of shelter. A kind of home. A place of restoration. And that's how the Christian story keeps moving through history toward its ultimate culmination. God moves through the small actions we take in his name and the goodness, and the grace and the truth of his kingdom expands. And as it does, it impacts people, it rescues people, it changes people. And many of us who are here today have a story to tell of how God did this in us and is still doing this in us.
We pursue relationships with those with different experiences, backgrounds, opinions, and life circumstances. Our differences create space for Jesus to unite us in Him. A unified community of un-likes proclaims good news to a fracturing world.In Ephesians chapter 2, starting in verse 14, Paul says, “for he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility......His purpose was to create in himself one new Humanity out of the two, thus making peace."When we think of community at Oak Hills, and walking that road together toward life in the Kingdom, we're talking about people who are different in every way. Unlikes, coming together and being the church in and through Jesus Christ. The walls of separation and division, constructed by attitudes like, "well I want to be with people like me", or "I want to worship with people like me", or "I want to do church with people like me." These walls get leveled by the real presence and power of King Jesus in our midst.
God is always at work rebuilding shalom. He is healing the sick. He is feeding the hungry. He's bringing Comfort to the lonely. He is caring for the Foreigner. He is freeing prisoners. He is soothing the pains and the scars that life in a broken world brings to the people in it. God's mission is not merely a conceptual one. It's not merely theoretical. It's not merely a new philosophy to be discussed and debated in the halls of the learned, and those with the luxury of time and energy that think about and discuss such things. God's mission is a hands-on felt need, tangible dirt under your fingernail’s kind of mission. Where he is addressing not just the spiritual damage that sin has done, but the physical and emotional damage as well. And we have the opportunity to join with him to address those needs as an extension of Jesus's presence here on earth. Jesus himself invites us and reminds us that whatever we do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of his, we are doing it for him as Matthew 25 reminds us. So, we engage in a lot of what we call around here, shalom building opportunities, where we are working to promote this universal flourishing.
Christian formation is character formation. It's about growing in the fruit of the spirit, not just trying hard to do the fruit of the spirit. Let me ask you something, how is the holy spirit forming your character to be like Jesus these days? What is the spirit of God seeking to cultivate in you in terms of the fruit of his spirit? And a pretty good way to draw back the curtain on our own formation and peek into who we are, is to sit down with potentially disruptive questions, and just let them work on us a bit. Not to feel shame, not to feel guilty, but just simply to let some things percolate and see what surfaces. What am I talking about? I'm talking about questions like this, what rises in me, and at times flows out of me, when I don't get what I want? Or this one, what activates the volcanoes within me? Am I learning to recognize my false self when it starts talking or acting or posing? Or this one, what is my relationship with anger? Am I growing in the art of encouragement? Am I growing as a forgiver of those who have hurt me? Or how about this one, what good and beautiful character quality is the holy spirit currently crafting in me?One thing I can almost promise us, almost with certainty, I'm not a fan of certainty, but almost with certainty, I can promise every one of us this, that if we take the time to tune in and listen it is highly likely the spirit of God wants to craft some good and beautiful character quality in us, that is not yet fully developed. Do you know what that is? Can you point in some direction toward it, even if you can't name it specifically? Let me put it in kind of goofy ways, what is the “da Wan” God wants me to toddle toward as it relates to my character formation? Where is the spirit inviting me out of the chair and out of the shallows and into deeper water?
Your intentional presence and mine in these gatherings is our way of remembering God is the audience, we aren't. This is for him not you or me. This is about him not you or me. Or to get back into the football analogy, which I don't like using football analogies, but it's here. We, you and I, are the players in this Gathering. And when we come to this Gathering as a player not a fan we soon find out how big of a player God is in these gatherings.The Hebrew word for worship literally means, work or serve, it's not a passive thing. In the words of one commentator worship means, and these are his words, “to expend considerable energy and intensity in a task or function.” Think about this, have you ever left here on Sunday exhausted, because you expended considerable energy and intensity in what we're doing? Using the language of this author, “to worship God, is to expend considerable energy and intensity honoring and adoring him in this Gathering.” Note the intentionality that's embedded in Psalm 100, “worship the Lord with gladness, come before him with joyful songs, enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise, give thanks to him and praise His name.” In short, be intentional, show up, engage your whole self, in worshiping our good and great King.
This particular service is different than most in that there was no sermon on this day. Instead, we had an extended time of interactive prayer, Sonos Divina, “interacting with the Holy Spirit through music”, and worship. We invite you to find a quiet place as you enter into this space and listen to this podcast with us.We'll use guided prayer and musical prayer to simply hang out with God; meaning, converse, commune, communicate with God. So, we'll hear from him at first by taking a look at a passage of scripture together. And then we'll take a trip into whatever God is saying to each of you individually. So, you'll be in conversation with God. You'll be speaking to him. You'll be listening to the Holy Spirit trying to see what God is showing each of us about whatever we're bringing before him. And my role is to guide you towards those things.
Grace has much to say about these things, but Grace encompasses more than sin and forgiveness and post-death destinies. Grace is the beginning, middle, and end of the biblical story. In John 1:16, Jesus said, “out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.” Now I don't really know what that means. It's kind of confusing, but it seems to imply Grace is the start of the story, the point of the story, the theme of the story, and the end of the story.Throughout his letters Paul describes the power of Grace actively at work in the details and particulars of life and hardship and difficulties and relationships. Grace is a dynamic force in other words in the real-life stuff we deal with. So, Paul had some sort of weakness in his body. Literally some kind of weakness, brokenness, something or other in his actual body. Some think it was bad eyesight. Others think he had a bad leg, and he walked a certain way. Maybe he had a proclivity toward depression or discouragement, so it was emotional or psychological. Or some other kind of persistent Frailty plagued his mind or his body or his circumstances and the point is he was burdened by this pain. So, we read in our reading, he earnestly prayed that God would heal him by removing this, “thorn in his flesh”, as he calls it in our passage, but God didn't heal him. God didn't heal the Apostle Paul of this thorn in his flesh. I think it's good to pause here. If all this Grace talk feels nice and churchy, but its tad bit removed from reality. We are now standing at a door that leads into the real lives we actually live in this broken and fallen world. Paul experienced pain and he prayed fervently for it to be healed, but it wasn't. Now who of us sitting here can't relate to that?
Now my prayer of asking God to search me turned to one of repentance. I saw how easily I felt superior as the wronged one and saw the other as one dimensional in terms of their offense. I remembered how I appeared to offer mercy but sometimes knew it was self-righteous mercy. How perhaps I'd made a little comment or remark here or there in the guise of warning people or me seeking Sympathy by sharing my hurt. And I saw how sometimes these little hurts were as much about my insecurity and wounded pride as they were about the actual perceived wrong.I drew a big cross over the list the names and I asked for God's help to truly forgive. In Luke 17 when the disciples were told they were to forgive 70 times 7, meaning indefinitely, they cried, increase our faith. I needed to pray that over and again. See we can't just start with prayer we must live in prayer. That is part of becoming the kind of people who readily forgive. Only as I live in continual communication with God can the words of Matthew 5 earlier in Christ's Sermon on the Mount, become not just a dream but a reality. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. That's not easy, there is a price. And on my own forgiveness will usually only result in empty words while I replay the recordings of the wrong. I need the cross. I need Jesus.
Our wealth isn't just the money that we have, right? Our influence, our connections, our voice, our position in society, yes even our vote, all these contribute to the worldly wealth that we have. And it's interesting to me that Jesus refers to this concept in terms of the mammon of unrighteousness, unrighteous Mammon. It makes me think of this phrase, that we have dirty money. You guys heard of that phrase? Like money or wealth that is acquired in unjust or unrighteous ways. Some of you, other people I've talked to over the years, maybe because the industry that you're in or the cutthroat win-lose nature of the business that you're in, like when you're working for the man, right? Sometimes it feels like what we earn is dirty money, unrighteous mammon. Or even when we take an honest look at our nation's history. An honest look at what we've done over the centuries to become the wealthiest nation in the world. How we've subdued the competition, unjust nature of a society, white privilege, you know stuff like that. It can feel sometimes like the wealth that we have, unrighteous mammon. What do I do with that knowledge? Well, it would appear that Jesus has an idea. Jesus says, make friends with your unrighteous mammons so that when it is gone, when it fails, when it burns out, when it ceases to exist, they, meaning the friends that you made with your unrighteous mammon may welcome you into heavenly dwellings.
Now, in the midst of Hebrews describing Jesus as the ultimate high priest. The author pauses, and says this, we're going to start from Hebrews chapter 5:11. The author says this, We have much to say about this, regarding Jesus as our high priest. But it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk not solid food. Anyone who lives on milk being still an infant. Is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from Evil. Therefore, let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God instruction about cleansing rights, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and the Eternal judgment. And God permitting we will do so.”Now I don't know if you caught it, but there's a tone of frustration in the author's voice here in this letter to the Hebrews. Like, he would really like to dive deeper into the significance of Jesus as our high priest, which is a very significant image for folks, that coming out of the Jewish tradition. And it would really, really help them in their life with God to understand how Jesus fills this role as the high priest. And how the role of the high priest had always been to pointing towards Jesus and the author was really, really excited to talk about this. But he feels like he can’t because he's stuck. He's stuck going over what he calls basic things. He feels like his readers are still hung up on stuff that the author feels like they had explained over and over and over and over again. Again you teachers in the room might be able to relate with some of this frustration. And one of the basic things that he is trying to get past is talking about repentance from acts that lead to death. Now this little phrase is actually key to help us understand what he's referring to later in verses 4-6, so here comes the tactical part.
Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church; the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's son that we will be mature in the Lord. Measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.One of the things we talk about regularly here is, at least to me, one of the signs of a healthy congregation and a healthy church. Where people who come, see themselves as priests and pastors to one another. So this idea of people up front do the stuff and people in the chairs consume the stuff is not at all what I think the Bible emphasizes. When it comes to the church or to what ministry actually is, but rather that we are priests and pastors to each other, so in that sense all of us are ordained, if you will. All of us are set apart. All of us are called. All of us have gifts and all of us are to pour those things out for the sake of God.“It is within the church, within the Ecclesia, that Jesus Christ is affecting what he wants to do in the world and that's not a small statement. You guys all know that statement, but it is only really through the church that we're going to have the Holy Spirit as one body communicating out into the world and so Ecclesia became very important. Why I decided to be ordained after that was because it is through the Gathering of the believing people that one can be raised up into service for God. It is the collective people, especially in the Baptist tradition, which you all are. It is you all who I would serve, not literally here, but serve by the consent of the believing people. So it became so apparently clear to me at that point that ordination was absolutely going to be part of who I am and you were going to be the people who I was going to approach to do that. Because no matter where else I go as a servant of God it is you people who have confirmed me and there's very good reason for that and it is because you're my people.” ~ Allison Carlos
Do I believe my life depends on hearing from God? Wow! Like we all believe that we need food for our body to survive, right? This is why a regular part of our daily life is, run around scrounging for food. We plan our day around it. We get up early to make sure we have time for breakfast. Our school or our job will actually let us stop working so that we can go and eat. We gather with friends and family for dinner, so that we can make an experience out of filling this very basic need for food. We follow a diet plan to make sure that we’re getting all the right kinds of food. We plan menus for the week ahead and on and on and on we could go talking about all the ways that our belief, our conviction, that our body needs food to keep functioning, affect how we plan and go about our days. Do I do the same for my spirit? What can we do to put ourselves in a position to regularly hear from God? And while of course there are many different habits or spiritual disciplines that we could develop, and help us in that area, and we talk about a lot. There is one that throughout the history of the people of God has really served as the anchor, as the foundation to hearing from God.
Certainly, the Garden of Eden was not some place where Adam and Eve strolled around going, oh my gosh look how pretty that tree is, I'm so sick of looking at that! There's none of that. There's a sense of renewal and growth and they worked with their hands. They took care of things. It seems to me the future involves discovery and learning and working. The Bible calls it reigning with God. The perishable will put on the imperishable as in 1 Corinthians 15, but I don't see anything in the Bible to indicate we instantly get a brand-new character, and all the crud Gets zapped out. Again, maybe that's what happens, but since that's where we're heading it makes more sense to me to start now. And perhaps, some seem to think so, who we are becoming and who we will be when all is said and done is part of our offering of worship to God. We offer him the life that we have lived and the person that we have become. God the Holy Spirit at work in us to form his character in us is preparation for an eternity with him. Life before death matters. What we read, what we watch, how we spend our time, who we become and are becoming, life is the practice field for eternity. Heaven before we die, and Jesus is our example.
I suppose in some isolated Chambers at Nassau or Space X, gravity is not currently at work. But in nearly every other square inch of this planet, if I throw a ball up into the air it will come back down. Or if I jump out of an airplane without a parachute the fall might be fine, but the landing will be a tad messy, because gravity is present and working everywhere. And in a similar fashion God is present and working everywhere. I wonder if we believe this. Everywhere we go, every single day, every single moment of every single day, God is already there. And he's already at work bringing the reality of his Kingdom to those who inhabit those spaces. And if we are his follower then our primary vocation, if you don't like vocation insert job, if you don't like job insert calling. Our primary vocation is to be his agent and Ambassador in those spaces where we go. Verses 5 and 11 of our passage, Moses the servant of the Lord who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt. Servants are sent to do things for the one they serve and a life well-lived is one spent in service to something bigger than self, bigger than success, bigger than comfort, bigger than safety. A life well-lived is one poured out in service to God and the work of his kingdom. And of course, we still do our jobs and build our careers and go to school and raise our families and celebrate along the way as much as possible. But we do all this remembering that as followers of Jesus our primary vocation, job, calling, is to serve God and be about his kingdom work right where we are.
So, tell me, how do we look family when in the eyes of God we hold on to titles like democrat or republican or any other title to save us instead of the presence and will of God. We may look to these titles to save us but trust me every time we are met with the sinful grasp of humanity, none of these titles can save us. Only the presence of God in our own lives can do that. And I don't know about you but the Jesus I know isn't a Democrat, and he isn't a republican either. In fact, I'm not even sure Jesus is American. The Jesus I know has his own kingdom. This is why I love the kingdom of God. See the kingdom compels us to trust in God and lean on one another in community. The kingdom, both holds us accountable and holds us as beloved, within the presence of God. The kingdom isn't just a title or a label it is a living reality and it is grounded fully in what God is doing right now, right here.
Believe It or Not prisoners had to finance at least a portion of their incarceration. They had to pay for it. So, they needed money to buy food and clothes and other supplies or they went hungry, and they got cold, and as you can imagine nobody really cared. So The Philippian Church sent Paul money and maybe some other gifts. And they sent them with a man named Epaphroditus, who traveled from Philippi to Rome, found the Apostle Paul and delivered these gifts. And Paul was thrilled, and he was thankful that they showed him their Love by providing for his practical needs. And he says in verse 14, by doing this, he says this marvelous thing, “they share in his troubles.” And once again we can see, and we can feel, Paul's love, and Paul's connection with the people in this church. Relationship, connection, partnership in the work of the kingdom. And it reminds us that this thing called church, this thing we do, is not a machine. It's not a program. It is not a weekly event. And it is not a building. Church is people connected to God and to each other through Jesus Christ. It is about relationship. It's about togetherness. It's about using this phrase, “sharing in each other's troubles.” It's about caring for one another. It's about investing in each other's lives. It's about journeying together on this adventure with God. In a word church is family. Certainly, an imperfect family and in all sorts of ways a dysfunctional family, but still family.
But all that said, Paul's real passion, just like my professors many years ago, was never merely to inform his readers, but to transform them. His interest was not that they and we would know our Bibles, important as that is, but that they and we would know that, using words from Oz Guinness; “Spirituality for the follower of Christ is a matter of a different world, with a different reality, different energies, different possibilities, and different prospects.”The goal is not to know our Bibles, but to live as a citizen of the kingdom of God whatever our circumstance. Or in the words of Philippians 1:27, “Whatever happens conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Live it out in the daily grind of your everyday lives.” See the words in these Bibles that we look at, read, and cherish, are inspired by God, to inspire us and to empower us to live as his people no matter the situation we are in. And one way we live as God's people in this unhinged world is by experiencing his peace regardless of the turmoil and regardless of the tough circumstances we might be facing. Verse 6 of Philippians 4, “Do not be anxious about anything.” Now just sort of contemplate the last few days, contemplate the world, contemplate your life. The Apostle Paul says to not be anxious about anything. Here's my response, “Are you serious Paul? You losing it there buddy?”
I don’t know about you, but I’ll just tell you I am stirred to the core about what the Apostle Paul reveals about himself in this passage. I mean this brilliant biblical scholar is showing us his raw self. He's cutting himself open right in front of the Philippians and right in front of us and he is saying, “this is who I am, and this is who I am not.” I am stirred to the core by the Apostle Paul's vulnerability and humility. He is showing the people of Philippi who he is and he's showing the people of Philippi who he is not. He's showing them his desire to grow, and I'm stirred by his mindset. My answer to the question is that I have had both mindsets.I've had seasons of fixed growth where my attitude about my Christian growth, in a word is, “whatever.” I am what I am. And I've also had seasons of Greater intentionality where I felt like I've embraced the challenges that God has set before me. I've had a kind of curiosity to continue to learn who I am and who God is. I've had this passion to grow and have his character formed in me as the spirit does that work. See, we have this rather amazing power, each one of us. You have it and it was given to you by God. You have the power as do I, and you have the Freedom as do I, to set our minds on whatever we want. Think about that. We decide what we're going to give our attention to. This is not to diminish the thousands upon thousands of things at any moment that are clamoring for our attention, but we get to decide what we're going to give our attention to. We get to decide what we’re going to focus on.
So even though we're just talking about confidence, what's at stake here, what you have to lose, is actually very very real. Paul is not exaggerating this passage when he says, “that he had lost all things for Christ's sake”. It's the very real cost that the Young Rich Man encountered in the story that Mark tells in his gospel in chapter 10. When this rich young person comes to ask Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, essentially, “what must I do to be righteous?” And Jesus says, “you could just go do what all the religious people are telling you to do”. The young man responds, “I've been doing all that you see”. Even though he'd been doing, he'd been on the performance plan and he'd been killing it on the performance plan. This young man still feels that I still don't have this thing that I'm looking for. He knew he was standing on Shaky Ground and Jesus diagnoses his issue immediately and says, “go sell everything that you have, give it to the poor, and come and follow me." Now wait, is Jesus suggesting that righteousness can be achieved by selling everything that we have and giving it to the poor? Of course not. Selling everything and giving to the poor, that's just another achievement. That's just another performance plan. But this man's issue was his confidence in his wealth. And that misplaced confidence was keeping him from the one thing that would bring him the Eternal kind of life. That would bring him righteousness, and that is following Jesus, which is where of course Paul has landed. Everything else on his resume he considers garbage like quoting your GPA from kindergarten.Paul's only interested in one thing, verse 10, I want to know Christ. Yes, to know the power of his resurrection, participation in his suffering, to become like him in his death, and so somehow attain to the resurrection from the dead. To know Christ, not just about Christ, not just his teachings, not just the historical facts about his life. Not just the various interpretations and applications of his words to today's issues. No, knowing how to live well. Being in right standing with God and man. Living rightly in the world comes from knowing Christ. The power of the resurrected Christ. To follow Christ into suffering. To allow Christ's death to become our death, so that his life becomes our life. And there is nothing on our resume good or bad. Nothing that we've accomplished. Nothing that we failed to accomplish that compares to knowing Christ. That's where righteousness comes from.
Paul says, “have the same attitude as Christ Jesus” or “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel.” That can be kind of abstract for me. It can seem impossible and so I feel free to ignore it. But then Paul says look at Timothy. This is what serving Christ, prioritizing Christ’s interest means. It means caring for others. That simple. That real. Serving Christ’s interest is caring for others, not winning them, not having all the right answers for them. Not fixing anything per say, but genuinely caring about others well-being.How does this orient our vision of next level discipleship like Paul’s? Caring, that’s the work. Easier said than done, yes, but also doable. We can train to become a person who can listen. Who has the space for others brokenness and isn’t overwhelmed by it. Who can see needs and doesn’t imagine they are the Savior, but a friend. Who can celebrate another’s wins and grieve losses while putting away our own insecurities and our sense of scarcity. Who can speak out for someone who is bullied. Or make a meal when someone’s sick. Or the call when someone’s scared or grieving. Or speak a word of truth when a friend is lost or stuck. And in it all we can learn how to speak of our Jesus. And won’t we also find our own loneliness unraveling. So, Timothy’s going to come to Philippi and make a web of connection and relationship between the Philippians and Paul’s work that much stronger. It’s going to be awesome, but not yet. Because Paul needs him with him in this dark stinking prison.
And I would suggest to you that Anthony’s adventure in football very much resembles our Christian experience. It’s a long process, of gradually learning the way of Jesus. And gradually becoming the individuals and the church community that he wants us to be. And through the process there are forward and backward steps, but even the backward ones are often forward. There are advances by inches and retreats by feet, but the retreats are often in a strange sort of way, advances as well. And our job through the process is to continue to take another step in the process. Philippians 2:12-18, what we read a moment ago draws our attention to this dynamic process of growth. Formation as we call it. Becoming individuals in a church community that increasingly displays the humility and goodness and character of King Jesus.
More than just referring about their behavior as individuals in the world, Paul is actually pointing to the way that they live out their heavenly citizenship with one another, their collective polity. See, Paul recognizes that as a local church, they have a common life with each other. That is, set in the context of their citizenship in the Roman empire. So Paul is calling out the Philippians to live out their common life together in the secular context, not by simply adopting the customs and the culture of the world around them, but rather to live out their collective life together in a manner that fits with the Good News of life in the reality of the Kingdom of God.And the reason I think that's what he's referring to, is that the litmus test is unity. Paul will know that the Philippians are conducting themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel, because they are in unity with one another.According to Paul, the main outcome of a local church conducting themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel—is that they end up standing firm, in one spirit, striving together, as one, for the faith of the gospel.
Paul did not say, "Everything has a purpose." He did not say, "In spite of the difficult circumstances of me being in prison, God did something good." Paul simply did not make the best of a bad situation. What Paul said is far more remarkable.He said, what has happened to me—that is, getting thrown into prison—has served to advance the good news. In other words, what has happened to me, the sufferings I am enduring, unjust as they are, have opened up an opportunity for the good news of Jesus' resurrection and new life to advance. And if I hadn't been put in this prison, this might not have happened. It's a remarkable recognition of God's bigness over his troubles.This is not an "in spite of" perspective. It's a "because of" perspective. You see, Paul has this gigantic view of God. A really big view of God. And he knows that God is always at work bringing forth His Kingdom purposes, and nothing can stop God's unfolding plan.
Over the next several months, we will be reading someone else's mail. I say that as sort of a creative way to refer to the fact that this New Testament book, this epistle to the Philippians, really is a letter from the apostle Paul to the local church that he had started in the city of Philippi.But in another sense, I say that because, you read the opening paragraphs of this letter, and you get a sense that there's this deep, personal connection between Paul and the Philippians. To me, I read these opening words...and it's like I'm peering into this tender exchange, this honest expression of love and longing between Paul and this group of people, this little local church.
How does the resurrection make a difference on a Wednesday? When I'm bored at school? When I'm grocery shopping at Trader Joe's? Or languishing at a mundane job I only endure for the paycheck? Now we can have a fine time today kicking around some theology of the resurrection, or maybe naming two or three proofs for the resurrection, but I want to take it out of the clouds and drop it into a typical Wednesday. How does the resurrection matter on a Wednesday? How does it bring hope in the real world where we are actually living in 2024?
"Our first priority as the church is not to make all these things happen in the world through political action, but to be a prophetic witness to the hope of a world remade according to Christ." Brian ZahndToo often, we sink our chips into politics and try and make the society righteous. But as the church, we are the ones who are to be the righteous society in the larger society... So wherever Kingdom values, ethics, and principles drive our voting, they should drive our actions within our own church toward one another, and then out from there. Caring for the poor—in our church... Loving the immigrants—in our church... Helping mothers who are contemplating an abortion. Helping mothers heal who have had an abortion. Adopting children. Helping at-risk children. Helping sinners find forgiveness.We should be helping one another transform. Helping one another break free from the shackles of shame... We should be visiting prisoners. We should be sharing financial resources to do Kingdom work. Connecting skills with needs. Helping people get out of personal debt. Helping people find jobs... Forgiveness, reconciliation, transformation, grace, goodness, shalom. Being the church.
Politics—if we think of the fullest definition of it—has to do with how we live together, and how we relate to each other in the various communities that we are in. It has to do with the values and the principles that govern our communities and relationships and common life together.And today's topic is "Incarnational Politics." It might seem like a strange phrase.What it means is simply in-the-flesh politics. Hands-getting-dirty kind of politics that rejects ideology from a distance and embraces a politics of presence. A politics of showing up, and being with, and listening to, and seeking to do something about. Face-to-face conversations with people who think differently, especially with those within our own families and within our own church. Stepping toward political tension to unwind the antagonism and foster relationship. Incarnational politics means taking action on the various issues that we care about. It means living out our politics in the local settings that we inhabit, where we can actually make a difference. Could it be that what we care about and believe is reflected more by the actions we take in our local context than by the circle we darken on our presidential ballot?[Note: This podcast includes an interview with Michael Zacharia, former White House executive and international consultant and professor on conflict resolution for large companies and countries.]
I have to tell you lately, I've been taken with the phrase, "The center is different than the middle." Think about that from the perspective of a follower of Jesus. The middle is neutral political ground to avoid conflict and make everyone happy. But for the Christian, the center is the starting point for healthy discussion and debate. And the center is King Jesus and the way of His Kingdom. Our calling is faithfulness to Him. Will we let the Kingdom bend our politics?Matthew 22 says, 'The greatest commandment is to love God and love our neighbor.' That's an excellent guide for a Kingdom approach to politics. In our Matthew chapter 5 passage, Jesus says, "love your neighbor and pray for those who persecute you." Another excellent guide to a Kingdom approach to politics. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about this term "cruciform," that is, in the form of a cross. That is, a cross-shaped politic that serves and sacrifices for others. Another excellent guide for political engagement.But notice something. Self is nowhere near the center of a Kingdom approach to politics. What's best for me. My rights. What I want. What will make my life better—are not the priorities of the Kingdom way.
God says in the first of the ten commandments these words, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other Gods before me." And a few verses later in the second commandment, God continues the theme, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name." These commandments prohibit idolatry. Not exactly an everyday word in our lexicon.But idolatry is taking a good thing and making it an ultimate thing. Idolatry is giving Godlike status to something or someone that isn't God, whether it be a person, an ideology, an institution, or whatever. An idol is anything or anyone we ultimately look to, lean on, or trust more than God for security, provision, hope, our identity, or peace.We're in week three of our "Let The King Descend" series where we're considering politics and the way of Jesus, and when this series first began to percolate, I knew if we were going to deal with politics authentically, then we had to talk about idolatry. Because in our time, and maybe in every time, politics is a rival God that is not content in the second chair. It wants to slither its way into the first chair. So politics can become an idol, and I believe politics has become an idol in the souls of many well-meaning Christians...From my chair, I believe many Christians—to the right politically and to the left politically—have put their hope in political power.A few years ago, somebody said to me, "Are you trying to turn us into a left-leaning church?" And I said, "No, I'm trying to pry the idol of politics out of our hands." So today, I hope to once again double down on Jesus Christ as King, and His Kingdom as ultimate reality. And in doing so, put politics in its place.
A crucified God is at the center of our faith, and this image gives us a vision of power that is upside-down from Rome's, Jerusalem's, Washington D.C.'s, or any other place of power. Jesus' life was cross-shaped even before He went to the cross. It was a life of service and sacrifice. Jesus said at the end of Matthew 28, "All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to me." But Philippians 2 says, "Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage, so He humbled Himself, took the very nature of a servant, and became obedient to death on a cross."If you're wondering, that's Jesus' politics. The fancy word is Cruciform—a lived-out politic in the shape of a cross and shaped by the cross.So what does that all mean? At a minimum, it means raw humility. At a minimum, it means a politic that is other-centered. A politic that seeks to love neighbor.Here's a sampling of His politics. Love God and love neighbor. Love your enemies. Pray for those who make your life miserable. Don't give anger a foothold. Give to the needy. Defend the cause of the helpless. Store up treasures in heaven. When you're insulted, don't retaliate. Heal the sick. Tear down the dividing walls of hostility. Forgive as God has forgiven you. Defend the cause of the helpless. Right the wrongs of society. Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God.
The church, from the very beginning, was designed to be a community of "Unlikes," a community of "Differents." There is a palpable tension in the New Testament around the inclusion of the Gentiles in the early church. Christianity was born out of the Jewish faith, and there came points along the way where there was pressure to let Gentiles be part of it. But God's plan—from the very beginning—was for Jewish and Gentile Christians to worship together, and do life together, and sort out the tensions and disagreements together, in the shadow of the cross and in the shadow of an abundant communion table.Now, the dislike and hatred between these two groups cannot be overstated. Let me put it this way: If the Jew-Gentile tension was a great Dane, the Democrat-Republican tension is a toy poodle. It doesn't compare. God's plan was to pull them together as one people united under King Jesus to witness to a chaotic world how powerful and good He is.The church is supposed to be a society of different people who are seeking first the Kingdom of God, and navigating everything—including political chaos—in a way that is in sharp contrast to how it's done everywhere else. So we're talking about politics because we, Oak Hills Church, have a marvelous opportunity to demonstrate who Jesus really is, and sort out the political tensions and disagreements in the shadow of the cross and in the shadow of an abundant communion table.
Paul says it clearly: Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked in this world or in any world, and God placed all things under his feet. In short, Jesus is King.If all things are under his feet, then no thing is more powerful than him, no thing compares to him. All this means is that even in the chaos, uncertainty, fear, worry, anxiety, tension, of our world, our nation, or maybe of our lives, all of it is under his feet.But in the metrics of the Kingdom, this means we might not thrive, we might not win, we might not succeed, we might not survive. Because thrive, win, succeed, survive, are metrics of the kingdom of humans, not necessarily metrics of the Kingdom of God. So the invitation to you and me is to open our hands and surrender. Open our hands and trust.
Our church's mission statement is written in fancy metal letters—on the wall, in the lobby, over the water fountain, next to the coffee bar. It reads, "To invite people to experience the reality of life in the Kingdom of God."What we're talking about the next two weeks—God the King and His Kingdom—is foundational and essential to the Christian faith. It is foundational and essential to the whole Christian story. In fact, a strong case can be made that the Kingdom of God is the Bible's favorite subject and primary theme. And in profound and incredibly practical ways, what we're talking about over the next two weeks can actually be a game changer in how we view God, how we live out our faith, how we discern the purpose for our lives, how we navigate through the various struggles in life, how we endure the brokenness and chaos of this world, how we endure the upcoming Presidential election, how we face our own death, and how we think about eternity. It's that important.
We bring the whole of who we are into parenting, and all will sometimes sin. Sometimes get it wrong. The sooner we understand that the more we let go of the drive to be the perfect parent, the more we lean into the perfect parent—God."The beyond-our-comprehension reality at the heart of the universe is that God in Christ on the cross has forgiven all our sins, set us right with Him, and gathered us into His righteousness. We cannot comprehend it, but we can most certainly live it—a way of life in which everything about us is and continues to be formed in the likeness of Christ."There is our hope. Part of my continual frustration and shame came from trying to be perfect, to be "God." To somehow control each situation and raise the perfect children and create the perfect memories. And though God desperately wanted to work in me and through me, he never meant for me to do the job that was His.
It doesn't take too long before the question arises: Why? Like, why does God need me to pray for Him to act? Like if—as it says in Matthew 6:8, God already knows what we need before we ask Him—why does He need me to ask? And why sometimes when I do ask for something I think I need, I don't end up getting it? And then, why do I sometimes miraculously get things I didn't even pray for? Like if God always wants what is good and best for us—and He always does what is good and best for us (regardless of what we think is good and best)—then what does my prayer have to do in anything?I know, for me personally, any talk of a Reboot in my own prayer life—the first hurdle I have to get over is this question. Why?
"God's plan is really simple. God's plan is to form a people, a community. And through that community's transformation, through that community's life together, through that community's Christlikeness (both at an individual level and at the communal level)—God's Plan A is to use that community to show other people who God is and what life can be like in His Kingdom with Him. That's the plan."Rather than share a message on the topic of Mission, Pastor Mike Lueken interviews four sets of people who are living out mission in their lives:• Caryn & Shawn Young (Mission in the neighborhood)• Selina Zavala (Mission in the workplace)• Cas Mastropaolo, Caelin Linden, and Greg Roeszler of The Playmakers (Mission with our Ministry Partners)• Neena Conrad, Oak Hills Missions Coordinator (Mission as a community)
"A healthy marriage is the foundation of a healthy family, and a healthy family is foundational to a healthy society. A healthy marriage can create ripple effects through many generations, while a broken marriage, whether it's officially broken (meaning papers have been filed and spouses live apart) or unofficially broken (meaning papers haven't been filed but spouses live a part), often does the opposite through many generations, has the opposite ripple effect."Marriage is intended to be good. Marriage is intended to be fun. Marriage is intended to be appropriately fulfilling. It is intended to be a life-long relationship of mutual love and submission between a man and a woman where intimacy increases through the years. That's the intention. So marriage is worth the effort and worth the struggle and it's worth the pain."
"I like this time of year, I really do. It's a chance to look back, a chance to let go, a chance to celebrate, and a chance to look ahead. I just find it invigorating—as corny as it may be—to think about the close of one year and the prospect of beginning a new year. Henri Nouwen, in a book called Here and Now, said it this way: "We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes each minute, as a new beginning. As a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life. Imagine that we could live each day as a day full of promises. Imagine that we could walk through the new year always listening to the voice saying to us, 'I have a gift for you and can't wait for you to see it.' Imagine.""
"The Christmas story is a pivotal chapter in this big and beautiful story that God is writing and slowly unfolding because in Luke's gospel, when the angel announced, 'Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord,' he was announcing the arrival of the Prince of Peace. He was announcing the partial fulfillment of Isaiah's 700 year old prophecy."Now, just so we're clear, and we keep these people in these story being human, I don't believe any character in the Christmas story comprehended the full gravity of what was happening. Their reactions—the prime characters in the Christmas story—were all over the map, just like our reactions are all over the map. Doubt, disbelief, fear, astonishment, joy, hope, worship, disturbed, confused. The array of their reactions suggests at least they realized something profound was happening. And it seems to me we sit on the opposite side. We run the risk of tempering and taming the Christmas story so it fits nicely under a snow globe."
"In the Jewish community at that time, "Father" was a powerful idea that carried meaning for every aspect of your life. It was a term that referred to more than just your biological birth father. It was a term that you would refer to your ancestors. It was also a term that could refer to a ruler or a king or a governor of a city, that their role of governing the city or to of the community was similar to the role of a father over his household. And so it carried great significance."To refer to the Messiah as "Everlasting Father" —not as a reference that Jesus was "The Father" like in reference to His role in the Holy Trinity—but as a reference to His role in the lives of His people. One of the main roles ascribed to someone with the title "Father" was this idea of identity and belonging."
"When we think of "Mighty God," power probably comes to mind. The name, the title, "Mighty God" declares that the Messiah of Advent is powerful. So powerful that Isaiah 9 says that the running of the whole world is going to rest on His shoulders. In Isaiah 46:8-10, God is speaking of himself—with attitude:"Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; For I am God and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, 'my purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'""It is wise and it is good to remember that God is great, and He is powerful, and He way is above us and infinitely far beyond us. And His ways, as Isaiah 55 says, are not our ways."
In this closing message, we invited the Oak Hills Community to share — open mic style — what they've been learning from our six-week series.Due to the nature of the sharing, this podcast only includes the opening remarks by Pastor Mike Lueken, and not the actual sharing time from the congregation.
These two disciples are walking behind Jesus, and the language used in the Bible is that they were "following" him in the sense that they were walking behind him (John 1:35-42). But not yet in the sense that we're talking about today. He turns around and asks, "What do you want"? And this question, Jesus asks, and keeps asking those who say they want to "follow" him. What do you want? What are you after? Why are you here? I think we can make a case that Jesus asks us this question every single day, and many times during the day, from the moment we awake and face all of life's situations, until we fall asleep. And when we wake up the next day, he asks it again. How to follow Jesus doesn't mean anything unless I want to follow Jesus.
"Go to the Oxford dictionary today, and look up the word "grace" and it will tell you that it is God's "unmerited favor." But while this is a widely accepted definition of God's grace, it is—like we were saying last week with the gospel—a rather truncated or reduced definition that actually robs it of the power ascribed to it by the authors of the New Testament. Because to define grace as merely God's unmerited favor...really boils it down to God's attitude towards us. Basically, it reduces grace down to the statement, "God likes us even though he has no reason to." Which is amazingly true. We humans are unmeritedly favored by God. But, that is not all that grace, as the New Testament writers use it, is about..."
“The understanding of the Gospel that circulates in many religious—and even unreligious circles—can be described as gospels of sin management. Essentially, different ways of saying, ‘Jesus died for your sins. And if you accept him as your Savior, you can get your sins forgiven and go to heaven when you die.” Now the thing about these definitions of the Gospel is that the basic concept that they talk about is very biblical. the Bible is very clear that all us humans are sinners, and through Jesus we can be forgiven of our sins and be assured of living in eternity in the presence of God. But the problem with making this the core of the Gospel is that they center the message on the wrong thing. It makes everything about where we spend life after death. We end up being the stars, the center of the story. Which of course is a problem. Because us being the center of the story—well that’s what got us into this mess in the first place."
"I’m not trying to point fingers at anyone, because we all medicate, and we all have a false self. We are all prone to whatever degree to present a polished picture of ourselves to the world in the hopes of being applauded, accepted, or approved. These impulses to do this—to filter, to cover up, to polish—these are direct consequences of sin, and of the curse sin brings. But if we set aside our defenses and resistances for a few moments, if we do our best to say, 'you know, this false self set of clothing is getting kind of scratch, so I’m gonna take it off for just a second. And I’m gonna sit in a reflective space for a few moments.' If we do that, we might realize that a picture of ourselves hangs in the walls of our inner world. And no one else sees it. And this picture shapes, powerfully and profoundly, our thoughts, our feelings, the relationships we have and how we are in those relationships, our defenses, our decisions, our habits, our passions, our overall way of living and being in the world. And our overall sense of peace and well-being in life."NOTE: Mike Lueken refers to a song called “Christ is Lower Still” by Matt Maher, Kate Bluett, and Doe Jones, which was played during the service.
"What happens if I ask you if the way you respond in times of stress, or pain, or loss, support what you claim to be your picture of God? When life goes wrong, do you ever wonder if God is punishing you? Do you truly feel that God is always for your? Or a bit against you? What does your prayer life suggest about your true picture of God? How about your level of anxiety? Your relationships? How you feel about yourself? AW Tozer wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” The truth is we can think we know a lot about God and His Word, give all the right answers, and yet—because our stated belief doesn’t match our long-term persistent experience of God, we will live out a completely different picture of God than the one we say we believe."
"We actually believe that drastic and authentic transformation is at the core of the Christian Gospel. In the spirit of Colossians 3, we believe God desires communities of his people who are growing in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness. And love is the preeminent virtue they offer to each other and to this broken and fractured and hurting world. This love binds them together in unbreaking unity. These divinely cultivated character qualities are being lived out and put on display by the people of God. And we actually believe—here at Oak Hills—that our calling as individuals and as a church is to put on these character qualities in an authentic way, so they become part of who we are, and they flow out of us, and both individually and communally, we reflect the beautiful and character of Jesus to this hurting world."
"The trouble with leaving it at "Trust God" is that the concept of God is so broad—infinite really—that if we're not careful, we can create a picture or an image of God that is intangible and obscure, an image of God that isn't even accurate...So it is of no comfort to us in our [specific] time of trouble and it leaves us helpless to the onslaught that troubles our hearts, and makes joy unsustainable..."But there's something different—at least for me, at least this week—to have Jesus look me in the eye, and say, "Trust in me. Trust in me. You believe in God. Believe also in me."
"In our passage, Jesus is on the verge of unspeakable rejection and suffering. literally, within an hour or two, he will begin his passion. And yet, in his final instructions, he's talking to his followers about his joy. How can he have joy? How can he talk about joy, minutes before he is arrested and beaten and executed?"...Through it all, he knew he was in God's care. He knew there was a bigger picture, and there was a bigger story, and he was a part of that bigger picture and story, so he had joy."
"James says it this way: 'Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.' (James 1:17) And it is this truth—this fact—that makes being thankful in the midst of disappointment and trials a reasonable response. You see, being thankful is not dishonest or naive or ignorant of facts. Really, it is ignorance that requires ignorance of facts. In order to complain, we have to look past all the good things, to pick out the exception to the rule. And then focus all of our energy on that one exception..."
"Now remember, we're defining joy in this series as 'a pervasive and constant sense of well-being.' So in the language of this series, we're talking about choosing the path that leads to a pervasive and constant sense of well-being, no matter our circumstances. And grieving, lamenting is the path to choose in response to the pain and brokenness of this world."Over the past seven years or so, at least from my perspective, an alarming number of Christ followers have opted to deal with the pain and brokenness of life and this world by sitting in the seat of a scoffer (Psalm 1:1)...The scoffer is the one who stands away, stands apart, strokes their chin—skeptically, cynically, bitterly, and arrogantly—while critiquing and criticizing and shaking their head. So instead of a healthy grieving over the sufferings and failings and disappointments of their own soul, the scoffer focuses on the failings and disappointments of others."
"How do we find happiness and hang on to it in a world where hardship and heaviness and violence and trouble seem so unrelentless and so unstoppable. Well, over the next five weeks, our answer is: Choose Joy."
"Happiness may not be possible in this broken world. Because typical happiness is often if not usually dependent on circumstances...life is a roller coaster of circumstances. But regardless of our circumstances, we can choose joy. Joy is deeper than happiness...Christian joy is a pervasive and constant sense of well-being."
“We as a local church need to be on the frontlines, helping people discover the life and hope that only Jesus gives. And we need to find creative and imaginative and as yet untried experiments to bring ministry beyond these walls and help people find God.““The Lord is God and there is no other.” This is as true today as it was when Moses stood in front of the people—they were on the western shore of the Jordan river, and they’re heading into the promised land. It’s as true today as it was then. “The Lord is God and there is no other.” This is the message of Jesus’ Church. Not a message to scream at those who don’t agree. Not a message to berate those who don’t agree. And not a message to wield over people who don’t agree. But a message to demonstrate and to proclaim—through our life together as a congregation.”
When we're attentive to the Spirit, He can teach us through a variety of unconventional ways—through circumstances, through friends, and even through the songs we hear. Our pastors have been listening, and over three-weeks, they'll share a few words of wisdom by playing off various songs that are currently popular. Today's sermon is on the subject of contentment, and seeing beyond our circumstances to the beautiful, grace-filled life we indeed have.
"Sometimes the circumstances of our lives are unpleasant. But however unpleasant they may be, they are not the truest thing about life. Christ is. His goodness, His faithfulness, His love for us are the truest thing, the most important thing. It is He who makes life beautiful."
When we're attentive to the Spirit, He can teach us through a variety of unconventional ways—through circumstances, through friends, and even through the songs we hear. Our pastors have been listening, and over three-weeks, they'll share a few words of wisdom by playing off various songs that are currently popular. Today's sermon is on the subject of confession—how it can be heartwrenchingly difficult, but also how it is a necessary aspect of becoming whole in Christ. It requires honestly searching one's soul, turning away from sin—and bravery in acknowledging it before others and God.
When we're attentive to the Spirit, He can teach us through a variety of unconventional ways—through circumstances, through friends, and even through the songs we hear. Our pastors have been listening, and over three-weeks, they'll share a few words of wisdom by playing off various songs that are currently popular. Today's sermon is on the subject of Change—sometimes painful, often disruptive, it is a reality of life. Find out what the Bible has to say about Change.
As we conclude the series, Tell The Story, we consider the Old Testament practice of "Remembering." One of the primary means in which the nation Israel worshiped was through the practice of remembering—feasts, commemorations, monuments, and even Passover were acts of Remembering. And in the remembrance, we are reminded of God's goodness, provision, and faithfulness. We are joined today by special guests, Pastor Emeritus Kent Carlson and former Youth Pastor Brian Robertson today.
We continue our series on telling the story of God by exploring the importance of community prayer. Specifically, Pastor Mike Lueken and Elder Scott Schafer discuss the purpose, priority, and power of praying as a community of believers.
In this series, we explore how we tell the story of the Good News of life in God's Kingdom through different actions of the church—in our baptism, in our worship gatherings, in conversations with others, through prayer, and at the communion table. These practices form us in the way of the Kingdom and spur us to live out our faith in the details of our lives.
This message was out of the ordinary in that the actual "sermon" was actually an introduction and explanation of each of the major elements of the service. So Pastor Mike explained why we have a Call To Worship, then we participated together in the Call to Worship. He explained our Invocation prayer, and then we prayed. He did this with each service element throughout the worship service, including the Greeting, Children's Blessing, all the way to the Benediction. Thus, the recorded message today is only the actual message portion of the service, and not the entirety of his speaking.
In this series, we explore how we tell the story of the Good News of life in God's Kingdom through different actions of the church—in our baptism, in our worship gatherings, in conversations with others, through prayer, and at the communion table. These practices form us in the way of the Kingdom and spur us to live out our faith in the details of our lives.
Guest speaker and former pastor, Kirk Bottomly shares the message, "Why Beauty?" with us today.
"Take time for beauty, because it matters. It's not something peripheral. It's not something nice but sort of extra, like whipped cream. It's a big deal. So we take time for it, we go after it...We're gonna sit on our front porch and watch the sun go down. We're gonna get some flowers and put them in a vase where we can look at them. We're gonna plan a trip to the Crocker [Art Gallery]...We cultivate beauty...
"Jesus said, 'Behold the lilies of the field. King Solomon in all his glory was never arrayed like one of these.' Jesus said, 'Go! Gaze!' Beauty has something to say to your soul. Beauty matters. Beauty lifts our soul, if we let it. Beauty lifts the eyes of our soul high enough, so we can see God."
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"What is the Christian Metanarrative? The story of the universe is the story of God. God is at the center of all creation—self-existent and almighty and eternal—and by His very nature, he causes all things to be, and also sustains it by the mere act of His will. He made us, loves us, and gives us not only life, but meaning as well. Our stories may be small but they are consequential in His vast and eternal metanarrative. It’s like each of our lives is a strand of thread that has been carefully woven in the fabric of time to create this beautiful tapestry. And God is the maker of that tapestry. And in spite of us, God loves us enough to slowly but surely act upon the universe, redeeming us and all creation. Now I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a pretty cool story..."
"Where do our feelings fit in the adventure of an Artful Faith? What is the role of emotion in our life with Jesus?"
"Well, why art? There are at least three reasons why art should be an essential aspect of our lives as Christ followers. One, art and creativity in general brings delight to God. Two, the arts allow us to express truth and beauty in ways that we cannot otherwise express. And three, the arts are one of the main ways in which we create and change culture..."
At Oak Hills, we celebrate Eastertide, the period of fifty days from Easter to Pentecost. Eastertide is a time of celebration, where we cast off the solemnity of Lent and enter into the reality of the resurrection. In a sense, each day of this season is Easter, where we declare, "He is risen! He is risen indeed!"Our Eastertide message series is titled, "Defiant Hope," where we will explore how to further embrace the holy optimism and enduring joy that comes from living in the Kingdom.
FIRE PIT QUESTIONS
What is my predominant view of God? Someone who is active, initiating, and on the move, or someone who is telling us to go out and do good? Is the emphasis to be on God sending us (which He does) or on us joining him on mission? What difference does that emphasis make?
If there is a willingness to be vulnerable, where in your life are you currently facing a challenge to join God in facing something that you feel entirely inadequate to face? How are you doing with that these days?
Let us be very gentle here with each other, but is it possible that our emphasis on our inability or inadequacy has the effect of making the story primarily about us? Of course, we are inadequate. That’s the given. But the story of Moses almost puts that into the irrelevant category. What may God be calling us to do, or where He may be calling us to go, where He has gone before us and desires to show us His complete adequacy?
Again, if there is a willingness to be vulnerable, share what passions you may have about an area of need in your world that you find authentic compassion for. Then reflect on what God has placed in your hand that He can use to meet that need.
If your heart was increasingly ravaged, overwhelmed with love, for those who are hurting, hungry, lost, and marginalized, how would your life begin to be different?
FROM THE SERMON
“To work out our own identity in God…is a labor that requires sacrifice and anguish, risk and many tears. It demands close attention to reality at every moment, and great fidelity to God as He reveals Himself, obscurely, in the mystery of each new situation. We do not know clearly beforehand what the result of this work will be. The secret of my full identity is hidden in Him. He alone can make me who I am, or rather who I will be when at last I fully begin to be. But unless I desire this identity and work to find it with Him and in Him, the work will never be done.” Thomas Merton, Great Catholic Writings: Thought, Literature, Spirituality, Social Action
“An identity grounded in God would mean that when we think of who we are, the first thing that would come to mind is our status as someone who is deeply loved by God.” David Benner, The Gift of Being Yourself
"For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Colossians 1:16-17
Reframe Episode 1
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE READING
Colossians 3:1-3
Colossians 1:16-20
FIRE PIT QUESTIONS
Why does the issue of identity matter so much?
How do the seasons of life impact our quest for identity? [for example, think of how a young mom might find her identity versus a retiree]
How do we live as the beloved of God and persevere in this through the challenges of life?
FIRE PIT QUESTIONS
In what ways does Christianity and the Church promote hiding and covering up and make it difficult for people to be authentic?
In what ways do you hide from God? From Others?
What is the source of your shame? Share stories about where your shame originated.
How can we in this group help foster authenticity at Oak Hills?
Sermon Quotes
“The table of the Lord is a catalyst for reconciliation on the horizontal level as well. This normal, everyday activity of eating will be the occasion for undoing the abnormal but all-too-common reality of human enmity and discord … In a broken and fragmented world, the church is called to be the firstfruits of a new creation by embodying a reconciled community; and the way we begin to learn that is at the communion table. The habits and practices of examination and reconciliation that are part of the Eucharist are like training wheels meant to let us “try out” forgiveness and reconciliation. And in this respect, the Eucharist is just a macrocosm of what the church is called to be as the new humanity: a community that gathers, irrespective of preferences, tastes, class, or ethnicity, in order to pursue a common good. I often tell my children that one of the reasons we go to church is to learn to love people we don’t really like that much – people we find irritating, odd, and who grate on our nerves” James K.A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE READING
1 Peter 2:23-25, Matthew 5:43-48
QUOTES FOR CONSIDERATION
Read and discuss the following statements:
“In public discourse, the challenge is not to stifle robust debate, but rather to make sure that it is real debate. The first obligation for Christians is to listen carefully to opponents and if they are not willing to do so, then Christians should simply be silent. To engage in a war of words is to engage in a symbolic violence that is fundamentally at odds with the gospel. And too often, on such hot button issues as poverty, abortion, race relations, and homosexuality, the poor, children, minorities, and gays are used as weapons in ideological warfare. This too is an expression of instrumentalization.” --James Hunter, To Change the World
“Civility requires that we reduce the psychological distance between ourselves and others. We need to develop a sense of commonality with people who initially strike us as very different from ourselves. One important means of doing this is by cultivating empathy.” --Richard Mouw, Uncommon Decency
JOURNAL & DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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Gentleness is sometimes thought of as weakness and bravado and harshness as strength. In fact, the opposite is true. Why are we so often upside down on this?
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How does one grow in gentleness?
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What are some ways Christians can show “gentleness and respect” to those who have opinions and perspectives that are contrary to our faith convictions?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR THIS SERIES
A Peculiar People, Rodney Clapp
Uncommon Decency, Richard Mouw
Faithful Presence, David Fitch
To Change the World, James Hunter
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE READING
Philippians 2:12-13, Romans 5:3-5, Matthew 5:10-12, I Peter 5:10-11
Sermon Notes/Quotes/Links
Stories of Christian Persecution/North Korea/ Open Door/Australia
QUOTES FOR CONSIDERATION
If desired, read and discuss the following statements:
“It is because the meaning of life in the United States is the pursuit of pleasure and personal freedom, that suffering is so traumatic for Americans.” -Dr. Paul Bland, The Gift of Pain
“I suggest to you that it is because God loves us that he gives us the gift of suffering. Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world. You see, we are like blocks of stone out of which the Sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of his chisel, which hurt us so much are what makes us perfect.” CS Lewis
“Christianity teaches that, contra fatalism, suffering is overwhelming; contra Buddhism, suffering is real; contra karma, suffering is often unfair; but contra secularism, suffering is meaningful. There is a purpose to it, and if faced rightly, it can drive us like a nail deep into the love of God and into more stability and spiritual power that you can imagine.” –Tim Keller
JOURNAL & DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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Do you agree or disagree with Colleen’s statement: “Most of us have not suffered in any major way because of our faith. For us, being a Christian comes with very little real cost.”? Have you every suffered for your faith? Explain.
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How do you think living in America has affected your thoughts about what you “deserve,” and the desire to avoid suffering? Talk about the difference between inconvenience and annoyance and true suffering or persecution?
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Has suffering been instrument in your path toward Christlikeness? How or how not? Do you agree with the statement, “You don’t really know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have”? Explain.
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How can suffering provide an opportunity for us to participate in Jesus’ own story? Have you experienced this?
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How might the church, your small group, and you as an individual better serve those who are suffering?
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Discuss the following quote from Tim Keller and how it might affect your attitude toward suffering: “Christianity offers not merely a consolation but a restoration- not just of the life we had but of the life we always wanted but never achieved. And because the joy will be even greater for all that evil, this means the final defeat of all those forces that would have destroyed the purpose of God in creation, namely, to live with his people in glory and delight forever.”
Spiritual Exercises
Research the persecuted church around the world and spend time in prayer for these people and churches.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR THIS SERIES
Books for this series:
A Peculiar People, Rodney Clapp
Uncommon Decency, Richard Mouw
Faithful Presence, David Fitch
To Change the World, James Hunter
Books related to suffering:
Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, Tim Keller
The Gift of Pain, Dr. Paul Bland & Philip Yancey
A Peculiar People, Rodney Clapp
Uncommon Decency, Richard Mouw
Faithful Presence, David Fitch
To Change the World, James Hunter
Additional Scripture Reading
Romans 13:1-7
Sermon Quotes
“Christians have failed to embody the church as an alternative politic and have instead opted for influencing and improving Caesar or transforming culture or using the political process to accomplish their wishes … Many fall for the belief that the next candidate or vote can bring kingdom conditions. Some give themselves to politics and an increasing number have joined hands with the political process through social activism. To be blunt, many have abandoned the church and opted for the political process and are now calling it kingdom work. In one simple sentence, what Christians want for the nation should first be a witnessed reality in their local church. Until that local church embodies that desire for the nation, the church’s witness has no credibility … too many Christians have ignored the politic of the local church and bowed down to the politics of the world. Politics is a colossal distraction from kingdom mission. Politics entails diminution of our kingdom message … politics entails energies and time that could be used more directly for kingdom mission tasks. Politics means seeking to influence the state in the direction of the kingdom, but in doing so it is asking the public and the state to put into law and policy the kingdom story. Politics sees victory when a candidate wins or when a law passes or a policy is reformed. I speak directly now: we kingdom people don’t need the state, we don’t need the majority, and we must refrain from equating victory in the world with kingdom mission.” Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy
(The above quote is full of provocative thoughts and the entire time together as a group would be well spent if people shared their thoughts, questions, and disagreements with what McKnight says.)
JOURNAL & DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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There is nearly universal agreement that tension, anger, and division are at dangerously high levels in our country. Why?
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How can we as Christians embody the alternative realities of peace, gentleness, and unity? As McKnight puts it, how do we as a local church “first be a witnessed reality” to Jesus’ alternative way?
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President Trump is a controversial leader who sparks some kind of reaction every time he tweets or talks. How do we as Christians and as a local church navigate our differences about our current president in healthy and Kingdom oriented ways?
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When is civil disobedience required of Christians in order to be faithful to their primary calling as Christ-followers? How is this done redemptively and in a manner consistent with the ethics of the Kingdom?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR THIS SERIES
A Peculiar People, Rodney Clapp
Uncommon Decency, Richard Mouw
Faithful Presence, David Fitch
To Change the World, James Hunter
Additional Scripture Reading
Romans 13:1-7
Sermon Quotes
“Christians have failed to embody the church as an alternative politic and have instead opted for influencing and improving Caesar or transforming culture or using the political process to accomplish their wishes … Many fall for the belief that the next candidate or vote can bring kingdom conditions. Some give themselves to politics and an increasing number have joined hands with the political process through social activism. To be blunt, many have abandoned the church and opted for the political process and are now calling it kingdom work. In one simple sentence, what Christians want for the nation should first be a witnessed reality in their local church. Until that local church embodies that desire for the nation, the church’s witness has no credibility … too many Christians have ignored the politic of the local church and bowed down to the politics of the world. Politics is a colossal distraction from kingdom mission. Politics entails diminution of our kingdom message … politics entails energies and time that could be used more directly for kingdom mission tasks. Politics means seeking to influence the state in the direction of the kingdom, but in doing so it is asking the public and the state to put into law and policy the kingdom story. Politics sees victory when a candidate wins or when a law passes or a policy is reformed. I speak directly now: we kingdom people don’t need the state, we don’t need the majority, and we must refrain from equating victory in the world with kingdom mission.” Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy
(The above quote is full of provocative thoughts and the entire time together as a group would be well spent if people shared their thoughts, questions, and disagreements with what McKnight says.)
JOURNAL & DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
-
There is nearly universal agreement that tension, anger, and division are at dangerously high levels in our country. Why?
-
How can we as Christians embody the alternative realities of peace, gentleness, and unity? As McKnight puts it, how do we as a local church “first be a witnessed reality” to Jesus’ alternative way?
-
President Trump is a controversial leader who sparks some kind of reaction every time he tweets or talks. How do we as Christians and as a local church navigate our differences about our current president in healthy and Kingdom oriented ways?
-
When is civil disobedience required of Christians in order to be faithful to their primary calling as Christ-followers? How is this done redemptively and in a manner consistent with the ethics of the Kingdom?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR THIS SERIES
A Peculiar People, Rodney Clapp
Uncommon Decency, Richard Mouw
Faithful Presence, David Fitch
To Change the World, James Hunter
Additional Scripture Reading
Jeremiah 29:1-14
Thoughts to Consider
“Everyone is in a process of spiritual formation. We are being shaped into either the wholeness of the image of Christ or a horribly destructive caricature of that image--destructive not only to ourselves but also to others, for we inflict our brokenness upon them . . . The direction of our spiritual growth infuses all we do with intimations of either Life or Death.”
M. Robert Mulholland Jr., Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation
“Your desire for more of God than you have right now, your longing for love, your need for deeper levels of spiritual transformation than you have experienced so far is the truest thing about you. You might think that your woundedness or your sinfulness is the truest thing about you or that your giftedness or your personality type or your job title or your identity as husband or wife, mother or father, somehow defines you. But, in reality, it is your desire for God and your capacity to reach for more of God than you have right now that is the deepest essence of who you are.”
Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation
Journal & Discussion Questions
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Why is it so hard for people to open up to each other about the real issues and challenges they are facing in their Christian experience? In other words, what makes vulnerability about the “sinful desires waging war on our soul” (1 Peter 2:11) so challenging?
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Where is Jesus inviting you to “grow up in your salvation” (1 Peter 2:2)? Be specific. The following attributes of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) might provide a starting point for the discussion on where the Spirit might want to bring specific growth.
Love Joy
Peace Patience
Kindness Goodness
Faithfulness Gentleness
Self-Control
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What kinds of “good deeds” (1 Peter 2:12) can we manifest in these challenging times to help people discover a different vision of Christianity and the Church?
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As you think back over the years you have been following Jesus, how has He changed you? What kinds of practices have you engaged in along the way to create a space for Him to do his transforming work?
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It might be encouraging to have your group read out loud Ephesians 4:17-5:20 simply to hear Paul’s vision of a life being transformed. Or, if you prefer, Colossians 3:1-17.
Additional Resources
A Peculiar People, Rodney Clapp
Uncommon Decency, Richard Mouw
Faithful Presence, David Fitch
To Change the World, James Hunter
Additional Scripture Reading
Read Jeremiah 29:1-14
Sermon Notes / Quotes / Links
Exile Video, The Bible Project
Quotes for Discussion
If desired, read and discuss the following statements:
“… one of the real problems in modern life is that the people who are good at being civil often lack strong convictions and people who have strong convictions often lack civility … We need to find a way of combining a civil outlook with a “passionate intensity” about our convictions. The real challenge is to come up with a convicted civility.”
Richard Mouw, Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil World
“Faithful presence names the reality that God is present in the world and that he uses a people faithful to his presence to make himself concrete and real amid the world’s struggles and pain. When the church is this faithful presence, God’s kingdom becomes visible, and the world is invited to join with God. Faithful presence is not only essential for our lives as Christians, it’s how God has chosen to change the world.”
David Fitch, Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines That Shape the Church For Mission
Journal & Discussion Questions
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What are some of the things you see, hear and notice that indicate we now live in a post-Christian culture, that is, a culture where the Christian worldview is marginalized and dismissed? Think here about prevailing cultural values and attitudes rather than particular behaviors.
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Why is Christian anger such a common response to the current culture? Why is anger ultimately destructive and harmful to the Christian witness?
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What would “faithful presence” look like in your life situation—at work, school, neighborhood, etc.? Describe what being a faithful follower of Jesus would look like in your situation.
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Discuss this statement by Dallas Willard and what it might mean for us today: “Historically, the Church (people of God) has always been at its best when it has the least.”
Additional Resources
A Peculiar People, Rodney Clapp
Uncommon Decency, Richard Mouw
Faithful Presence, David Fitch
To Change the World, James Hunter
Mike leads congregation through time of prayer and worship on Christ the King Sunday- Colossians 1:15-20
Oak Hills Family and Friends take a weekend to honor and thank Kent and Diane Carlson for their leadership, friendship, and faithfulness to the ministry they were called to over three decades ago.
Jacob Cohen leads us through a traditional Passover Seder Meal with reflections on The Last Supper.
Oak Hills children gather around Mikey to hear the Christmas story one more time during this end of year one service celebration.
Native Oak Hillian David Holcomb returns as guest speaker for Week 1 of Advent - John 1:1-4
An evening of Q & A at Oak Hills Church with Gary Black Jr., author of "Preparing For Heaven".
One Service Celebration - Pastor Mike reflects on 2014 and points us toward the coming new year.
Mike Lueken draws various Biblical illustrations in discussing the topic of "Transformation"