Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church: Recent Episodes
Pastor Ed Visser
Sermons from the worship services of Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Jesus, as we heard last week, teaches us is to pray to “Our Father,” a reminder of our intimate relationship with God, as well as his promise to care for us as children. Now we turn to a promise of our own: “hallowed be your name” Do we need to make God’s name holy? NO, it already is holy! Then what does Jesus mean by this phrase? What “promise” are we making? We are pledging to sanctify God’s name in words, actions, sacrifice and lifestyle. What does that mean?
Scripture: Matthew 6:9
If love is the first mark of the Christian church — as we saw in last week’s letter to Ephesus —suffering is the next mark. It proves the genuineness of one’s love for Christ. Now he comes to them, described with words from the previous vision: First and Last (Alpha and Omega), but particularly the “one who came to life again.”
Scripture: Revelation 2:8-11
To better understand how and what Jesus is teaching us to pray, it helps to explore Jewish aspects of prayer. It starts with the opening, which in Hebrew would be: Avinu shebashamayim (our Father in the heavens). This is a very Jewish concept, in two ways: (1) Jewish prayer is communal or corporate, and (2) directed to “our Father.” How we pray depends on to whom we are praying.
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-15; 7:7-11
Revelation 2:1-7 Jesus Christ is pictured walking among the lampstands, that is, the churches in Asia, as John witnessed in 1:20. It is a reminder of the unseen presence of Christ among the churches, and almost as if he is doing an inspection tour, giving the lampstands or churches the “white glove test.” How will Ephesus measure up? How would we?
God hears simple prayers, for his Spirit searched our hearts and brings them to God (Romans 8:26). But, as we grow as disciples, we should mature in prayer. Our prayers should still have a child-like devotion, but the content of our prayers is also important. When the Bible calls us to pray, it involves not only the emotions of the heart but the content of the mind. Feeling as well as focus, conviction as well as content characterize biblical prayer.
Scripture: Luke 11:1-4; Matthew 6:5-15
On one hand, the headlines of our day, on the other, the book of Revelation. Two worlds, as different as a hare-brained dictator and a seven-headed monster, as a terrorist's bomb and a bowl of wrath. How can one world speak to the other? As different as they seem, they are actually parallel worlds: one, our fleeting and shallow glimpse at life; the other, a cosmic perspective on reality, what's really happening behind (or above) our scene. "Revelation" by definition is God's unveiling of truths otherwise hidden.Scripture: Revelation 1
Wealth presents substantial dangers for us all. And, lest we think we don’t have to worry about that, compared with the rest of the world, the poorest among us would be considered wealthy. And often, it is the kind of lifestyle that comes along with it that’s just as dangerous (we have great terms for it, like rat race!). Our hectic pace of life leaves us little time for important things, and the important people in our lives. Are we focused on greed or gratitude?
Scripture: Luke 12:13-21
It’s easy to recognize the presence of God when things are going well: the sun is shining, you have plenty of money in the bank, you’re healthy. But what about cloudy days, when the doctor brings bad news, or relationships seem to be coming apart? Where is God when pain and sorrow come? From Joseph we learn that God is still with us, even in times of greatest darkness.
Scripture: Genesis 45, 48-50
“Watch your mouth!” Did your parents ever have to say that to you? Maybe you said something hurtful or sinful. In the 9th commandment, God says: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16). “False testimony” is not just for the court of law; it is saying something untrue about others. Jesus, for example, was said to be in league with Satan. Jesus uses the situation to talk about speech. As with other commandments, Jesus gets at the attitude as well as the action, the heart as well as the mouth.
Scripture: Exodus 20:16; Matthew 12:22-37
The last couple of weeks we’ve been looking at Joseph the dreamer. Despite being able to interpret the dreams Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker, his own dreams had been seemingly dashed. Then, upon interpreting Pharaoh’s dream and giving a solution to the coming famine, Joseph becomes 2nd in command in all Egypt. But that wasn’t his dream. What about his previous dreams?
Scripture: Genesis 42-44
God brings a lawsuit against his people. At the heart of it is idolatry, but the idolatry expresses itself in greed and theft, a breaking of the 8th commandment. God’s call to repent in Micah 6 involves two things. Paul summarizes them well in Ephesians 4:28: “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.” That gets to the heart of the 8th commandment: it is about stealing, but also about working for one’s neighbor’s good.
Scripture: Micah 6
As we’ve followed the life of Joseph, we’ve seen that God gave him big dreams, set him aside for His purposes. But Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. The question hangs out there at this point in the story: are his dreams dashed?
Scripture: Genesis 39-41
What were once sexually deviant views have become mainstream. Ethics teachers will tell you that sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage is not wrong as long as it involves two consenting adults and as long as no one gets hurt. Even among some Christians, it is okay as long as two people love each other. What does the 7th commandment say to such an age?
Scripture: Matthew 5:27-32; 19:3-9
If Abraham’s life was marked by faith (in experiencing God) and Jacob’s by the “scandal of grace” (God’s grace), then Joseph’s story is about dreaming and the realization of those dreams. Joseph’s life seems a living illustration of Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good for those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Scripture: Genesis 37
Jacob heads back to Canaan, coming face-to-face with his brother Esau and re-settling in the promised land, part of the covenant promise. Over three chapters about Jacob’s messy family, we can learn some lessons: From Jacob and his family, we can learn how to live in the face of fear & guilt, how to live in an ungodly world, and how to live with God in the land.
Scripture: Genesis 33-35
By age 16, a child has seen well over 30,000 murders on television or in the movies, and no telling how many as a participant in video games! Have they, have we, become callous to killing? What does it mean in the 21st century: you shall not kill? How can we, many of whom have never handled a weapon nor intend to kill, take this command to heart? We can look at the command as Jesus did, on two levels: external and internal.
Scripture: Exodus 20:13; Matthew 5:21-26
Paul has been talking to the Ephesians about relationships in people’s lives, starting with a marriage relationship and ending with one’s work (slave-master!) relationship. He notes that both are two-sided. In between, he turns to the relationship between parents and children, so important God addressed it with the 5th commandment. Paul reflects on this relationship, which we don’t often think of as two-sided or mutual: honorable parents and honoring parents.
Scripture: Ephesians 6:1-4
TGIF, "Thank God It's Friday!" is a popular saying people use to celebrate the end of work's drudgery and look forward to the coming of the weekend, with all of its fun activities. For most, Sunday simply becomes the second day of that weekend, the last day of mindless pleasure. Is this what Sunday is all about? This is what the 4th commandment addresses, as well as Jesus when he encounters those who have a slightly skewed idea of what God commands. Can we change the phrase to TGIS? Thanks God It's Sunday!
Can you point to a key event in your life, a seminal moment in which the direction of your life changed for good? Perhaps it was a career decision, meeting your future spouse, coming into a relationship with Jesus Christ. We are going to look at the key moment in the life of Jacob. Here is when the scandal of God's grace is played out to its fullest, and it came in a wrestling match.
Scripture: Genesis 32
As we work our way through Genesis, we've been looking at "the scandal of grace" - that God, out of His grace, sometimes acts in scandalous ways or allows what seem like scandalous things to happen. Thus far we've seen a second son chosen by God (already in the womb), blessed by Isaac (unknowingly), and confirmed by God (at Bethel). Slowly we see his son, Jacob, growing into the covenant by learning not to "grasp" from man but "receive" from God. Yet we see that his family is a "tangled web" because of his practice "to deceive".
Scripture: Genesis 29-31
One of the ways Jesus dealt with the third commandment had to do with oaths. I would guess that's not a major issue in our lives today. Few of us ever have to take an oath in court, although many of us have taken marriage vows. But at the heart of Jesus' comments on oaths, he exhibits a deep concern for truth. So we will look at this command from the perspective of truth and how some in Jesus' day were perverting truth even by their oaths.
Scripture: Matthew 5:33-37; 23:16-22
John 4:19-26; Exodus 20:4-6
The Samaritans of the first century were a product of mixed marriages with foreigners, leaving them half-Jewish (or less). The religion of Samaria had held on to only the Torah proper, the first five books of Moses. This helps explain the distrust, hatred even, between the Jews and Samaritans. Unfortunately, the most direct route between Galilee and Judea was right through Samaria. Most Jews avoided this route, taking a much longer way through the Jordan Valley, Jericho, and the Judean wilderness, and finally up to Jerusalem. Jesus, however, was not “most Jews” and took his disciples right through Samaria, leading to this confrontation.
Genesis 27:41 - 28:22
We’ve been talking about the Jacob section as a “scandal of grace.” Jacob, the second son, was chosen by God to be the son of blessing, and then blessed by Isaac (despite some shenanigans). So Jacob has been confirmed by God as the next son of the covenant. Slowly see Jacob growing into the covenant by learning not to “grasp” from man but “receive” from God. Jacob’s life functioned on two levels: conflicts with people and encounters with God. The encounters with God assured that he would prevail in the conflicts and developed his character. In this way, we may be more like Jacob than Abraham.
In our culture, “self” is the goal of life, the core of life’s meaning, the highest value. Each self becomes its own moral universe, guided by self interest. What could be more alien to the first commandment, to have no other gods? Jesus speaks to this commandment and this idea. While the passage may seem to be only about God vs. money, it is actually about God vs. self! The choice between the two depends on our Goals, Vision, and Purpose in life. Three questions help us decide.
Scripture: Matthew 6:19-24, 33
Last week we looked at how God chose Jacob over Isaac’s firstborn son, Esau. Even though it was promised by God while the twins were in Rebekah’s womb, Jacob takes matters into own hands by buying the birthright for a bowl of soup. At this point in the story, we see Esau as shortsighted, living for the moment, while Jacob is scheming for the future. The birthright meant a double portion of Isaac’s estate, as well as becoming the new head of the family at Isaac’s death. But there was also a spiritual element to it: covenant blessing.
Scripture: Genesis 27:1-40
Even some Christians say the Ten Commandments are not for New Testament Christians. We live by grace, not by law. That’s why it surprises some people, if they read the Sermon on the Mount carefully and correctly, to hear Jesus say: Yes, absolutely the Law still applies in the 21st century! Let’s look at how and why he says so, as we prepare to study the Ten Commandments this summer.
Scripture: Matthew 5:17-20; 22:34-40
We move quickly from the second to the third generation of covenant promise. Isaac serves more as a bridge between Abraham and Jacob, whose life will span most of the rest of Genesis (though his son Joseph is the greater focus of 37-50). If Abraham’s life is a picture of experiencing God by faith, then Jacob’s life is a picture of the scandal of grace. If Abraham was heroic in his faith, leaving everything behind at age 75 and trusting God, his grandson is in many ways opposite.
Scripture: Genesis 25
Jesus passed the keys of the kingdom on to his Apostles and, ultimately, church leadership. These keys give the church the authority to “open and close the kingdom of heaven (God).” One of the two main ways is through the preaching of the Word, which we looked at last week. The second key is less regular and less comfortable: discipline. And yet, if thought about rightly and done properly, is an important aspect of church life. I say “church” life because the entire church is involved and responsible, not just office bearers. Matthew 18 gives us the process of discipline, but also reveals the power and purpose of discipline.
Scripture: Matthew 18:7-22
We’ve been working our way through some of the stories in the book of Genesis, and we last looked at Abraham’s life of “experiencing God.” Abraham made his mistakes, tried to fulfill covenant his own way, but ultimately trusted God and obeyed him. Now we see the changing of generations, the first time the covenant will be passed from one to another. As we see the passing of the baton, the word that sticks out is hesed = covenant loyalty, faithfulness (loving kindness).
Scripture: Genesis 24
Preaching is important. In fact, the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us that it is one of the “keys of the kingdom.” It opens the kingdom by proclaiming the Gospel message so people might accept by faith a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It closes the kingdom by announcing God’s wrath against the sin of those who remain unrepentant. It is the “backbone” of the body of Christ. We cannot stand, face our world or the trials of life without biblical instruction. It is crucial to our spiritual structure.
Scripture: Acts 2:14-47
If we want God’s best, we must sometimes go through the furnace of testing until we fully display God’s intended design in our life. Perhaps no one understood this better than Abraham. In this story, the heat was turned up! Here we see a God who tests, asks for a sacrificial faith, and ultimately provides.
Scripture: Genesis 22
This time of year, many families are focused on graduations. Graduation is the end of one type of General Fund Offerings and Percent of Budget 5/12 5/5 4/28 4/21 Last 4 Wks. $4,647 72% $2,328 36% $15,117 236% $3,249 51% $25,341 99% education but the beginning of another, either at another school or in the world. It is fitting, then, that graduation season coincides with Pentecost, because it is the graduation day of the Bride of Christ, the Christian Church! Pentecost is the Church’s commencement: the end of one type of education but just the beginning of its education in the world.
Scripture: Acts 1:8; 2:1-13
Life has turning points, including a life of experiencing God. As God calls you into relationship and to join him in his work, there are at least two major turning points where you could miss experiencing God working through you: a crisis of faith and the (in)ability to make major adjustments (Henry Blackaby, Realities 5 and 6 of Experiencing God). While Abraham had several turning points in his life, these are best illustrated in his relationship with Ishmael.
Scripture: Genesis 16, 21
One of Paul’s favorite pictures of the Christian life is the walk of faith (translated “live” in most Bibles), which actually comes from the Hebrew halakh (“walk”, but used for one’s conduct of life; sometimes called halakhah). The Christian life begins with a step of faith. Walking suggests progress (which we all need as Christians). To a young Thessalonian church, who recently took their first baby steps in faith, Paul describes how to walk as Christians, particularly how to walk for pleasure.
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
Have you ever said: if only I could have lived when Jesus was on earth and been able to talk with him? If only God would speak to me as He did Abraham, Moses, prophets, etc. Another reality of experiencing God is that God has never stopped speaking to people! He may use different methods, but He still speaks. Using Abraham’s life, we are going to look at how God spoke and how He speaks today.
Scripture: Genesis 18
Years ago, there was an extremely talented law school student whose life was changed by a couple of scary events: his friend’s sudden death and his own narrow escape from a lightning strike. Suddenly he became terribly afraid for his own salvation. He viewed Jesus Christ as an angry judge ready to throw him into hell. How could he be right with God and find peace for his soul? He eventually found it when he took to heart this passage in Romans 3.
Scripture: Romans 3:9-31
This next stage in experiencing God may cause us to laugh, or cry, depending on what God has in store for us. Reality #3 of Experiencing God (Henry Blackaby): God invites you to become involved with His work. We’ll look at three key phrases: God’s invitation, our involvement, and God’s work.
Scripture: Genesis 17
The Thessalonian church was worried about Christ’s return being like a sneak attack, catching them off guard (and making them liable to judgment!). Not wanting to be trapped by a false sense of peace, they had no peace. So Paul reassures them of how to live in peace with Christ, in light of his second coming, then also talks about having peace with fellow Christians.
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5
When we talk about knowing and doing God’s will, we sometimes divorce it from the relationship itself. Yet it is the relationship that God created us for, not the work. More than anything else, He wants us to love him with our whole being (Deut 6:4-5). Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God above all! Experiencing God: Reality #2 = God pursues a love relationship with us.
Scripture: Genesis 15
Jesus and his Apostles retreat to Caesarea Philippi, where we see a turning point in Jesus' ministry - all events that follow lead to a cross - and the Apostles' discipleship: Will they follow him to the end? Will they maintain Jesus' message and ministry when he's gone, or drop away like the fickle crowds? So Jesus asks a public opinion poll him: who am I?
Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20
Henry Blackby, in Experiencing God, writes: "One of the greatest tragedies among God's people is that while they have a deep longing to experience Him, they are experiencing God day after day but do not know how to recognize Him." So how do we recognize and, therefore, experience God? We are going to explore "seven realities of experiencing God" (Blackaby) using the life of Abraham as we continue looking at the book of Genesis.
Scripture: Genesis 12
On Resurrection Sunday evening, we’ll look at how the Apostle Paul shares the impact of Jesus’ death and resurrection with the church in Thessalonica, and the difference it makes to face death as a Christian.
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Over the Lenten season, we’ve spent some time in the Upper Room, as Jesus called his disciples to service, comfort, fruitfulness, peace, and remembrance. Yet the disciples were still confused about the meaning of all this. They hadn’t grasped the complete truth of Jesus as Lord: that death couldn’t hold him, that his farewell “calls” weren’t a swan song before his death but instructions for after his ascension. On Easter Sunday they learned the truth Paul would proclaim: “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”
Scripture: Matthew 28
A look at how Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples the night before going to the cross.
As we begin the “passion week,” we focus on the suffering of Jesus, particularly on the cross. The Catechism focuses our attention in that direction, asking what his suffering was like and why he was crucified. We are going to explore that suffering by listening to a couple of Jesus’ own words as he hung on the cross.
Scripture: Psalm 22, 31
There was a certain magnetism to Jesus on Palm Sunday. But a few days after Jesus’ seeming highwater mark of magnetism, with the adoring crowds, Jesus died like a criminal on a Roman cross, and lost that worldly sort of attraction. Yet I want to talk about a magnetic Christ and his magnetic cross, which may repel some, but continues to attract others. And then we’ll talk about how Christians must carry on Christ’s magnetism.
Scripture: John 12:12-36
As we near the Passion Week of Jesus, we encounter in the story of Jesus’ suffering two glaring sinners: Peter and Judas. Matthew puts these stories together for a purpose: to compare the sins and to contrast the responses. What is Matthew trying to teach the church of his day? And how is God speaking through these stories to us today?
Scripture: Matthew 26:69 – 27:5
The passion week had begun with crowds littering road with palm branches before King Jesus, and now we find Jesus talking in word pictures, calling his disciples to act like vine branches. So the Passion week moves from palm branches, known mostly for their shade & beauty, to vine branches, known mostly for their fruit. That’s the kind of branches Jesus calls his disciples to be: branches known for their fruit.
Scripture: John 15:1-17
The gifts of the Spirit are fascinating and exciting; to be a gifted person means to receive accolades. Perhaps for these reasons, the gifts of the Spirit often receive far more attention than the fruit of the Spirit. Yet it is the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit that is the mark of our progress in sanctification.
Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 13
How do we find comfort? Some try to find it in a new car, or by throwing themselves into their job. They find it in their spouse or a certain type of lifestyle. Others find it in a bottle, pill, or needle. Some in an enlarging bank account. Others resort to finding comfort at the wrong end of a gun, rope or suicide note. The disciples were fortunate; they found their comfort in Jesus, whom they traveled with for three years. But as they sat in the upper room, Jesus has just told them that he’s leaving them, going to his death, and it is a traumatic event! They had left everything for him, now he’s leaving them! So Jesus tries to bring them some comfort.
Scripture: John 14:1-14
Two weeks ago, we talked about sanctification, the work of the Holy Spirit done within us to cleanse us and cause growth. While sanctification is a work of the Spirit, it is one work of God with which we must cooperate. Our look at the Holy Spirit is incomplete without looking at the fruit the Spirit produces in our lives.
Scripture: Galatians 5:16-26
During this season of Lent, we are going take a little break from Genesis to explore John 13-17, spending time with Jesus and his disciples in the upper room, the night before his crucifixion. We’ll listen to what Jesus has on his mind, including his several “calls” to the Apostles and us to be his kind of disciples, as they gathered for the Passover meal. First we see Jesus washing the dirty feet of his disciples and drying them with a towel. What’s up with that? Is Jesus king? Yes, but a King whose scepter (a symbol of a king’s power and authority) is a towel.
Scripture: John 13:1-17
Sometimes we use the phrase “safe and sound,” praying for travelers, or those with risky jobs: “bring them back safe and sound.” By safe we mean alive; by sound we mean healthy, unaffected, unstained. The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us back to God safe and sound.
Scripture: Romans 8:1-27
We’ve been looking at the sin of the human race using the analogy of a virus in a computer system. It enters insidiously, spreads rapidly and becomes destructive. Sometimes it turns deadly, as evidenced by the later stories of murder, polygamy, vengeance, intermarriage between good and evil. Many viruses can be cleaned up with minimal damage (getting rid of polluted programs). But in the most extreme cases, to get rid of the virus you need to start over.
Scripture: Genesis 6:9 - 8:22
We continue our look at the Holy Spirit, particularly by focusing on his role in our lives, and the spiritual fruit he leaves in his wake. We first meet the Spirit in Genesis 1, where he hovers over creation and through whom the Father breathed in us the breath of life. From that perspective, the Holy Spirit inhabits everyone. But not all in the same way. For believers, the Spirit not only gives us birth, but also rebirth; he not only generated life within us (as in Genesis) but he regenerates life (a second Genesis).
Scripture: John 3:1-8; 6:63-65
Two weeks ago, we talked about sin as being like a virus in a computer system. Sin enters history and human life insidiously, through the tempting of Satan. It then spreads rapidly and becomes destructive. But scariest of all, it turns deadly, and that is descriptive of Genesis 4 - 6:8, closing the first section of Genesis.
Scripture: Genesis 4:1-6:8
Since we looked at the Creed regarding Jesus during Advent, with more to come during Lent, we turn to the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. In The Mystery of the Holy Spirit, RC Sproul tells the story of his conversion. But his fiancée was not particularly impressed. She noted that both of them had grown up in the church and professed their faith already. But in a prayer meeting one evening, she experienced the personal Spirit of God. Who is the Holy Spirit?
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
When a virus gets into your computer system, it spreads rapidly, re-writes code/commands, leads to crashes or total destruction or as vehicle to send to others. The only hope is an antidote to the virus. Sin is a lot like a computer virus: it gets into our system, spreads rapidly, corrupts our attitudes & actions and can bring eternal destruction. And, like with a virus, the only hope is antidote. In a sense, that’s the story of Genesis 3.
Another thing the Apostles’ Creed tells us about God revolves around his providence. It’s easy to recognize the presence of God when things are going well: the sun is shining, you have plenty of money in the bank, you’re healthy. But what about cloudy days, when the doctor brings bad news, or relationships seem to be coming apart? Where is God when pain and sorrow come? From Joseph we learn that God is still with us, even in times of greatest darkness. Sometimes, we find that God is with us in these times most of all.
Scripture: Genesis 45:1-8; 50:19-21
This Year’s Cadet Theme is “Rooted and Grounded,” based on Ephesians 3:17-18, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide & long & high & deep is the love of Christ.” How do we become “rooted and grounded”? On whose word do we stake our confidence? What lifestyle will we choose? Psalm 1 introduces the Psalter of Israel by dealing with those questions.
Scripture: Ephesians 3:17-18; Psalm 1
JB Phillips wrote about this in his book, Your God Is Too Small. He talks about a number of different images people have for God: a policeman, judge, grand old man, managing director of the universe, our projected image of the ideal father (Freud), a powerful and uncaring Greek deity (like Zeus). The Heidelberg Catechism, reflecting on the first statement of the Apostles’ Creed, says quite a mouthful about God the Father. It tells us that he is our Father “because of Christ his Son.” We can trust him to provide for us and “turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world.” Ultimately it tells us that “he is a faithful Father.”
Scripture: Luke 15:11-32
In Genesis 1 we see the creation account, so what is Genesis 2 about? Is it a second creation account? Actually it is a more focused view of God’s special creation: humanity. This account of God’s special creation shows us how we were created, but also what we were meant to be (before the fall in Genesis 3). This account reveals three important aspects of humanity: in relation to God, other humans, world.
Scripture: Genesis 1:26-2:25
As we being a new year, it is often an excuse, or perhaps a good reason, to make a fresh start. I’d like us to begin the new year with a reminder that the Christian life is an adventure. It’s not about how often you go to church or how much you put in the collection plate or how moral you are, all good things. The Christian life is, at its root, an adventure of living with God. To adventure with God, we need to know something about him. So, as the Catechism turns to the Apostles’ Creed, we are going to look at what the Bible reveals about God and how that affect our adventure with him.
Scripture: Exodus 3-4
This morning we are going to begin looking at an overview of the book of Genesis. As we do, we look first at the creation of the world. This also happens to be where we are at in our study of the Heidelberg Catechism: the Creator God. So in the morning, rather than the evening, we will look at the question: What can we learn about God and his creation of the world (today) and of people (next week)?
Scripture: Genesis 1:1-2:3
Angels have always been part of Christmas. Our Christmas cards or figurines portray cute, chubby little cherubs with rosy cheeks. But if that’s the case, why does their every appearance come with the assurance: “Fear not!” The angel figurines in our home are rather benign, certainly not creatures that would evoke terror at their appearance. But what if they really are “a great company of the heavenly host,” a platoon of fearsome warriors deployed by a mighty God, dazzling with the blinding glory of being in his presence?
Scripture: Luke 2:8-20
Glory is the way God reveals himself. But not too much, for we couldn’t take it. In this story, we see a few brief moments when the glory of heaven broke through. But when it broke through, to some shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem, their response was fear—and an angel has to say, once again, in the Christmas story: Do not be afraid. But what are the shepherds afraid of?
Scripture: Luke 2:8-14
On a television show called The Fear Factor, contestants are confronted with facing their greatest fears. There is definitely a fear factor in the Christmas story. Every time an angel shows up, he does so with the assurance: do not fear! What are we afraid of today? What would be our greatest fear factors? We’ll notice this morning that the “fear factor” for Joseph is very different than most of our fears today. He was afraid of sinning, losing his righteous reputation!
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25
John’s Christmas story is very different than that of Matthew and Luke: no shepherds, angels, Magi, inn keeper, not even a baby! And no Old Testament characters to foreshadow Jesus’ coming. John gives us new parable-types, a concept and a building, presenting Jesus as the “Word made flesh.”
Scripture: John 1:1-18
While Luke begins his Christmas story “in those days Caesar Augustus,” Matthew narrows the focus to “during the time of King Herod.” It is helpful to be reminded that all the characters in the Christmas story fell under Herod’s long shadow, and that includes the Magi. Why the Magi? Why did God include them as part of Jesus’ greeting party? Why did Matthew tell their story rather than the angels & shepherds, especially to a Jewish audience?
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
How do you view angels? In the Bible, angel announcements tend to cause fear, so they have to come with assurances. This Advent we will explore how these assurances are more than simply about an angel appearance. What was Mary afraid of? How did Gabriel assure her? Notice that Gabriel is going down in the world, from the Temple in Jerusalem to a small village in Galilee. He calls a teenage girl to the most astounding role imaginable, and watches her accept it in humility and service.
Scripture: Luke 1:26-38
What’s in a name? Names make a difference. That is especially true in the Bible, where names revealed character. Adam means “earth,” because he was formed from the dust of the ground. A change in names could also symbolize a change in character: Abram (father of one family) became Abraham (father of many nations); Jacob the deceiver General Fund Offerings and Percent of Budget 11/26 11/19 11/12 11/5 Last 4 Wks. $15,321 239% $2,321 37% $3,903 61% $4,368 68% $25,913 101% became Israel the God-wrestler; Simon became Rocky (Peter). But no biblical names are more important than those of our Savior. The Heidelberg Catechism spends two Lord’s Day on the significance of two of his names.
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25; Acts 4:8-12
How do you view angels? In the Bible, angel announcements tend to cause fear, so they have to come with assurances. This Advent we will explore how these assurances are more than simply about an angel appearance. In each one, God has something specific to say to the character(s), to Israel, to us. In the passage for today, the assurance is that, out of the silence of several centuries, God has heard the prayers of Israel and is about to act on their behalf. It is a story about prophets, priests and kings, but mostly it is a story about silence and signs.
Most every explanation of the Trinity engages in some sort of heresy. The doctrine of the Trinity is truly a mystery. Theologians have studied it for centuries, with no simple explanation. Why? God is beyond human comprehension; our finite minds cannot grasp his immensity. So why the doctrine? It is crucial to the Christian faith. If you deny the Trinity, you also deny Christ and his salvation; you deny the truth of the Bible. Although we cannot completely comprehend the Triune God, there are some things we can say about him.
As Paul writes to the Ephesians, he seems to be addressing the question, “What does it mean to be a little church in a big city?” by reminding us that God has chosen us from before the creation of the world to be building blocks in his Temple. He also addresses the question, “how then do we live as part of the New Community?” by giving ethical instructions on living as individuals (as children of light) and in relationships (through humility and mutual submission). But a last question he deals with is, “where do we get the power to be the church, to live as Christians, in this world?”
Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-24
We began the 2nd section of the Heidelberg Catechism being reminded of our great debt to God, then focused on the need for someone else, a Mediator, to pay the debt for us. And not just a monetary debt, for the wages of sin is death: eternal death, separation from God the Father. But the Bible, as the catechism reminds us, is filled with the good news that Jesus Christ is the perfect Mediator and has already paid this debt in full! But how can we claim this salvation?
Scripture: Romans 4:1 – 5:5
Paul has moved from a theological explanation of what it means to be the church to a more practical focus on living as the New Community: communally (unity in diversity), personally (children of light), and now relationally. Ephesians 5:21 gives the overall theme: mutual submission. The New Community is a place where mutual submission is practiced by all, a result of being “filled w/ the Spirit” (18).
Scripture: Ephesians 5:21-6:9
Paul is in prison and appears to know that his end is coming (4:6-8). His main concern, in what some have called his “last will & testament,” is about the future of his Gospel message in the face of the heresies and false teachers of the day. Paul looks to Timothy, writing to encourage him in his faith, but also charging Timothy to “guard the gospel.” This letter is a passing of the torch, as the faithful “keeper of the flame” (who has “finished the race”) now hands it off to his disciple to keep the message going.
Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-14; 3:10-17
We’ve been asking the question, along with the church in Ephesus: what does it mean to be a little church in a big city? Paul has given us the theological background; now he’s turned to the practical outworking of this in our lives: what does it mean personally? Paul is writing to some, Gentiles, who have a long-established habit of “being in the dark.” Their former lifestyle doesn’t match their now-professed faith. So they may have been asking, what does it mean to live as part of Body of Christ, Church? What sort of lifestyle is expected?
Scripture: Ephesians 4:17 – 5:20
We’ve been looking at the theological foundation of the New Community, the Church: chosen by God, redeemed by the cross of Christ to be in community, and called to reveal the mystery of God’s grace to others. Now, in the second half of his letter (Eph. 4-6), Paul has a more practical and ethical focus: how we should live in this New Community? In Ephesians 4:1, he tells us to “live a life (Eph. 4-6) worthy of the calling you have received (Eph. 1-3).” What are the characteristics of a life worthy of the calling to be the Church? The communal characteristics Paul shares in Eph. 4:1- 16 all revolve around the theme of unity.
Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-16
We’ve looked at the tremendous, unpayable debt we have to God. The only way this debt can be paid is through a mediator who is truly human and truly righteous, and is also true God. Now we explore where we can find such a mediator. LD 6-7 really explore some Christian essentials that we’ll look at over the next few weeks: our mediator, our faith, and our gospel. We start with the mediator.
Scripture: Hebrews 1-5
The Heidelberg Catechism refers to our sinfulness as causing a debt to God. As our Creator, Redeemer, and King, we owe God love and obedience. But our continual sinning makes us pile up more debt, hindering our ability to pay it off. Given this, we might think we are still in the “sin and misery” section of the catechism. But, instead, we have begun the section on our salvation. The first three questions of Lord’s Day 5 keep us in our misery, but the 4th (Q 15) sends us on our way to find a solution.
Scripture: Psalm 49
The Apostle Paul, excited about God’s grace expressed in the cross of Jesus Christ, is about to continue his prayer for the Church. But he interrupts himself to explain the mystery of God’s grace: by His grace, God has chosen to reveal that mystery to Paul, has called him to be His chosen servant to proclaim it, and is going to reveal His wisdom through the Church, as the community which carries on that God-given mission Paul began. While it might be interesting to think about God’s grace to Paul, it will be more beneficial for us to focus on God’s grace to the New Community, the Church, because what’s said of Paul is also true of us.
Scripture: Ephesians 3:1-13
Lord’s Day 4 of the Heidelberg Catechism is engaged in what theologians call “theodicy” – the justification of God. The three questions were undoubtedly ones the catechism writers had heard (or anticipated hearing) in connection with the biblical teaching about God’s wrath against sin. • Isn’t God unjust since we as sinners obviously can’t keep his law; it’s unfair! • Is he really going to punish all sin? • But isn’t God supposed to be merciful? Why the focus on his anger? Paul addresses this in Romans 2:1-16.
Scripture: Romans 2:1- 16
At the center of history stands the cross of Jesus Christ. The vertical dimension is restated in Ephesians 2:13: Jesus came down to meet us where we were (the grave) and brought us up to glory, into relationship with God. But there is also a horizontal dimension to the cross, which depicts Jesus, arms stretched wide, reaching out and embracing all those reconciled to God, bringing them into community. Thus the church is called to be in community with each other and to bring others into that community, carrying on the mission of Jesus. That means, says Paul, that we have to recognize the walls that Jesus has broken down and not rebuild them.
Scripture: Ephesians 2:11-22
“Image is everything!” say the advertising executives on Madison Avenue. Indeed, we live in a world of the image-conscious. Image is really about reputation. So even common folks are tempted to hide who we really are and try to project who we want to be. The Bible reminds us image-conscious people what are true image is, or should be. Beyond our reputation, our name, who we want others to think we are, the Bible tells us who we are at heart. Lord’s Day 3 of the Heidelberg Catechism, reflecting Biblical teaching, gives it to us straight.
Scripture: Gen 1; Col 3:1-10
Earlier in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he reminds us that God chose us as building blocks of His new community in Jesus (1:1-14), and he prays that we might have open eyes to who we are in Jesus (1:15-23). So who are we, we who have been built into God’s new community? When Paul opens our eyes in Ephesians 2:1-10, the first sight is awful and heart-wrenching: it’s a graveyard, with our own tombstones in plain view. God selected sinful, spiritually dead human beings as materials for His church! Some today say that the church is full of hypocrites; it’s worse than that: Paul says the church was full of corpses!
Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10
At the outset, the Heidelberg Catechism suggests that we need to first grovel in our sin in order to find “our only comfort.” Lord’s Day 2 asks: “How do you come to know your misery?” What a question! The answer is that the “law” or Bible tells me. We often have an uneasy relationship with the Bible: some parts we love, because they bring comfort and inspiration. But other parts mirror our sinfulness, we dislike what we see. But without the Bible (as a mirror), we are unable to see how we appear before God and make a change. So the law, the Bible, is both negative and positive in relation to our sin.
Scripture: 2 Chronicles 34:14-33
Peter and John have just healed a crippled beggar, preached the good news/bad news (for some) Gospel, been imprisoned, and confronted the Jewish Supreme Court (Sanhedrin). It was time to be recharged! They went back to the church (not a building but a people) for fellowship and they prayed together. Then they were reenergized and went back to work! Do we follow the same pattern? Do we use Sunday fellowship and worship to recharge our batteries? Do we spend time in communal and individual prayer to God for the energy of the Holy Spirit, so we can go back to work for Jesus Christ? A church at work is a church at prayer. How did they pray?
Scripture: Acts 4
Beginning this fall, our evening services will focus on working through one of the standards of Reformed faith, the Heidelberg Catechism. Our first sermon looks at the most well-known and beloved of all the Lord’s Days: question and answer #1. The theme of belonging stems from many Scripture passages, but is especially memorable from Jesus’ image of the shepherd and his sheep in John 10.
Scripture: John 10
Paul began his letter to the Ephesians giving them and us an eternal perspective on God’ new community: he chose us before creation, redeemed us in Jesus Christ, and marks us for Himself by the Holy Spirit. This makes Paul drop to his knees on behalf of the church. Prayer dominates this letter, split into two sections: Ephesians 1:15-23 and 3:14-21. What can we learn from Paul’s prayer about what God wants us to learn from this letter to Ephesians? And what might we learn about how to pray for ourselves and others?
Scripture: Ephesians 1:15-23; 3:14-21
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” begins A Tale of Two Cities. The same could be said for the end of Revelation. John is talking about the city of man (Babylon/Rome) and the city of God (Jerusalem). For one city, the end will be the worst of times; for another, the best. But the punchline of John’s visions was that the cities he has in mind will have very different outcomes than what his readers were now experiencing; their fortunes would be exactly reversed. Those who were clinging to the most powerful and glorious city on earth (Rome, the new Babylon) will be doomed to suffer its fate.
Scripture: Revelation 17-22
We begin a series on what it means to be the church as Paul reflects on it in his letter to the church in Ephesus. The city was one of the gems of the Roman empire, dominated by a temple to and worship of the goddess Artemis (or Diana). But within the city was a small group which had moved away from that religion; a new community which called themselves Christians. Having earlier visited (Acts 19), Paul now writes this church, giving a different vision for their religion.
Scripture: Ephesians 1:1-14
We’ve looked at John’s letters to the seven churches (yet challenging & hope-giving
to us), reminding them that the Lamb is on the throne (not Rome/our culture). And also calling them/us to stand strong in persecution, and give up complacency & assimilation to our culture, because God will vindicate those who bow, not to the world, but to the Lamb. We called that “things present.” We’re in the throne room in heaven, the “real” Temple. The 7th seal is broken, the scroll is now opened, and we get visions of “things to come” through the seven trumpets and seven bowls of incense (fitting, as we’re in the Temple).
Scripture: Revelation 8-16
Jesus’ discipleship training sessions with his Apostles were coming to an end. Oh, there will be more; after the resurrection, Jesus will appear several times to them. He’ll restore Peter, convince Thomas, and encourage his Apostles. He’ll spend time explaining all that’s happened and how it fulfills the Old Testament Scriptures. And he’ll tell them to wait for Holy Spirit to come before they get started. But much of that was done privately, out of ear shot for us. For what Jesus wanted to teach us about disciple making in the Bible, this is "class dismissed.” And he appropriately close class with prayer.
Scripture: John 17
Revelation is prophetic in content and intent, not necessarily predictive, but speaking to their time and situation (not ours). Revelation is not giving info about the end times (at least until the very end); its purpose was to strengthen their loyalty to Jesus Christ. Like Israel and the early churches of Asia Minor, the church today has also become complacent and compromising in many ways. Revelation is an open prophetic letter sent to seven particular churches yet contains a message which applies to the church as a whole, and so well to our own times.
Jesus has been with his Apostles in the Upper Room and they are now moving toward the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus has brought them into the 4th phase of disciplemaking that evening, calling them to “remain in me” in order to be able to accomplish their ministry. Now Jesus spells out what to expect as they minister without him physically present. It’s going to be a battle, he warns them, on eve of the battle’s beginning. He’s just told them to remain in him and they will be fruitful, to remain in his love to be assured of his presence; and to love each other. Why? Because, he says, “world hates you”!
The situation was that churches in Asia Minor, which John oversees, were dealing with false teachers who were splitting the churches. They believed Jesus was divine, but not fully human. Thus, the death & resurrection of Jesus was relatively unimportant to them — just the opposite of Christian theology: the blood of Jesus is absolutely necessary for our salvation. As John writes, he’s dealing with churches having faced the trauma of faulty theology and broken community. The answer to both is love.
Scripture: 1 John 4:7- 21.
Jesus’ pattern of discipling his apostles was (and still is) somewhat similar to getting married: ·
Phase 1: Come & See = like a first date, as the disciples got to know him ·
Phase 2: Come & Follow = steady engagement, learning more, growing closer ·
Phase 3: Come & Be with Me = marriage, as they threw lives in with him; it was a time of doing, ministry training, equipping, last instructions & modeling
Now we come to the 4th phase, where the relationship with Jesus deepens in intimacy and maturity: “remain in me & remain in my love.”
Scripture: John 15:1-17
In a sense, we are moving closer to the apostolic age of the New Testament. Such was the world of those to whom Peter writes this letter, mostly Gentiles who converted to Christianity. To believers living in that kind of world, Peter writes with a 3- fold strategy: 1) to exhort them to stand firm in light of the return of Christ; 2) to advise them how to shape their behavior so as to overcome prejudice against them; and to encourage them to consider where they do belong and what they do ‘own’ because they belong to Jesus Christ.
Scripture: 1 Peter 1-2
Jesus refused to allow public opinion to change his ministry. But now his public popularity has been dwindling. Herod Antipas is concerned about Jesus’ political ambitions. The Jewish authorities are increasingly hostile. Some disciples are leaving him, frustrated by his refusal to be a conquering king. Jesus and his Apostles retreat to Caesarea Philippi, where we see a turning point in Jesus’ ministry — all the events that follow lead to a cross — and the Apostles’ discipleship — will they follow him to the end? Will they maintain Jesus’ message and ministry when he’s gone, or drop away like the fickle crowds?
Scripture: Matthew 16:13-28
This is a letter James writes to churches outside of Israel, dealing with the conditions and problems they all faced, the trials and temptations of life in the real world. Perhaps this why the book of James is such a favorite among so many Christians: it gives practical advice for real world living. Yet this is not an individual letter for individual Christians but is addressed to a community of believers and is concerned with the health of the church. Our individual responsibilities and actions impact community/church health.
Scripture: James
We’ve been following Jesus as he called and is now equipping his disciples to become disciplemakers. Around this time the disciples must have been asking questions like: Why are we doing this? Who is this we’re following? What authority does he have over us? Maybe you have similar questions. As we’ve talked about the need for every single one of us to get in the games, to become leaders and disciplemakers, you might be asking: says who? And the biblical answer is: says Jesus Christ our Lord, the one who has all authority.
Scripture: Matthew 11
Hebrews Imagine being a Jewish Christian in the city of Rome in the time of Nero. You’ve been waiting on God’s promises of forgiveness and release from oppression, and have found your Messiah: Jesus. But as the years go by, rather than release from oppression, it only gets worse. You had suffered at the hands of emperor Claudius, but now it has intensified under Nero. You begin to wonder about this Jesus, whether he might not just be a false Messiah like many others. After all, you haven’t seen any sign of freedom from oppression or a peaceable kingdom. Now you’re tempted to return to Judaism, not only to look for another Messiah, but because your fellow Jews are not being persecuted like Christians are. Then a letter arrives …
Scripture: Hebrews
Last week we looked at the preceding passage (Matthew 9:35-38), a call for laborers to go out into the harvest fields. But what does that involve? Jesus is going to send out the 12 Apostles (“sent out ones”) with harvest instructions. He speaks with them about having a heart of a harvester, but also the hostile harvest field they will encounter.
Scripture: Matthew 10
Paul is in prison and his main concern is about the future of his Gospel message in the face of the heresies and false teachers of the day. Compounding his concern is that many believers have deserted him. In the face of all this, Paul looks to Timothy, his “dear son.” He writes encouraging Timothy in his faith, but also charging Timothy to “guard the gospel.” This letter is a passing of the torch, as the faithful “keeper of the flame” (who has “finished the race”) now hands it off to his disciple to keep the message going.
Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-14; 3:10-17
What does it means to be a disciple who is growing into a disciplemaker? We can see a progression in Jesus’ disciples, as they grow from Curious Converts (come & see) to Established Disciples (come & follow me), and now to Equipped Laborers (come & be with me). Jesus withdraws from the crowds and gathers Apostles, which he limited to 12 in order to develop close relationships. They grew in their convictions, Jesus supervised training experiences and taught key ministry skills as they went out into harvest.
Scripture: – Mark 3:7-19; Matthew 9:35-38
Paul had founded the church in Thessalonica not long before, but within a few months he was run out of town. Concerned over how this young church was faring, he sent Timothy, who returned with a good report. Paul is thankful to God for their faith, hope & love, but Timothy’s visit had also brought to light some concerns about proper conduct (having to live a radically different life) and Christ’s return (especially in connection those who died, times & dates).
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4-5
Over the last two weeks, we saw how Jesus invited prospective disciples to “come and see”— to hang out with him and see how they liked it. Then he revisited them with the invitation to “come & follow me,” based on their experience having been with him, his promise to equip them and his vision of the kingdom of God. For those who dropped their fishing nets and followed him, Jesus’ first lesson is about the kind of character it takes to be a disciple.
Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12
Philippians Paul writes the Philippians as partners in the Gospel. It is easily the most most intimate and joyous of his letters to his dearest friends. Like most of Paul’s writings, it is a letter of encouragement and challenge. They are facing conflict and opposition, both externally and internally. Not surprising, then, the church was lacking in joy. True joy, of course, doesn’t rely on our circumstances but how we choose to live life; and no one knows that better than Paul.
Scripture: Philippians
Last week we saw Jesus first phase of discipling: “come and see.” A few disciples spent some time with him and their eyes were opened. When these disciples left Jesus to return to fishing, they were faced with a contrast between two totally different worlds. Jesus left his new disciples with the question: should I follow him? They knew the day would come when they had to choose either to live for the world or to live for Jesus. It was a clear cut choice that was presented to the disciples in Mark 1:16-20.
Scripture: Mark 1:16-20
Some Christian Jews were calling the Gentile converts to be circumcised, keep the Sabbath and other sacred feasts, possibly even change to having kosher diets, an effort to keep the church “Jewish.” But it was having the effect of telling the Gentiles that you needed these to be Christian! Paul fights this idea of ethnic practices becoming norms for inclusion in this church. The only norm, he says, is faith in a faithful God, who kept his promises through the faithfulness of his Son. In Jesus Christ, we have freedom to be who we are and who God called us to be.
Scripture: Galatians 5
How did Jesus get people to sign on for this kingdom task? How does that recruitment continue, long after Jesus walked the earth? That’s what we’ll be looking at over the course of this summer: discipleship. “Growing Disciples into Disciplemakers” is the idea that each disciple of Jesus Christ should be growing into a person who reaches out and makes more disciples.
Scripture: John 1:19-51
Paul reminded the Corinthians that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (8:1). He could have used another adage, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” and that was certainly true in Colosse, the next church we look at. There a heresy (or what Paul calls a “philosophy”) arose, also based on “knowledge.” But this was much more serious than divisions (such as in Corinth); it was undermining Jesus Christ and their faith and salvation in him! It struck at the heart of their theology.
Scripture: Colossians
When he was on earth, Jesus spent a lot of time browsing over the lost and found table of the world (it was why God sent him). But the Pharisees saw this and murmured: why do you spend so much time with all that junk?!? Hookers, crooked IRS agents, druggies, AIDS victims. In these two parables, Jesus answers that question: because they are mine! They are lost and I’ve come to find them!
Scripture: Luke 15:1-10
Have you ever heard of churches where there were great divisions? Some members were treated like royalty, others like 2nd-class citizens? Maybe some preferred a certain pastor and left when he did? Some people felt they were smarter, more spiritual, or had better gifts than the next person? Where pride ruled, rather than humility? That was Corinth! Paul preached there for 18 months, after which he corresponded at least four times. In 1 Corinthians, he deals with divisions, which are largely the result of individuals or groups claiming superiority at the expense of others, or flaunting their social status.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians
Three times a year, God’s people were to appear before him at the Temple, where his presence lived: the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Jews from around the world made pilgrimage to the holy city. Each was a ceremony deeply rooted in past, but also gave hope for future. It is no coincidence that God chose those feast days for the great redemptive acts of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. On Passover, Jesus died as our Passover lamb. But on Shavuot, God revealed his presence in a whole new way
Why, then, is the ascension of Jesus important? The calendar of redemption history, which is a three-act drama with Jesus Christ as the central character, has the ascension of Jesus the Messiah/Christ as the major transitional event between the second and third acts: Jesus’ life on earth and his reign in heaven. Luke understood this. In his 2-volume set on New Testament history, he shows the ascension as a transition, ending Luke and beginning Acts.
Scripture: Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-11
One of most frustrating experiences is to be told to what to do without being given a clear idea how to do it. Unfortunately it happens all the time. One place where it often is true is in the challenge to reach the community for Christ. The Great Commission makes it part of Christians’ job description, but how do we do so? Jesus gives us a formula in the Sermon on the Mount.
Scripture: Matthew 5:13-16
The PASSION of the Prayer.
The PETITIONS in the Prayer.
The PROMISE in the Prayer.
The PRAISE in the Prayer.
Scripture: Ephesians 3:14-21
GO - spread the gospel through the world
GROW - knowledge, wisdom, strength of your faith
GLOW - let the Word be seen in you
We’ve seen that Romans is not first about individual salvation (although you can find it there) but about God and his plan for salvation history. God’s righteous plan is accomplished through Jesus his Son, and impacts both Jews & Gentiles corporately. He wants to carry this message to the Jews, but the Gentile Christians have not been helping him. Here he shares the “mystery” of how God is working to save both Gentiles and Jews by using both groups!
Scripture: Romans 9-16
We turn to three more styles of evangelism from Biblical stories: intellectual, testimonial, and invitational. How did the Apostle Paul, a blind man, and the Samaritan woman all serve as evangelists for Jesus in their own way?
Scripture: Acts 17:16-34; John 9:1-3, 13-34; John 4:28-30, 39-42
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A #2 gives us the outline for the entire catechism and, in a sense, the entire Gospel: sin, salvation and service. Where did they get that? Like everything else in the Catechism, directly from the Bible, more specifically from the Apostle Paul. In fact, that outline could serve as a summary for Romans 1-8. However, while the Catechism focuses on individual salvation, Paul’s concern here is with God’s plan for salvation history, accomplished through Jesus Christ. Individual salvation is included within it, but it is not the main point of Romans.
What image comes to your mind when you hear the word “evangelist”? Has the popular caricature of an evangelist ever dampened your enthusiasm for sharing your faith, thinking you’ll have to become something that’s contrary to your own personality? The way God has “shaped” us also impacts how we are to reach others. Over two weeks, we are going to look at how God equipped six people in the New Testament to fulfill differing outreach needs. These are styles that take into account our personalities, gifts, and experiences. Which of these styles fits you?
As we celebrate GEMS Sunday, their theme this year is Act. Love. Walk. It’s always great to pick action words for one’s theme, yet it begs the questions: Act how? Love what? Walk how and with whom? The answers to those questions are what make us different than the rest of the world, or the rest of our community. The answers to those questions is what makes these girls GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Savior). Let’s learn, along with the GEMS, the answer to those questions from God himself, through one of his prophets, Micah.
Scripture: Micah 6:8
As Protestant Christians, we are used to reading Romans through the eyes of Martin Luther. Out of a crisis of faith and in reaction to the legalism of medieval Catholicism, Luther engaged in a very individualistic reading that saw Romans as an explanation of personal salvation by faith vs. legalism (supposedly of the Jews). But as my late friend and teacher Dwight Pryor said: Romans is not about you; it is about God, specifically the ‘Gospel of God’ (1:1). The Gospel is always personal but never private. It is about what God is doing in history and where we fit in. Paul is telling a bigger story, and Israel is integral to the story. Romans 1:1-17 is crucial to understand Paul’s theme, which is based on an Old Testament text!
Scripture: Romans 1:1-17
On Easter Sunday, we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. The early church primarily preached two events: the death and resurrection of Jesus, the empty cross and the empty tomb. Paul echoes that in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5: Jesus died (and was buried as proof) and he was raised (and appeared to many as proof). So the empty cross and empty tomb go hand-in-hand. Why is the cross the symbol of Christianity? Why does the Gospel seem to focus on the cross?
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1-20
Change, especially radical change, is not generally brought about by those in charge. Usually it starts on the fringes, with a radical element (a visionary) who pushes for it. The most radical change in the history of the Christian church came right near its beginning, the inclusion of Gentiles, and it also came from a visionary who pushed the envelope: Saul / Paul.
Scripture: Acts 9-28
On Palm Sunday, we remember Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as the crowd cried triumphantly: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” But little did the people know what really awaited Jesus. Their cries of Hosanna, which means “God save us!” would dissolve into a very different cry of triumph from the cross. Very different from what the crowd anticipated and yet an answer to their hosannas once for all: “it is finished!”
Scripture: John 19:17-30
We are part of a denomination that joined then split from another Dutch Reformed Church (RCA) after just 7 years, never to unite again. If two groups with the same ethnic heritage, creeds & confessions, and basic theological beliefs can’t completely unite after 165 years, what about two groups with a different ethnic heritage and completely different theological beliefs? How could such people ever get together in a church? Obviously it would be a miracle of God; and it was! That’s largely the story of the rest of the New Testament, and it starts in Acts 10.
Scripture: Acts 10-15
Thirst is a God-created, human desire that insures we’ll take in enough liquids so as not to dehydrate. It is a gift from God for human beings. Jesus makes seven (recorded) statements from the cross. The first three focused on others (enemies, thief, mother); the fourth (and central) focused on God the Father. Now the last three are focused on himself: on his body, soul, spirit. Of all the words, the fifth seems the easiest to ignore, the least spiritual; for good reason: it’s physical! But in this word, Jesus tells us several things about himself
Scripture: John 19:28-30
- We saw Jesus’ plan for the disciples in Acts 1: to go from Jerusalem to Judea & Samaria to the ends of the earth, empowered by the Holy Spirit. We now see the church growing in Jerusalem. In that early and short time period (perhaps no more than a couple of years), we learn a lot about the church they established: the message they proclaimed, the growing pains they experienced, a major threat they faced, and the role of the Holy Spirit in helping them through this period, while also preparing them for the next steps: to go to Judea & Samaria (Acts 8), and then to the ends of the earth (Acts 9-28 and beyond).
It is easy to get desensitized to reality of Christ’s death. We view scenes of real violence on TV or the movies—murders, war, torture—as we pass the potatoes & gravy. Crosses and crucifixes have become so much a part of our landscape that we fail to grasp the horror. Christians must fight becoming desensitized to Christ’s suffering and death. His sufferings have always been a window through which we see his heart— the heart of God! We’ll look at two elements of that suffering: the cross and the cry.
Acts: Pentecost Power – Acts 1-2 We can’t look at Acts without the reminder that it is part of a 2-volume history, written by Luke. As he promised in the first verses of his Gospel, Luke gives us an orderly account of Jesus’ life and ministry; now, in Acts, he turns to the church’s early life and ministry. In essence, Luke uses the ascension of Jesus just outside Jerusalem as the transitional event: it completes volume 1 (Luke) and begins volume 2 (Acts). Why? The ascension connects Jesus’ ministry and resurrection with Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the church’s mission.
Frederick Buechner suggests that “there's no place in the Gospels where [Jesus] speaks some special, loving word or does some special, loving thing for the woman who gave him birth… No place, that is, except at the very end when, cross-eyed with pain, he looked down from where they'd nailed him and said something just for her... "Behold your son," he said, indicating the disciple who was standing beside her, and then to the disciple, "Behold your mother" (John 19:26-27).” In these words from the cross, what is Jesus saying to Mary, John, and to us?
Scripture: John 19:25-27
We are a Fore-known people.
We are a Predestined people.
We are a Called people.
We are a Justified people.
We are a Glorified people.
Scripture: Romans 8:28-37
In preparation for heading to Jerusalem and the cross, Jesus had just asked his disciples “who do you say I am?” and they responded, through their spokesman Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Then Jesus revealed that he was going to suffer and die in Jerusalem, and suddenly they had questions, doubts perhaps. They’d made the great confession (son of God), but did they believe it with every ounce of their being? Later, in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus would give authority to carry on his work, but where did he get it?
Scripture: Matthew 7:1-13
In the musical and book Les Miserables, Victor Hugo tells the story of Jean Valjean, who had been sent to prison. He tried to escape several times, which caused his sentence to be extended to 19 years. Once out, he steals a bishop's silver cutlery and is promptly caught by the police. But the bishop denies the charges and Valjean is freed. Deserving punishment, Valjean received mercy, and ultimately it changed his life. But in his initial response, the author reveals what lies in every heart's response to grace: humiliation and pride. Hugo writes of Valjean: "He could not have said lies at the heart of the two criminals; responses to Jesus on the cross."
Scripture: Luke 23:32-43
While Nazareth (last week) was Jesus’ original hometown, he actually moved to a new hometown of Capernaum. Jesus, why move? Why change your hometown? Especially at a time when that wasn’t the norm? Any time you move, it is a conscious decision that comes with reasons. In fact, we could all ask that of ourselves: Why has God placed you in this place at this time? So it is not unusual for us to ask that of Jesus.
Scripture: Matthew 4:12-25
During Lent we will be listening to Jesus from the cross, asking what these “cross-words” meant and what they tell us about Jesus’ suffering. We begin to talk about an atrocity worse than the senseless slaughter of innocent children, worse than the Holocaust that tortured and victimized 6 million Jews. We begin to focus on the unjust capital punishment of the only innocent man in human history and to hear his last words from that 1st century electric chair, the Roman cross. As we hear the first word from the cross, many feelings wash through our hearts, souls, and minds.
Scripture: Luke 23:32-34
We will look at Jesus’ visit to his hometown and his message in the synagogue, where he commented that no prophet was accepted in his hometown. But what did he mean by that? There is more going on here than simply bad memories of a hometown boy.
If you looked in a dictionary, you might find the following definition of pharisaical: “observing the form but neglecting the spirit of religion.” A Pharisee is often defined as a self-righteous, hypocritical person. These are probably the definitions we grew up with. But one thing I’ve found in exploring the cultural background of the Bible: it often explodes your definitions and assumptions. And nowhere is that more true than in our understanding of the Pharisees and their relationship with Jesus!
Scripture: Matthew 23
Paul has written about spiritual gifts, and the spiritual graces of faith, hope and love. All of these flow from the Holy Spirit in our lives. But now he General Fund Offerings and Percent of Budget 1/29 1/22 1/15 1/8 Last 4 Wks. $17,182 279% $1,684 28% $3,950 64% $2,136 35% $24,952 102% speaks of the governing role of the Spirit in worship. Apparently there was some tendency in Corinth to lose control of themselves as they exercised their spiritual gifts in worship. So Paul gives them 3 principles that ought to be involved in worship.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 14
We’ve looked at Jesus through the eyes of the culture of his day as a Rabbi and a parable teller. In that capacity, his goal would have been to make many disciples, who would not only learn his teaching but be prepared to carry on his mission. What does it look like to be a disciple of Jesus?
Scripture: Matthew 4-7
On Cadet Sunday, we will look at their theme verse: “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” We will look at the specific “amazing things” Joshua was talking about here.
Scripture: Joshua 3:5
Polls comparing the behaviors of those who claim they are “born again” Christians with those who say they are not Christians invariably come out roughly the same: the behaviors of the two groups are remarkably similar! Why do a high percentage of people claim to be Christian, yet a low percentage behave in a way consistent with the Bible? It’s easy to say they are just nominal Christians. But why do even those professing to be born-again Christians differ little from self-proclaimed non-Christians? I think the answer can be found in Jesus’ use of parables.
The word is so important that it permeates the Bible. It is listed at the head of the fruit of the Spirit. It is the key component of Jesus’ summary of the Torah and, in fact, all of Scripture. Love is the character trait that defines all Christian relationships: with God, with each other, in marriage, in families, even with enemies. But here, it is the word Paul uses to describe the best way, the only way, to exercise spiritual gifts, to act as a church.
We continue our look at how Jesus might have been seen in his culture, looking at a title some gave him: Rabbi (Teacher). In Matthew 21- 22, we see Jesus at the Temple, overthrowing the moneychangers’ tables, and his authority is questioned. Then he tells some parables, some Pharisees & Sadducees try to trip him up with questions, which causes Jesus to ask questions of his own. It’s pretty familiar, but what’s going on? It’s easy to say that it illustrates that Jesus just didn’t fit in. But in actuality, it tells us just the opposite: for the most part, Jesus fit in his culture pretty well.
Scripture: Matthew 21:23-27; 22:15-46
As we get older, it is increasingly important to keep in tune with our health. When we visit our doctor, one of the things he/she does is checks our vital signs (pulse, breathing, reflexes, etc.) to see if each area is healthy. If we have no vital signs, we’re dead! The church also has vital signs. In Corinth, apparently the vital signs were decreasing. Paul, using the body analogy, reminds them, and us, of five vital signs of the body of Christ.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
As we move into a series focused on an overview of the New Testament, we will start by looking at some key elements in Jesus’ ministry that are found throughout the gospels: teacher, parable-teller, disciple-maker, etc., as well as his relationship with different groups and even his hometowns. But we start with the beginnings of his ministry, focusing on three important elements: John’s preaching, Jesus’ baptism and his temptation. All of them confirm and set the stage for Jesus’ ministry and mission.
Scripture: Luke 3-4
As we get older, it is increasingly important to keep in tune with our health. When we visit our doctor, one of the things he/she does is checks our vital signs (pulse, breathing, reflexes, etc.) to see if each area is healthy. If we have no vital signs, we’re dead! The church also has vital signs. In Corinth, apparently the vital signs were decreasing. Paul, using the body analogy, reminds them, and us, of five vital signs of the body of Christ.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
Throughout Advent, we’ve noted that the Bible is the history of God seeking to dwell with his people, but also the people frustrating his plans. Then there is a long period of silence, with no shekinah glory/presence of God. For almost 400 years, they were waiting to hear God’s voice. It had been over 600 years since they’d seen the shekinah glory in the Temple, and knew God was actually dwelling “with us.” Perhaps they were wondering if he’d ever return, be “with us” again. Then Matthew introduces us to “Immanuel.”
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25
Throughout Advent, we’ve looked at the concept of “God with us”, noting that the history of the Bible is one of God coming down: to Eden, but then leaving after the Fall; with Moses to live in the tabernacle (in his shekinah glory); to a permanent temple under Solomon, but then the glory departed (Ezekiel 10) in exile; followed by the promise of a new Temple and the glory returning someday, when he would be “God with us” again. Yet, for all the glory of the newly rebuilt Temple, there was no true, shekinah glory! Would God return to his House, to be God with us?
Scripture: John 1
Luke intentionally sets the birth of Jesus in the context of world and local history. Caesar Augustus heads a Roman Empire known for peace and prosperity and a glorious culture. Herod, as clientking over Judea, is known for his power and propaganda of the Hellenistic culture, but also for his murderous paranoia and moral evil (not to mention he was a descendant of Esau and an Edomite, Israel’s great enemy. So it is a great predicament for the Jews: do we succumb to the grandeurs of Rome, or the evils of Herod, or both, and lose our way in the world? And how does the birth of Jesus affect that predicament?
Scripture: Luke 2
When Solomon became king, one of the first things he did was to build God the King a palace. God will now reside, not just camp, with his people. God comes down more permanently, residing with them in the promised land. From leaving Adam & Eve outside the Garden of Eden, God had now fully returned, “come down.”
Scripture: 1 Kings 5-9; Ezekiel
Matthew 2 In Matthew 2:1 we are introduced to three characters: “Jesus … Herod … Magi.” Now we sometimes sing “We Three Kings” referring to this last set of characters (Magi), but Matthew sings it referring to the three “kings” he introduces us to in this part of his Christmas story. As he does, he is setting up his readers with a question: who’s the real king?
Exodus 25, 40 What kind of God goes camping with his people? That’s the question we’ll start with in our Advent series, “God with us.” The incarnation (usually defined as God becoming flesh in Jesus) is not just for Christmas; for God, it’s an ongoing process that takes us from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. In the Bible, God’s motion is always one of “coming down.”
Jesus’ return to “judge” (last week) also includes bodily resurrection and the onset of eternal life in a new heaven and earth. As we move from the judgment of Revelation 20 to our eternal reality in Revelation 21-22, these are all events of comfort. In Rev. 20, there is comfort in the present, as deceased believers are depicted as being with Christ (and vindicated, as their oppressors are punished). In Rev. 21-22, we see our comfort for the future: our final, eternal state of blessedness, a culmination of biblical promises.
Scripture: Revelation 21 – 22:5
Revelation 20 deals with judgment and justice, and it is important to see that the two are tied together: our vindication or justice comes in connection with the judgment of Satan and unbelievers. As with almost all of Revelation, chapter 20 covers not just the future but the past as well. It gives us a heavenly perspective of the span from Jesus’ first to second comings.
Scripture: Revelation 20
While the Greek world viewed gentleness or meekness almost as an ethical vice (like
cowardice), Christians see it as an important ethical virtue and a fruit of the Spirit. We still battle those differences today, when we hear our world say “nice guys finish last” or “meek equals weak.” But one of the early leaders of the Christian church holds forth gentleness as an ideal, a virtue, which expresses itself in wisdom and actions. James notes how our attitudes (wisdom) express themselves in action (our relationships with God and people).
Scripture: James 3:13 – 4:10
A program of organ music, played on the instrument at Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church in thanks for the organ and the people who made it possible.
Organists Raymond Haan and Kathleen Herrema
Last week we saw the Lamb given "all authority in heaven and on earth” in the form
of a scroll. The scroll, which only he has the authority to open, is symbolic of the destiny of humanity. We noted how this fits with the statement of our faith, the Apostles’ Creed, when it says: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.” But how does Jesus exercise his authority until he comes “to judge the living and the dead”? What is so important about his being seated at God’s right hand? To answer that, we need to look at how John portrays it in his day.
Scripture: Revelation 6
When Paul was writing to the church in Galatia, he found himself wrestling with their attitude of works-righteousness. As part of his teaching them about faith, he used the Old Testament example of Abraham. Not only does Paul find in Abraham the exemplary of faith/fullness, but the author of Hebrews gives the most ink to Abraham when writing about the “heroes of faith,” those who are examples from whom we can learn. So what can we learn from Abraham about the fruit of faithfulness?
Scripture: Hebrews 11:8-19
Priesthood was one of the fighting words of Reformation. The Reformers recognized
that the priesthood had become a barricade to God, rather than a bridge. So the Reformers called every believer to the awareness of his/her own priestly role before God, “the priesthood of the believer.”
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4-12
David is one of the most enigmatic characters in
the Bible. He is honored as the ideal king of Israel,
the builder of an empire, a great father to his
people, the root from whom the Messiah would
come, and the key to Jesus’ ancestry. He was a
mighty warrior, a musician, a poet, a deeply loyal
friend, and devoted lover of God, and for the most
part a just and able king. Yet he was notorious for
a very public sin and a lousy father. How can he be
an exemplar of goodness? Because this is God’s
own evaluation of David.
Having just looked at the “signs of the times,” it is somewhat natural to step into the book of Revelation for a few weeks. John is on the isle of Patmos and sees a vision of an exalted, allpowerful Christ, standing among the churches: he is with them! Then he is called to pass on Christ’s message to the churches, an overall message warning of assimilation, persecution and complacency, and calling them maintain their faith
and their witness, patiently enduring their cross for Christ. Then his attention turns to the throne room of God, an unopened scroll containing the future of the world, and a Lamb who is found worthy to open the scroll, to unveil the future.
Scripture: Revelation 5
As we come to the middle of the list of the fruit of the Spirit, we find a series of
words that are often interchangeable in the Bible: kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, in particular, seem to be connotations of several Hebrew and
Greek words. But if we were to pick one Old Testament concept to represent the word “kindness,” we’d be best to focus on the Hebrew word hesed, which is often translated “lovingkindness,” and the example of Ruth.
Scripture: Ruth 1; Luke 6:27-36
The Temple was one of the wonders of the ancient world. People came to Jerusalem from all over the Roman Empire to see it. Here the disciples are “oohing” and “aahing” over the huge stones and massive building of the Temple. Jesus says: “Don’t be impressed. It is all going to come crashing down, and life as you know it is going to come crashing down.” It is a reminder for all to hold on to the eternal.
Scripture: Mark 13
We live in an instant world: we can get instant food, instant banking, an instant oil change, instant credit, want to be an instant success. The American’s prayer is “Lord, give me patience … and I want it right now!” But God says through Paul, “the fruit of the Spirit is … patience!” If we want to follow God’s will and be Spirit-filled Christians, patience is to be a virtue, a fruit of the Spirit. James 5:1-12 explores patience.
Scripture: James 5:1-12
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Perhaps it is at Christmas time that we most try to instill that idea into our children. Either we find out the truth of that anew, or battle again our insatiable greed. Christmas giving versus receiving is a matter of maturity (and some are less mature than others!). Christian giving versus receiving is also a matter of maturity—spiritual maturity. And it is also true in this case that some people are less mature than others. That’s the case in this story from Jesus’ life. But what is most shocking about this story are the identities of the mature giver and the immature receivers.
Scripture: Mark 12:35-44
We’ve been looking at fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives. The Spirit is kind of a mysterious part of the Godhead and, because we cannot nail him down, we speak of him in terms of names & descriptions given in the Bible. In talking about fruit, we might think of him as a master gardener, helping us in the fruit production of our lives. But in the context of describing one fruit we bear as Christians, Jesus gives us a number of other titles or descriptions of the Spirit. We’ll look at those in conjunction with the spiritual fruit of peace.
Scripture: John 14:15-18; 15:26- 27; 16:7-16, 33
As Christians, we are sometimes insecure about the biblical idea of how we get to heaven, live on eternally—through resurrection from death! It is not scientifically verifiable; we don’t know any resurrected people. So it is easy to be insecure, fearful when people question it. That insecurity was the ally of the Sadducees. They rejected the supernatural—except God himself—denying angels, spirits, life after death, and bodily resurrection! Now they take on Jesus in a debate about life after death.
Christians aren’t always portrayed as joyful people. Yet, of all people, we should be the most joyful: we were created for joy. The Westminster Catechism asks: “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” It’s TC, “theologically correct,” to be joyful! In fact, one of the greatest theologians was also one of the most joyful Christians: apostle Paul. And he best models the second fruit of the Spirit, joy, in his incredibly joyful letter to the Philippians.
The gifts of the Spirit are fascinating and exciting; to be a gifted person means to receive accolades. Perhaps for these reasons, the gifts of the Spirit often receive far more attention than the fruit of the Spirit. Yet it is the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit that is the mark of our progress in sanctification. Despite pentecostal fervor, we need to be reminded that the first fruit of the Spirit is not power (represented by tongues, healing, prophecy) but love. Paul says as much in Galatians 5 and 1 Corinthians 13.
Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 13
God hears childlike prayers, for his Spirit searches our hearts and brings them to God (Rom. 8:26). But, as we grow as disciples, we should mature in prayer beyond this. Our prayers should still have child-like devotion, but the content of our prayers is also important. In Hebrew, the heart and mind are both expressed in the word lev, which hints at an inseparable connection between the two. So when the Bible calls us to pray with our lev, it involves not only the emotions of the heart but the content of the mind. Feeling as well as focus, conviction as well content characterize biblical prayer. One day Jesus’ disciples said: “Lord, teach us to pray.” What are they asking? How does Jesus answer?
Scripture: Luke 11:1-4; Matthew 6:5-15
Jesus was engaged in a terminal conflict. He had entered Jerusalem as Messiah, cursed a fig tree— which subsequently withered, a symbol of the fruitlessness of Israel,—angrily cleansed Temple. Now he is surrounded by, in effect, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court. “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority?” they demanded. They were supposed to be the authorities. Jesus answers with a parable.
Scripture: Mark 11:27 – 12:12
As Jesus comes into Jerusalem the Monday following his triumphal entry, he heads straight to the Temple. It was a scene of great religion of Judaism: elaborate sacrifices, religious ritual, laws to keep all on the straight and narrow, pious religious leaders who seemed above reproach. And especially at Passover time, Israel seemed to flourish in dedication to God and religious zeal. But Jesus, like the little boy in the fable, said: the Emperor has no clothes! Israel has no fruit! He says so in two ways.
Scripture: Mark 11:12-25
Peter and John have just healed a crippled beggar, preached the good news/bad news Gospel, been imprisoned, and confronted the Jewish Supreme Court. It was time to be recharged! They went back to the church for fellowship and they prayed together. Then they were reenergized and went back to work! Do we follow the same pattern? Do we use Sunday fellowship and worship to recharge our batteries? Do we spend time in communal and individual prayer to God for the energy of the Holy Spirit, so we can go back to work for Jesus Christ? A church at work is a church at prayer. How did they pray ?
Scripture: Acts 4:1-31
Mark 10:46-52
Jesus, a popular though controversial teacher, is traveling toward Jerusalem for Passover. A large crowd grew as he neared Jerusalem, all pilgrims heading to the Passover festivities. In Jericho, Jesus encounters more pilgrims, as well as others who couldn’t attend the feast. And also priests who, as they were preparing to make their pilgrimage, likely eyed this liberal Rabbi Jesus with a mixture of curiosity and contempt. So as Jesus travels through Jericho, he’s looked at by some with awe, others with gratitude, but also by many with suspicion and contempt. But, as we find out in this story, none saw him as clearly as one who couldn’t see!
Jesus’ disciples are at a crossroads. Jesus has set his face toward the cross in Jerusalem—and he’s trying to help his disciples set their direction in life. They had earlier fought over which of them was the “greatest” and Jesus told them to become like a child! Then a rich young man wanted to follow Jesus without paying the price, and got a lesson on humility, dependence and trust, a lesson intended for the disciples too! Jesus also reminds them of his impending suffering and death, and all along the way is educating them to be his kind of disciples. Then James and John say, “Can we be your right hand men in your Kingdom?” So it’s back to the drawing board for another lesson on servanthood.
Scripture: Mark 10:35-45
Sin is common to us all and, regardless of its seriousness, it’s always “against the Lord” and, therefore, must be confessed. But sometimes this leaves us with questions: Am I truly repentant? Will God hear me? Will He forgive? The beauty of David’s example in Psalm 51 is that, whatever sin we’ve committed, it is probably no worse than David’s, and yet he was forgiven! Psalm 51 records David’s prayer for forgiveness and how it affects his fellowship with God.
Scripture: 2 Samuel 11-12; Psalm 51
We live in a world that tries to impose its values on us. But Jesus preaches a different set of values for his followers, those who would truly be part of God’s kingdom. Jesus’ values are counter-values, “upside down” values, something already apparent in the previous story, where he said that the kingdom of God belonged to children (10:13-16) — they are the blueprint for an answer to this man’s question: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Let’s listen in as Jesus tries to help this man, and us, with a “values” adjustment.
Scripture: Mark 10:17-31
Prayer has deeper meaning than just talking with God; it covers a much wider range of divine-human interactions. In fact, it is hard to see where worship leaves off and prayer begins. This story is not so much about the form prayer takes as the attitudes underlying prayer. It reminds us of two attitudes always present in prayer: rejoicing and reverence.
Scripture: 2 Samuel 6
Maybe you’ve heard someone speak of “a marriage made in heaven.” Then why are so many failing? Given the alarming statistics, not to mention our own personal experiences among our families and friends, it is important to be reminded of Jesus’ teaching about marriage. And that’s what this passage is about, not divorce primarily but marriage.
As we continue our prayer series, we ask the question: what about prayer that doesn’t seem to get answered? That leaves us stuck in a mystery? Job deals with just such a question. Now Job had four friends who spouted to him the company line: God is just and bad things happen to bad people; therefore Job must have sinned and is being punished. If God is punishing him, Job is sure he has a case. If he could just get God to listen to his side of the story, find an arbitrator who would mediate, he could convince God of his innocence.
In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus starts with praising and honoring God first. The "A.C.T.S." plan for prayer begins with adoration. Some call this "prayer of a higher order." As we grow in maturity, we should be more concerned about God's will and honoring him. But that's not to say that personal prayer for our needs is inferior. Jesus calls us to it in the Lord's prayer and, regardless of spiritual maturity, this is a kind of prayer we will pray all our lives. And the Bible records such prayers; one example is the prayer of Hannah.
Scripture: I Samuel 1:1-20
It's the day after the transfiguration of Jesus, and the three disciples excitedly descend the mountain. They had seen Jesus' glory and heard the Father's voice. They are now engaged in a theological discussion about Elijah and the resurrection. But suddenly they are back in the valley, encountering a demon-possessed boy. Relatively quickly, they've gone from the heights of God's glory to the depths of Satan's hideous work among men, and from power to helplessness.
Scripture: Mark 9:14-32
In this passage we see Moses exercising prayer partnership with God in intercession for his idolatrous people. But it is easy to be drawn away from his prayers by seeing the Levites slashing their way through the cowering ranks of guilty Israelites, killing 3000. To Moses, the bloodshed wasn't comparable to the horror of the people's sin. God had graciously delivered them from Egypt, parted the sea, led them by a pillar of cloud and fire. Now Moses is gone 40 days and the Israelites resort to idolatry. So let's try to get beyond the bloodstained Israelite camp to focus on Moses' example of intercession.
Scripture: Exodus 32
In our previous passage, Jesus asked: “Do you have eyes but fail to see?” (Mark 8:18). After all Jesus had said and done (even repeating a feeding miracle!), the disciples are still blind to who Jesus really was: the bread of life. Obviously this was discouraging to Jesus, on his way to the cross, to know the blindness of his intimate friends. But blindness is not an insurmountable problem to Jesus. So, in 8:22-26, Jesus again performs a miraculous healing, this time of a blind man, an event that would also open the eyes of his disciples.
Scripture: Mark 8:22-9:1
Can you point to a key event in your life, a seminal moment in which the direction of your life changed for good? Perhaps it was a career decision, meeting your future spouse, coming into relationship with Jesus Christ. We are going to look at the key moment in the life of Jacob, and it came in a wrestling match.
Scripture: Genesis 32
As we look at prayer, one of the questions we might ask is: what is prayer? One way to look at it is as our response to God’s initiative in speaking to us. We see that happening early on in Scripture, with God’s covenant partner, Abraham. God addresses Abraham as a partner and he responds. Are we partners in prayer with God?
Scripture: Genesis 18:16-33
This not a sermon re-run. Back in January, we looked at the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 from Mark 6:30-44 Now we come upon a very similar miracle story in Mark 8:1-21, which causes some biblical critics to say that Mark is explaining the same event twice. But there are actually great differences between the two feedings, the most important of which is that earlier Jesus fed 5000 Jews, but now is feeding 4000 Gentiles, since he is in the region of the Decapolis—Gentile territory. But it is a repetition, not just for the Gentiles but also the disciples, a teaching tool for their growth in understanding.
Scripture: Mark 8:1-21
Jesus moves to the Decapolis in Gentile territory. According to Matthew's account, he healed many people there. But Mark picks out just one: a man deaf and almost completely mute (or dumb). This was a terrible handicap because, unlike most others, he looks normal until spoken to . Then he has to go through the humiliation of being thought stupid (which soon became the connotation of "dumb"). In an oral society in which most information was spoken, not written, he did not have benefit of education. Mark uses this real scene as a symbol of the healing and model of ministry Jesus presents.
Scripture: Mark 7:31-37
As we go on the adventure of the Christian life with God, and especially when we talk about prayer, one of the things that greatly affects us and our prayers is God's attribute of omniscience, that God knows everything. Jesus says: "your Father knows what you need before you ask him." If this is true, if God knows our needs, why pray?
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-13
Mark 6-7 reports a number of “faith failures,” the failure of God’s people to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah and God’s Son. The neighbors resented him, the crowds saw him as only a prophet, Herod superstitiously thought he was the ghost of John the Baptist. Even the disciples misunderstood the full extent of his power, while the Pharisees could only think of their rules and traditions. After all these “faith failures,” Jesus needed to see a pleasing faith. Surprisingly he goes to Gentile territory and finds it in a Greek woman.
Scripture: Mark 7:24-30
As a child, what was your favorite strategy for getting your way with your parents? Did you butter them up or smooth talk them? Did you cry until you got what you wanted? Did you keep asking, nagging, bugging? Jesus tells a parable about prayer (v.1) and pictures a persistent “nagger.” Is that the model for our prayers?
Scripture: Luke 18:1-8
Traditions: we all have them. Perhaps they have to do with how our family celebrates Christmas or Easter, the first day of school or birthdays. Traditions are a way of passing down our family heritage and even our values to our children. In the Christian faith, there are also many traditions that can help us pass down God’s Word and Christian values. But there is always a danger to traditions. When the tradition itself becomes the focus, it loses its meaning. This is traditionalism. There is an important difference between the two. As Jaroslav Pelikan writes: “Tradition is the living faith of dead people; traditionalism is the dead faith of living people."
Scripture: Mark 7:1-23
We’ve seen it time and again through the years. Whether Israelis and Palestinians in Israel, Republicans and Democrats in the USA, or Sunnis and Shiites in various middle eastern countries, there is a deep-seated division, hatred even, that is very hard to overcome (rather, it usually escalates). And almost 2000 years ago, in an environment no less of a powder keg than today’s Israel, came a man speaking of the blessedness of being meek, merciful, and peacemakers — even while being persecuted — and commanding that his followers do something highly unusual, in our culture and in theirs.
Scripture: Matt 5:38-48; Luke 23:32-38
Often in Bible, we learn from the positive things people do; but sometimes we can learn from the negative. In this story, the disciples teach us how to make our problems worse than they are (a skill I’m sure everyone greatly desires!).
Scripture: Mark 6:45-56
Why forgive? Does it ever seem unfair, unjust — like there has to be a limit? Most books on forgiveness are on how to forgive. Some get into why to forgive, but mostly from our perspective (it releases us from our pain, etc.). But there’s nothing as straightforward as Jesus’ story here.
Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35
Jesus tells a story about someone who prays a shocking prayer. But, as with many parables, we have domesticated it. Since we know it so well, we have lost the shock factor Jesus brings to it. One way to recapture that is to substitute “Billy Graham” for “Pharisee” and “Adolf Hitler” for “tax collector.” Then we begin to feel the shock of the Jewish listeners.
Mark 16:1-8
Easter: Fear and Joy? Certainly Easter is one of the most joyful days of the Christian Church, but what does fear have to do with it? Isn’t it about Good News?! Yes! Today we feel great joy, and well we should! Jesus is risen, he’s alive, and there’s no better reason for celebration! But Mark tells us Easter also has something to do with fear, that, in fact, fear was the predominant emotion of the day for the three women in this story. Look at verse 8 again: “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” What a way to end a Gospel (i.e. Good News)!
Matthew 28
If Jesus had remained in tomb, his call to comfort would have been shallow and baseless. If there was no Easter, the upper room would have merely been a death-bed scene with the dying man uttering his final, inspiring words: memorable, but hardly life-changing! And that is true for us as well: without Easter, our faith is baseless. Without Easter, Jesus becomes a tragic though inspiring figure. But Easter changes all that. How? What does Easter mean? Matthew stages it like a play, not a tragedy but a comedy in three scenes.
We have come to call the events described in Luke 19:28-44 (and parallels, such as Mark’s) Palm Sunday, and the event of the day “the triumphal entry.” But I think we’ve got the names wrong, both of them. Why Palm Sunday when palms were an inappropriate image for the day? And what is triumphant about an entry into Jerusalem that leaves Jesus weeping? So what is the appropriate image? What should the day be called?
Scripture: Luke 19:28-44
Robert Short, in his book about Ecclesiastes, A Time to Be Born, A Time to Die, writes: “The author of the book of Job was a consummate dramatist. The psalmist was a lyrical poet. The author of Jonah knew how to tell a fascinating short story…. Ecclesiastes was also no mean poet, but fundamentally he was an artist of another sort: He was a photographer.” A photographer works with the light available. Though Solomon works “under the sun”, in dim light, he captures amazingly accurate pictures of our world.
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 12:9- 14
Palm Sunday is known as Jesus’ triumphal entry. But Mark tells us the story of another triumphal march later in the week, not a triumphal entry but a triumphal procession, and that’s the focus of our attention today. Paul actually speaks of a triumphal procession at one point: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.” (2 Cor. 2:14). When Paul speaks of a triumphal procession, what is he talking about?
Scripture: Mark 15:16-39
Theologian Francis Schaeffer wrote an influential book a number of years ago entitled How Should We Live Then? After examining all the "under the sun" philosophies and lifestyles and finding them meaningless, Solomon answers that question in chapters 11-12. Here he finally constructs a positive way to live, based on a theology that he's pretty much kept under wraps throughout the book. His advice? Be bold! Be Joyful! Be Godly!
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 11:1 - 12:8
The Gospel of Mark is written to an authentic, countercultural, persecuted church in Rome. Mark’s intention is that the Roman church was to understand that they might undergo similar rejection to that of Jesus, and chapter 15 is his true-to-reality recruitment poster. Reflecting on Jesus’ example in dealing with rejection might give them and us the strength and wisdom to endure when rejection comes our way.
Scripture: Mark 15:1-20
American Indian lore tells a story of an eagle raised as a prairie chicken and limited to a prairie chicken lifestyle instead of soaring as an eagle. Solomon, in Ecclesiastes, has been talking about a prairie chicken lifestyle, strictly “under the sun” living (horizontal, without God in the picture) and found it meaningless. God created us to soar like eagles, he set eternity in our hearts (Eccl. 3:11). So here, Solomon compares and contrasts two ways of life: folly or wisdom, being an “under the sun” prairie chicken or an “above the sun” eagle. Which will we be?
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:20
Writing to suffering church in Rome, Mark pays special attention to these scenes at the high priest’s house. Here he contrasts the failure of one man, Peter, with the steadiness of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, in order to teach the early church what was necessary for living in a hostile world. It is a contrast between two rocks.
Scripture: Mark 14:53-72
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon has been blasting away at “under the sun” lifestyles and philosophies: they sound good, but in the end they are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Now he turns to the ultimate issues of life and death. Again, as we’ve seen, how one reads Ecclesiastes is somewhat dependent on one’s world and life view. Let’s read these verses from each perspective.
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 9:1-12
In this passage, one might be tempted to focus on the hideous betrayal by Judas, looked on by some as the most horrible crime ever perpetrated. Or perhaps on the momentary courage of Peter in defending Jesus. Or even the odd mix of Jews and Gentiles in the posse that came to arrest him. But the clear focus in the story is Jesus: his sovereign (kingly) control over the situation, but also his willing submission to the Father's will. What Jesus said in his prayer is now exemplified in his actions.
Scripture: Mark 14:43-52
Solomon now turns his attention to this sticky issue for believers and those who are not: injustice and tragedy in the world. When faced with injustice, our initial reaction is: who's in charge here? There is a natural link between injustice and authority, with a sense that the authority under which injustice happens is at fault. Solomon shares some wisdom here to help us approach authority in these cases. But what about when the Authority is unapproachable?
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 8:2-17
Only Jesus knew what awaited these bold disciples of his. They sounded so confident, so assured when James and John said they could drink the cup Jesus would drink (10:38-40); when Peter, with the crucifixion only hours away, loudly stated: “Even if all fall away, I will not” (14:29). Bold. Confident. But definitely not prepared for the next hours and days. So Jesus takes his confident confidants, Peter, James and John, with him into the garden of Gethsemane. It would be a humbling lesson, as their bold words were soon to be tempered by what they would see and hear and experience.
Solomon hasn’t spoken much yet about wisdom, surprising given his notoriety for it and all his proverbs. But from this point on, we will hear the word “wisdom” 35 times. But it is a bit different than Proverbs; in Ecclesiastes he overturns some of the conventional wisdom of the day with uncommon sense wisdom. These are Solomon’s “rules for the good life.”
This message explores the strength of Stephen's convictions about who Jesus was, and how we too should be strongly convicted to face the challenges of our culture and world and be prepared to face the consequences without hesitation.
Scripture: Acts 7 (particularly vv51-59)
We now turn our focus to Lent. It is two days away from the Passover, which for the Jews was like the 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter all rolled into one. It was THE Jewish holiday/holy day. But not everyone was so festive. In the midst of it all, a conspiracy was being fine-tuned. From the beginning of Mark, the religious establishment wanted to kill Jesus. He revealed their hypocrisy and failures. Recent events have just fueled the fire. Onto that scene comes an extravagant act of love and worship of Jesus.
Scripture: Mark 14:1-11
We now listen to discourse on money, which sounds eerily familiar. But, as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3, there is nothing new under the sun. John Rockefeller once said, " I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness. I would barter then all for the days I sat on an office stool in Cleveland and counted myself rich on $3 a week." Henry Ford said, "I was happier doing a mechanics job." If money talks, that's what it's saying. 3000 years ago, another rich man said similar things. Let's listen to Solomon as he gives us financial facts of life.
Have you ever gotten so involved in work in some ministry - and there is so much to be done - that you have no time to eat and you worked yourself to exhaustion? Maybe it was a good exhaustion but it was exhaustion just the same. Jesus knew that kind of exhaustion as we encountered in Mark 4, and now his Apostles have too. Now the stage was set for the only miracle story that appears in all four Gospels. Why? Perhaps because we learn about how Jesus meets needs.
Scripture: Mark 6:30-44
Solomon now turns his observant eye toward man as worshiper, and he didn't like what he saw. This too could be meaningless, event though it is our "above-the-sun" connection. Solomon warns well-meaning worshipers to "stay alert!" In many airports, at the pick-up and drop-off area, you here a non-stop recording: "The white zone is for loading and unloading only. No parking." Solomon is saying: "The pew zone is for learning and listening and growing. No parking." He seems to say there is too much "parking" and not enough growing. Is that true of our worship, whether corporate or individual, at church or in our home?
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
While the previous story was about "friendlies," people Jesus knew and grew up with, now mark turns the story of an "unfriendly" Herod Antipas, and his flashback on the demise of John the Baptist. When the prophet John clashed with Herod Antipas, it raised the issue of conscience.
Ecclesiastes 4
In the midst of the troubled world of the 1960s, a singer named Paul Simon wrote a prophetic song. When there's nothing but trouble, he sang, one thing will get you through: a friend. Solomon is singing this song in Ecclesiastes 4. To this point, "life is meaningless" has been his theme. But what about when you add "troubled waters" to the mix? We all face troubled waters in our lives. What's the answer?
If Mark 5 was about faith, then Mark 6 is about unbelief. There were many times that Jesus was “burned” by unbelief, when he felt the pain of rejection. Perhaps the pain was most personal when it came from his hometown, Nazareth. He had several encounters with them, whether as they attempted to throw him off a cliff, or saying he was “out of his mind.” In our passage today, we see another attempt on Jesus’ part to reach out to people he’s known from childhood.
Scripture: Mark 6:1-13
We will celebrate the Cadets and GEMS programs by focusing on both their themes, which dovetail quite nicely. Both turn to God as the one who is in control, who is an unshakeable fortress. In whatever life throws our way, we also can and need to turn to God. In him we can say with David, “I will never be shaken,” and hear the challenge to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.”
Scripture: Joshua 1:1-9; Psalm 62
Here we have a true picture of a faith healer and his healing, as he applies his power to sickness and death. But there couldn’t be a greater contrast between his two “patients” — a prominent leader of the local synagogue and an outcast, unclean, poor and terribly sick woman. They are two vastly different people, but both found themselves beyond help and responded to Jesus with faltering faith. You see, faith healing isn’t dependent on the strength of one’s faith; in fact, strengthening faith was always part of Jesus’ faith healing.
Scripture: Mark 5:21-43
After everything else Solomon has said about the vanity and futility of life, we might expect him to say something pessimistic and very discouraging about time. He might have complained that time is short and we never have enough of it for all we have to do. Or talked about the tyranny of time, that it controls over lives down to the millisecond. Or that time is fleeting, that we are running out of time, and that once it is gone, it can never be recovered. Rather, Solomon wrote a poem about the orderliness of time – the time that God has ordained.
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3
CS Lewis writes: There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist and magician with the same delight. Both extremes please Satan. As we approach such a passage, we need to affirm the Biblical reality of Satan and his host. But we must also see Jesus’ power over evil forces and his ability to heal their harm.
Scripture: Mark 5:1-20
Solomon had many questions. He searched for meaning in life under the sun. He engaged in horizontal living, under the heaven, without God in the picture. And his solution seems to be: If that's all there is, let's just enjoy ourselves or, as the Roman's used to say: "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." We still see people living this way everyday, looking for meaning in life under the sun. And many of them come to the same conclusion as Solomon: it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. So where do we find true meaning.
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2
Scripture: Mark 4:35-41
The keeping, protecting power of Christ over his people is a truth we all need to understand and believe, because it is life changing. The disciples also had to learn this, and it may be what the storm they encountered on the Sea of Galilee was meant to teach. We’ll use this story to peek at the process of understanding the power of Jesus Christ.
Is your life going in the right direction? God's direction? Repentance means to turn around and go a new direction. The start of a New Year is a great time to repent and start a new direction.
As a child, Christmas was agonizingly slow in coming. Do you remember waiting, days dragging ever so slowly? Then it came and went too quickly, with life going back to ordinary. How would you like to wait, knowing that after Christmas all you had to look forward to was your death? Simeon was waiting eagerly for “the consolation of Israel” – God’s Messiah. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would see the Messiah before his death, and now the day had come! How would he give voice to his experience?
Scripture: Luke 2:21-35
There had been no prophetic word from God for almost 400 years, since Malachi prophesied the coming of Elijah to prepare the way for the Messiah. Now the priests were shackled by tradition, the king was a tyrant, and the Romans were in control. Into this dismal picture steps Zechariah, who, with his wife Elizabeth, is described as righteous and blameless. And yet they were also barren, usually a sign of God's curse. What would he voice as he enters the Temple to pray?
Luke 1:5-25, 57-80
“Would the CRC hire John the Baptist?” It’s an interesting question. John dressed funny: no
three-piece suit or wingtip shoes for him; he had more of the jeans and work boots style. He had a strange diet. He had no tact in speaking; John was always in your face. But John had something important to say. Let’s listen again to the voice of John the Baptist this advent, as he reminds us how to prepare for the coming of the Messiah – not only the first, but also the second coming!
Scripture: Luke 3:1-20
Isaiah has a beautiful dream of Israel’s future in Isaiah 35, where he dreams of a time when: The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy… they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. This was not the present reality, however badly
Isaiah wanted it. Isaiah breaks out of prophecy mode and talks to God, and in his conversation
with God, we get a feel for what Advent was about; anxious longing and waiting
Scripture: Isaiah 64
Hellen Keller, a woman born blind, was asked what one sense she'd most want, and she replied "hearing", because, she said, "if I can hear, then I can see." Jesus' point in this parable is that it is in "hearing" the Word that we can begin to "see" the kingdom of God. He's not just talking about simple hearing (as in church on Sundays), but as our hearing becomes obeying. The question Jesus asks the crowd, the disciples, and us, is what type of soil are you? It will make the difference as to whether or not you receive the kingdom as a productive disciple.
Scripture: Mark 4:1-20
An army chaplain asked: "Is there such a thing as getting the "breaks" in prayer? What about the fellows who pray regularly, but get killed regularly? What is the deciding factor?" Do we ever ask the same questions? Especially when we encounter a passage often entitled "the prayer of faith." Is the prayer of faith always answered? If not, is faith lacking? Does prayer change things? Does prayer change God's mind? If not, why pray? Or, more simply, how often should we pray? James offers some answers.
Scripture: James 5: 13-20
A common theme in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, is the idea that God is going to set things right in the end, the Day of the Lord which brings about the coming of his kingdom. Those who do evil are warned and those who suffered because of them will be vindicated. It was the great hope of Israel, one they kept alive during their captivity, one which they rekindled during the Roman occupation of Israel in the NT period. James turns to this pattern for James 5:1-12, speaking of the coming, the return, of Jesus Christ. How do we live expectantly?
Scripture: James 5:1-12
“It’s a matter of opinion,” we may say when in an argument with someone. We live in a world that attempts to value everyone’s opinion, yet the most popular opinion wins. French philosopher Voltaire once said: “Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes” Why? Herbert Spencer chimes in: “Opinion is ultimately determined by the feelings, and not by the intellect.” There was never a person in history who was the subject of such widely varying opinions than Jesus Christ. And yet, there are really only three legitimate possibilities. We get a glimpse of them all in Mark 3:20-35.
In our society today, we seem obsessed with personal planning. But James, in 4:13-17, says that maybe we shouldn’t be so obsessed with this. He even warns his churches about giving into having a Day-Timer attitude: people living by their future planning. Perhaps they were even bragging about how many appointments they had lined up or how efficiently they ran their world. But James calls it boasting and says something’s missing in your DayTimer (or PDA or computer or phone or watch).
Scripture: James 4:13-17
One variation of an old spiritual goes: “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen... nobody knows but Jesus.” But sometimes we may wonder: does Jesus really understand the pressure we’re under? The demands of our job, with long hours and the pressure to perform. The demands of managing a household and having to be at three places at one time. The pressure of getting older, balancing medications and doctor’s visits with a limited income. The pressures of school, parenting, financial limitations, people’s expectations, even the pressures of the Christian life. Does Jesus really know the pressure I’ve seen? Yes, and he shows grace under pressure.
Scripture: Mark 3:7-19
In Mark 2:1-17, we found Jesus on a collision course with the religious leaders twice: 1) with the paralytic, showing his power and priority for spiritual healing vs. the indifferent and skeptical Pharisees; and 2) with Levi the tax collector, showing love and compassion for sinners vs. the spiritual elitism of the Pharisees. In today's passage, we encounter three more clashes regarding religious rituals (fasting) and rules (Sabbath). In each, Jesus gives us a taste of new wine.
Scripture: Mark 2: 18 - 3:6
In a way, James' question is rhetorical: "who is wise and understanding among you?" Everyone would like to think of themselves as wise. But James is saying: "You think you're wise and understanding? Let's check the quality of your wisdom." He does so through a series of contrasts between the unwise and the wise.
James 3:13-18
The air was charged with electricity. This young rabbi – Jesus – was wowing them with not only his preaching, but his healing. The Pharisees and other religious leaders had the duty to check out his orthodoxy. In this house in Capernaum there was a standing-roomonly crowd, but the religious leaders made sure they had the seats of honor. Others could not even get in, including one man desperate for healing. The religious leaders were likely waiting for this young rabbi to slip up. Like the Board of Health, they were just waiting to shut down this Doctor’s office, carefully watching the young Dr. operate. Jesus knew that they were looking to pin something on him; so he gave it to them, or so they thought!
Scripture: Mark 2:1-17
Have you ever said anything you’ve regretted? Do you ever wish you could take words back that hurt someone or made you look like a fool? Throughout the book, the probing question James is asking is: “If you say you believe like you should, why do you behave like you shouldn’t?” Now he focuses this theme in a very specific direction: controlling the tongue. Or: “If you say you believe like you should, why do you say things you shouldn’t?”
Scripture: James 3:1-12
God created us to live in a tangible world. As humans, we respond to tactile stimulation: touch! We live in a world in which we touch and respond to touch. It is a natural response to someone who is hurting, to show concern or appreciation, to express affection. What would it be like to be touched by God?! We shouldn't be surprised that part of the incarnation (becoming flesh) of Jesus Christ involved touch. Jesus understood what it meant to be human. He willingly engaged himself in bringing God's touch to us!
Scripture: Mark 1:29-45
What do James and Paul, Martin Luther and contemporary society all have in common? All are part of a controversy, a problem, over faith. Faith is a key doctrine in the Christian life. But notice what Paul and James say about it:
Paul: "For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." (Romans 3:28)
James: "You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone." (James 2:24)
How do we reconcile these two statements in God's inspired Word?
Scripture: James 2:14-28
Mark introduces us to Jesus. When he does so, people are wondering about Jesus what many wondered about the Lone Ranger and countless superheroes: Who is this masked man? When he speaks about God’s kingdom come, His words ring true in our minds and make our hearts skip a beat! When he commands, demons flee! When he calls, we follow, not knowing why! John the Baptizer moved us emotionally; Jesus moves our very souls! He’s amazing! He walks like a man but talks like a “God.” Who is he and why does he leave us amazed?!
Scripture: Mark 1:9-28
Accepting people is not the same as approving, condoning, or even tolerating bad behavior. Acceptance is an act of the heart in which we recognize that, despite someone’s behavior, he or she has value in God’s sight, and we honor that. But this can be a hard thing to do! The early church found that out, and James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem and its scattered offshoots, takes time to address this important issue.
Scripture: James 2:1-13
This church year, we will explore the life of Jesus as it is depicted by the gospel writer, Mark. Mark, arguably the first Gospel written, is the shortest, the most action-oriented. Mark is clearly writing to a mixed Jewish and Gentile Christian audience, quite likely in Rome, where they are suffering and being martyred (probably by Nero). For this reason, his Gospel focuses on Jesus' role as the suffering servant (who is also Son of God!) and his call for our response of discipleship.
Scripture: Mark 1:14-28, 10:42-45
We begin the fall with a look at the book of James. In launching an overarching case that real faith produces genuine works, James begins with an opening argument that many preachers would prefer to relegate to a closing remark: the problem of suffering and trials in life. Given that James' readers were experiencing hardship as they tried to come to terms with their new identities as Jewish Christians in a culture that despised both Jews and Christians, it's understandable that their trials would push them toward a more comfortable alternative: either go back to Judaism or stop living out their faith in Christ. Such a temptation is nothing new to any generation of Christians.
Scripture: James 1:1-18
We wind up the story of Ruth, a story about a couple of women looking for “rest” — that is, a sense of security and peace. But Naomi also represents Israel, restless in the time of the judges. How will God bring them rest? A good story generally does two things at the end: (1) resolves the tension created in the story (solves a murder, brings justice, ends in a wedding, etc.) and (2) ties together the loose ends for all the characters in a satisfying way. The book of Ruth is such a story, but be prepared for the surprise ending.
Scripture: Ruth 4
Paul was seeing the decline of a work ethic in Thessalonica. In his first letter he warned them; by the second letter had it gotten worse? For them, it seems that it was a combination of the Greek ideal of leisure is for free people and Jesus Christ’s imminent return. And the church fed the problem, literally, with their shared goods. The idlers were abusing the food pantry and the Benevolent Fund, being a drain on church resources. They had also become “busybodies” and given a bad name to the Christian church in the community. How will Paul attack the problem?
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 3
When Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem, we see how the loss of her husband and sons had left her bitter, restless and hopeless. When they entered Bethlehem, the women greeted her and she launched into a tirade against God. I wonder how she would have responded if it had been a particular holiday and the women had said, "Happy Mother's Day, Naomi!" They would likely have ended up with bloody lips and noses. Yet, by Ruth 4, the women are saying "Happy Mother's Day" to Naomi and their lips and noses are intact! What changed in Ruth 2-3?
Scripture: Ruth 2-3
We often focus on the New Testament gospel story, the life of Jesus Christ, and ignore the Old Testament, particularly little stories like that of Ruth. It’s a neat little tale, yet seems insignificant. But, in reality, Ruth is really an Old Testament gospel story that prepares us for the Author’s life’s work, the epic masterpiece of the New Testament life of Christ. We’ll look at it over three weeks.
Scripture: Ruth 1
Have you ever looked at what’s happening around us and wondered if the world could get any worse? Any more lawless? Any less Christian? Have you ever wondered if this might be the lawless “end times” the Bible talks about? The Thessalonian Christians did! The lawlessness of their time and their personal persecution was far greater than we could imagine. They turned to Paul and asked: is this the end? Paul comforts them, reminding them of what he’s already told them, and calls them to stand firm. As we listen to Paul’s words, what comfort can we find for our day and our future?
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 2
In 538 BC, the Jews were released by King Darius; a few faithful Jews returned to Jerusalem and began restoring the foundations of the Temple. Now it is 520 BC, 18 years later, and there is still no Temple. They've given up on what seemed likean overwhelming task. So God speaks through Haggai with a singular purpose: "Get going and build my church!" This is a cautionary tale for us about the danger of having great plans but no follow-through. So let's explore the situation so we can do it differently.
Scripture: Haggai 1
Why do Christians suffer? It's an age-old question, and the Thessalonians were asking the same question. Persecution increased even while their lifestyle became more Christian. How do you encourage people in that situation? How do we deal with the "why?" Paul doesn't answer the "why?" but suggests three ideas about what can come out of suffering for Christians.
We focus on one last story from the exile, and it’s quite a story! From rags to riches, from a captive to a queen. Does every girl, when she is little, want to be a princess? My granddaughter does. She loves all the Disney princesses, especially the princesses in Frozen! She could sing some of their songs by heart when she was very young! Well, the story we will look at is actually about a young girl who became a queen. Her name in Hebrew was Hadassah, but we know her better by her Persian name, Esther. And she was blessed to be a blessing.
Scripture: Esther
The Thessalonian church was worried about Christ’s return being like a sneak attack, catching them off guard (and making them liable to judgment!). Not wanting to be trapped by a false sense of peace, they had no peace. So Paul reassures them of how to live in peace with Christ, in light of his second coming, then also talks about having peace with fellow Christians.
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5
It’s likely that somewhere along the line you’ve heard the phrase: “the writing is on the wall.” The phrase is used to foreshadow trouble: a baseball manager about to be fired; a factory about to be shut down; people about to be laid off; a union about to strike. It speaks of signs that something bad is about to happen. The phrase came, of course, from Daniel 5, where the writing on the wall foretold the end of the Babylonian empire. But it also gives us a glimpse at the coming “son of man” who will establish his own eternal empire.
Scripture: Daniel 5, 7
Death is part of life, even for Christians. However firm our Christian faith, it is natural and healthy to grieve, for to lose a loved one is to lose a part of oneself. But according to Paul, there are different ways to grieve. The Thessalonian church was young in the faith, with lots of questions. Apparently since Paul had been with them, they lost a Christian brother to death. How were they to react as Christians? That’s a hard question for the most seasoned believers, not to mention new converts! We’ll look at Paul’s advice on how to do that.
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
| Daniel: Faith Tried by Fire – Daniel 1-3
Our focus in the prophets up to this point has been prophecies about the coming exile. Now we find ourselves in exile itself, as Daniel and his friends were taken captive and brought to Babylon. The exile was God’s punishment for Israel’s disobedience and idolatry. But it was more than just punishment: God provided it as a period of testing and refining. In the refining process, metal comes out of the refining fires purer, stronger, and better. God had promised that Israel that would come out on the other end of exile would be purer, stronger, better. The first testing we read about in Daniel involves the youth of Judah.
Living to Please God – 1 Thessalonians 4
One of Paul’s favorite pictures of the Christian life is the walk of faith (translated “live” in most Bibles), which actually comes from the Hebrew halakh (“walk”, but used for one’s conduct of life; sometimes called halakhah). The Christian life begins with a step of faith. Walking suggests progress (which we all need as Christians). To a young Thessalonian church, who recently took their first baby steps in faith, Paul describes how to walk as Christians, particularly how to walk for pleasure.
Where is God when bad things happen? It is a popular question that arises when major catastrophes hit the news: coronavirus pandemic, flooding, tornados, an airplane crash. It also arises in our personal lives: at the loss of a job, a serious illness, the loss of a loved one, depression, straying children. Such a question made When Bad Things Happen to Good People (by Rabbi Harold Kushner) a bestseller in 1980’s. It is a troubling question, as old as Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. Countless Biblical characters voice the question, from suffering Job to the Psalmist David to the prophet Habakkuk; which makes this a prophecy for our time.
Scripture: Habakkuk 1-2
Being parents is more than just giving birth. And the same is true for being a spiritual parent. Paul described himself in the previous verses as mother and father to the Thessalonians. This infant church was barely walking when Paul had to flee, and now you can sense the nervous parent coming out of this bachelor-evangelist. But what we learn from Paul, in his anxiety, is not nervous parenting, but Christian encouragement.
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 2:17 – 3:13
Zephaniah's not very original. In speaking of a God of justice, he condemns the people's sins, calls them to repentance, and warns them of the "day of the "Lord", he simply echoes the prophets before him. Maybe that's why we're not very prophetic today. Everything we say sounds old, like it came from a 2000-year-old book. It's not new, but they are words needed in our time. Who Speaks for God? When God asked Isaiah that question, he responded: "Here I am. Send me!" When God asks that in 2021, will we respond?
Scripture: Zephaniah 1:1 - 2:3
After Paul had to flee Thessalonica, enemies tried to discredit him with a malicious smear campaign. They tried to lump him in with the many false teachers, charlatans who preached for money, prestige, power, and fringe benefits. Today similar people have given the Christian community a black eye, because they are in it for similar reasons. That makes the job of Christian witness harder, as we have to overcome stereotypes. We can learn from Paul.
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16
We've talked a lot about how the prophets condemned the sins of Israel and Judah, and prophesied exile as punishment: Israel would fall to Assyria and Judah to the Babylonians. But in the later parts of their prophesies, both Jeremiah and Ezekiel deal with people already in captivity and their prophesies turn to hope. And a major part of that hope is a renewed covenant God promises to his people.
Scripture: Jeremiah and Ezekiel
This summer we are going to ask the question: what does it mean to live as a Christian> That was the question Paul was trying to answer in his letters to the Thessalonians. These new converts in the city of Thessalonica were asking what was different about living a Christian life, in contrast to the way they lived as pagans in the Greco-Roman culture.
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 1
Jeremiah is God's mouthpiece against (politically) unwise and (spiritually) evil kings. The destruction of his nation, his city and his temple leaves Jeremiah weeping in the streets of a devastated Jerusalem, lamenting for what might have been. But in the midst of the chaos, God still uses him. both to tear down and to build up. And once again with his assurance: "I am with you and will rescue you."
Scripture: Jeremiah 1, 18, 19 and Lamentations 1-3
Jesus tells a story which is very likely recalling a couple of famous tales of his day, but then changes them for his purposes. In his story of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus isn't condemning wealth (Abraham himself was very wealthy, and he's in heaven!). But he seems to be addressing two aspects of life; social and personal, loving neighbor and loving God.
Scripture: Luke 16:19-31
This week we look at what might be the most important parable of Jesus; next week we will turn to the most confusing parable. Parables (stories) can be used to make a variety of points, and nowhere is that clearer than with this parable. At issue for readers is:
• Why would Jesus commend a dishonest person and use him as an example?
• What verses are part of this parable and its application?
• How do we interpret certain phrases like sons of light and mammon of unrighteousness?
• Who is Jesus speaking to? That impacts the point he is making
Scripture: Luke 16:1-15
Around 700 BC, Assyria began its rise, taking over smaller countries around Israel. In 712 BC this happened in Israel; Assyria brought in non-Jewish people who mixed with the remaining Jews, resulting in religious syncretism, intermarriage, etc. to the point where they began to lose their identity. This is the backdrop to Isaiah. We’ll look at two main stories from the time of Isaiah, and how two kings respond to this type of threat in different ways, based on a word from God through his prophet Isaiah.
Scripture: Isaiah 7-8, 36-37
Have you ever felt that God has left you? You may not admit it out loud, but it sure feels that way: nothing's going right; the heavens are brass; you feel abandoned. What happens when God leaves (or appears to)? God wants to live with us. But if God is not wanted, He won't impose himself on us. If you and I decide we really don't want God intruding in our daily life, He won't - He'll leave. And that's exactly what happened in Israel's history.
Scripture: Ezekiel 10-11; Acts 2
In Jesus' day, "big brother" might have referred to the Pharisees, at least some of the more legalistic of them who were watching, looking down their noses, and casting judgment on "sinners". Their definition of "sinner" was "law breaker"; the assumption was that they, the "lawkeepers", were righteous. And some of them were angry with Jesus, who was accepting, even eating with, these "sinners". There is a "big brother" in the parable that should sound familiar to the Pharisees, perhaps to us?
Scripture: Luke 15:11-32
Every generation has their moment: "where were you when _______ happened?" For many years it was November 22, 1963 the day President John F Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas. His assassination paralyzed the nation, especially since he was the leader of a new generation (the first president born in the 20th century), a leader of promise. But now our leader is dead; where do we go from here? The southern kingdom of Judah has such a moment, and it came at King Uzziah's death. Isaiah 6:1-8 comes from this critical moment in Judah's history.
Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8
Luke 15:11-32 is extremely familiar to us, and sometimes familiarity makes us miss things. This parable, which we call the Prodigal Son, would have sent absolute shock waves into the people who heard Jesus telling it. It is so packed with questions and theological truth that we are going to take three Sundays to unravel it. This is the story of Jesus' ministry. We will take turns looking at each of the three main characters. First we will look at the younger son.
Jesus spent much of his time browsing over the lost and found table of Israel (that was why God sent him, he says). But there were a few who saw this and murmured: why do you spend so much time with all that junk? Hookers, crooked IRS agents, AIDS victims. In the two parables we look at this morning, Jesus responds with his answer: Because they are mine! They were lost and I've come to find them!
In Luke's account of the Easter story, the followers of Jesus were challenged to remember important prophesies of the Old Testament. In all 3 segments of the story, they are questioned, sometimes even reprimanded about their failure to see the OT predictions of the things happening during these heady days. Three times they are asked, "Don't you remember? Don't you get it?" And they didn't at first. But gradually, as they move from the garden in Jerusalem to the road toward Emmaus, and back to Jerusalem, the Easter light begins to dawn. In each place they are confronted with three types of evidence - physical, scriptural & eyewitness - and asked to respond.
Scripture: Luke 24
The final "passion parable" is not a story as much as an "acted parable" in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets. Jesus illustrates and gives evidence of being "the resurrection and the life" as he raises his friend Lazarus.
Scripture: John 11:17-44
Every follower of Jesus Christ is where he or she is because someone passed on the torch of faith. Maybe it was parents, grandparents, a teacher, a Sunday School teacher, a youth leader, a pastor, a friend; somebody prayed, invested, loved, and let the flame burn bright in his/her life. It has happened in every generation, from Adam & Eve to Abraham to ours; no generation has been skipped. Which leads us to some questions: Whom did God use to pass on the flame of faith to me? Who has
been a torchbearer? And do I have people in my life to whom I am passing the flame, investing myself?
Scripture: 1 Kings 19:15-21; 2 Kings 2-6
As we read this parable of Jesus and reflect on our own actions, how many would say they are 100% sheep? 100% goat? A mixture? When we truthfully evaluate our actions, it is hard to say with confidence that we are pure-bred sheep. There is always a trace of doubt when judgment is cast in terms of works.
Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46
King Ahab takes evil to new heights and the people of Israel to new depths of sin. He married a pagan wife from Sidon, Jezebel. She hates God and his prophets, and Ahab puts her in charge of religion in Israel! Her agenda is to completely replace the one true God with Baal (they’d maintained some worship of Yahweh), so she kills all the prophets and sets up her own Baal prophets. Into this scene Elijah is called by God. He steps into ministry in a time of unparalleled tension, apostasy & danger. This roller coaster time demands a prophet who
can hold on and follow God through the highs and lows of doing ministry in such a climate.
Scripture: Kings 17-19
A key theme here is stewardship. In Jewish thought (which has continued in Christian thought), God’s creation of the world makes every person a caretaker of what really belongs to God, whether created world, the spiritual gifts of individuals, or the kingdom itself, both the movement and the message. Another way to look at it is that Jesus uses a business analogy: kingdom work is an investment.
Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30
In Kings and Chronicles, we are introduced to 39 kings. There’s a formula that’s followed for almost every one: length of reign; his reign synchronized with the reign of the corresponding king in the north or south; and each king is evaluated by the standard of a previous king. But God evaluates greatness by a person’s character. For every king, there is a God-given evaluation: good or evil. The
truth is, kings and presidents answer to a higher authority. They may think they’re sovereign, but they’re not; and neither are we! The question for us is: what will God say about my life when it’s all over?
Scripture: 1 Kings 12-15
Imagine with me for a moment: The President stares out in disbelief. After ceremoniously sweeping down the stairs of Air Force One, he realizes that there is no one there to greet him. No dignitaries, no bands, no limo, not even a cab driver to pick him up! After his aides check all the arrangements, they find that there has been no mistake; no one bothered to show up! Will Jesus find himself in the same predicament when he returns? In Luke 18:8, he asks: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” In a sense, that’s the question this parable asks: will we be prepared for his coming?
Scripture: Matthew 25:1-13
Do you do unwise things that you end up regretting on a fairly regular basis? Would you like to cut down on those things? We’re going to talk about how to grow in our ability to live wisely. At the beginning of 1 Kings, David is dying, which leads to a lot of intrigue and jockeying for the throne. It’s a political mess, but God is still at work. He comes to Solomon in a dream and says: “Ask me for whatever you want — anything. ” What would you ask for?
Scripture: 1 Kings 3-4; Proverbs 1:1-7
The chief priests, scribes and elders were the authorities. They couldn’t just let anyone enter the Temple courts, claim to be Messiah, and stir up the people into a dangerous, revolutionary Messianic fervor: “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority?” they demanded of Jesus. They were supposed to be the authorities. Jesus responded with a story that would explain all that had happened, would happen, and answer their question.
Scripture: Luke 20:1-19
As we go on the adventure of the Christian life with God, we are learning more about who this God is through his attributes. One of those attributes is his omniscience, that God knows everything. As David seems to be saying in Psalm 139, God’s omniscience is a bit daunting, perhaps scary, but ultimately wonderfully reassuring. This attribute affects numerous areas in our life, but I’d like to focus on a very practical area that may jump out at you from the Bible passage this morning. Look at verse 8: “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” If this is true, if God knows our needs, why pray?
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-13
Despite his military victories, accomplishments as king, and the praise of people, he seems at his best in the furnace of the Judean wilderness. The dry air cracks his lips; the heat zaps his energy. But in this arid, desolate place, David meets with God; here he wrote most of his Psalms. We usually don’t beg to be in the desert. But God often leads people there as a place of training, discipline, refining and preparation (for example: Moses, Israel, John the Baptist, even Jesus). When we find ourselves in the desert, we must look to God and ask: what can I learn?
Scripture: 2 Samuel 5-12
God had given Israel a promise through Abraham: they would be a great nation, ruled by God, that would be a blessing to other nations as they lived in the land of Israel, at the crossroads of the world. But once they got in the land, they failed to live by God’s will under the judges. Last week we looked at Samuel, the last great judge of Israel. His sons weren’t following his ways, so the people asked for a king, so they could be like the other nations.
Scripture: 1 Samuel 9-28
We often refer to Jesus as Immanuel, which means “God with us.” But how can he be with us all at the same time? Last week we talked about God as being self-existent, the source of our life, actions, and being. But what good is this if God is not present with us? And how can he be present with all of us? These questions we’ve been asking, ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime, all revolve around a crucial attribute of God: infinity.
Scripture: Luke 24:13-53
We’ve looked at Joshua and the people of Israel taking possession of the land. They were supposed to become a community that was a blessing to the nations and to live according to God’s Torah, his teaching. But during the time of Judges, they constantly went astray to idolatry. God would raise up a judge to save them from neighboring nations, they’d obey him for while, but then fall away when the judge died; it was an ongoing cycle. Now we are introduced to one of Israel’s last judges, Samuel.
Scripture: 1 Samuel 1-8
Suppose you ran into a Mormon who, in the course of conversation, says that God has a physical body. After all, the Bible talks about his eyes, hands, mouth, ears, arm, etc. And we are made in the image and likeness of God, and we have bodies. So God must have a physical body! How would you answer?
Scripture: John 3:1-8; 4:19-24
Pilate calls Jesus into his court, possibly to intimidate him with a “trial.” But he finds Jesus strangely silent, until forced by law to respond. Then he says things like: “The reason I came to earth was to reveal to all the Truth” and “If you don’t listen to me, you’re not on the side of Truth.” How do you deal with someone like Jesus? And not just Pilate; how do we understand and respond to Jesus’ ideas about Truth?
Scripture: John 18:28-38
The theme of Jubilee runs through the Bible. It’s not a word we use much today; when we do, “jubilee” mostly depicts a joyful celebration, specifically a 50th anniversary. It might surprise you that “jubilee” means neither “joy” nor “50.” Rather, it’s a word borrowed from Hebrew which actually refers to a ram’s horn, but more specifically to a Jewish law dealing with freedom. Freedom is something we need desperately, for we live in a society of enslavement. What we want to proclaim today is the Good News that the Bible proclaims from the Torah to the Prophets to the Gospel: we can have freedom in Jesus Christ.
Scripture: Leviticus 25,27
Many of us have the habit of coming up with New Year’s resolutions, liking losing weight, exercising, applying ourselves better at school or our job. We have good intentions, but they often don’t last very long. And if we’ve done it enough, we may even see a pattern of making (and breaking) the same resolutions every year, and we become aware of a cycle we can’t seem to break, even with the best of resolutions. That’s the story of Israel in the book of Judges.
Scripture: Judges
We are at the beginning of a new year. A time like this is often an excuse, or perhaps a good reason, to make a fresh start. I’d like us to begin the new year with a reminder that the Christian life is an adventure. It’s not about how often you go to church or how much you put in the collection plate or how moral you are, all good things. The Christian life is, at its root, an adventure of living with God. To adventure with God, we need to know something about him. So, for the next several weeks, we are going to look at some of the attributes the Bible reveals about God and, in particular, how God’s attributes affect our adventure with him.
Scripture: Exodus 3-4
Ancient cultures had ways to remember; in Canaan/Israel they did this with standing stones. If one of their “gods” (or so they believed) caused an important event or provided a significant benefit, a stone was erected as a testimony to the action of the “god.” If a covenant or treaty was signed between cities or individuals, stones were erected to declare the agreement and call the “gods” to witness. Travelers who saw the stones would ask, “what happened here?” and the people who knew the story would give testimony to their “gods.” As Israel entered the land of Canaan and onquered it, God called them to commemorate certain of His actions in a way the culture understood: standing stones.
Scripture: Joshua
While Luke begins his Christmas story “in those days Caesar Augustus,” Matthew narrows the focus to “during the time of King Herod.” Last week we noted that all the characters in the Christmas story fell under Herod’s long shadow, and that includes the Magi. Why the Magi? Why did God include them as part of Jesus’ greeting party? Why did Matthew tell their story rather than the angels & shepherds, especially to a Jewish audience?
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
Matthew and Luke intentionally set Jesus’ birth in the context of world and local history. Caesar Augustus heads a Roman Empire known for peace and prosperity and a glorious culture. Herod, as client-king over Judea, is known for his power and propaganda of the Hellenistic culture, but also for his murderous paranoia and moral evil. So it is a great predicament for the Jews: do we succumb to the grandeurs of Rome, or the evils of Herod, or both, and lose our way in the world? In a way, that remains our predicament today: our world offers great material blessings but also great moral evils.
Will we succumb to one or both and lost our way in the world?
Scripture: Luke 2:8-20
We will focus our attention on numerous passages from the Old Testament that point ahead to and find their fulfillment in Jesus. This will be done in a “lessons and carols” format.
What kind of God goes camping with his people? As we continue to explore the Old Testament, even now during Advent, we find that the incarnation (usually defined as God becoming flesh in Jesus) is not just for Christmas. For God, it's and ongoing process that takes us from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. As we find ourselves in Advent (which means, fittingly, "coming, arrival") we will look at the big picture of the incarnation.
Scripture: Exodus 25:1-22; 40:34-38
While Luke set the Christmas story in the context of Caesar Augustus' reign (to show its cosmic, historic significance and fit his Greek audience), Matthew places it in Judea, under the reign of King Herod (a prophetic, divine significance understood by his Jewish audience). Like Luke, who set up a contrast between the claims of Caesar Augustus (Savior of the world and a god) and that those claims really belonged to Jesus, so Matthew is clearly setting up a contrast between Herod and Jesus. And, as we'll see in this series, the contrasts between the two impacts all the characters of the Christmas story. We'll start with the main character, Jesus.
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-18
Joshua God wants to bring the people of Israel into the land of Canaan, Promised to Abraham. 40 years later, they are still on the outskirts. The generation of Israelites who left Egypt had died in the desert because of their refusal to trust God. They couldn't believe he had the power to overcome the nations on the other side of Jordan. They didn't trust him to enable them to occupy the Promised Land. That lack of faith left them wandering in the desert for 40 years. Now we see a new generation of Israelites, who must decide if they will have greater faith than their parents. Will they believe God can lead them into Canaan, even when all the odds are against them?
This Advent series, we will be looking at the characters of the Christmas story as they experience the first Christmas in the shadow of Herod. But in Luke's Christmas story, the first person we encounter is Caesar Augustus! Why? Luke, writing mainly to Gentiles, shows Jesus' birth as an event of cosmic significance by setting it within the framework of world history. What does it mean that God sent Jesus to the world "in the fullness of time?"
Scripture: Luke 2:1-7; Galatians 4:4-5
Imagine your Dad brings home a pet lamb, you name it and get to like it, and then a few days later it is slaughtered in your place for your sins and you eat it! Or that your New Year’s is marked not by a ball dropping in Times Square but a ram’s horn blown from Jerusalem, and you are told you have 10 days to repent! Or you live in a little hut for a week because your ancestors lived like that for 40 years in a desert! Welcome to the feasts of God! (God: “these are my appointed feasts”). The feasts are a fascinating way to learn spiritual truths, and they are not just Jews, but for Christians as well, because all of them point ahead to Jesus.
Scripture: Leviticus 23
There’s a certain irony that our country celebrates Thanksgiving on one day, and the next many go Christmas shopping on “Black Friday.” Are there two days more opposite each other? One focuses on God, the other on goodies. You could make the case that one focuses on gratitude, the other on greed or materialism. What better time to analyze our attitude toward possessions? Are we more characterized by Thanksgiving Day or the “busiest shopping day of the year?” That’s the question of Jesus in the parable we'll look at next Sunday.
Scripture: Luke 12:13-21
The Lord’s Prayer mostly deals with our relationship to God, without much outside interference. But in this last petition, he deals with the force of evil, which can have a negative influence on our lives (from outside, but also within). This is a very important aspect of prayer which dovetails with the previous concept of accepting God’s kingdom rule over us.
Scripture: Matthew 6:13; James 1:2-18
Deuteronomy is quoted more than 80 times in the New Testament (only Genesis, Isaiah, and Psalms are quoted more). So it is a very influential and powerful book that turns our heart to the Torah of God. In Deuteronomy, we discover that God sees his people, knows his people, and is committed to transform them into a nation that honors him & reflects his righteous heart in the world. That will happen through the process of growing in knowledge and love of Torah.
The wisest people learn from the example of others; sometimes the path to life, other times the path to avoid. We are going to look at some lessons from the wilderness wanderings of Israel, as God invites us to wilderness school, to learn wisdom from those who have gone before us. The trip from Egypt to the Promised Land was a simple one: only 150 miles from Goshen by the simplest route: the Way of the Sea or Philistines, the scenic route, along the Mediterranean Sea. It would be only a couple of weeks to get there. But, surprisingly, God decided on a different route, which leads us to a lesson.
Scripture: Exodus and Numbers (excerpts)
Sometimes we believe the worst about God, that he won’t forgive. But at other times, we are too cavalier with forgiveness: “to err is human, to forgive divine” — as if forgiveness is merely God’s job. This petition gives balance. We often bring our prayers of confession to God, asking for his forgiveness. But one of the most stunning parts of the Lord’s Prayer is that being forgiven is tied in with being forgiving!
Scripture: Matthew 6:12, 14-15;18:21-35
When it comes to our food and beverages, we are all in favor of purity. But when it comes to our own lives, we give ourselves a fair amount of latitude (“after all, we’re only human”). Our idea of purity is a far cry from God’s definition. God is holy and wants to see us grow in holiness. His plan to impact and reach the world with his love will be built on this group of people; so they need to grow in holiness. As do we.
Scripture: Exodus 19-20
“Give us this day our daily bread.” This may be most familiar petition in this familiar prayer. But overfamiliarity with a biblical passage can lead to misunderstanding, or can reduce it to a cliche’. What is this petition saying and does it still have meaning for us today? At first glance it sounds rather demanding. But what does this mean for us, who live in prosperity? Our kitchens hold food sufficient for days, even weeks! What does it mean to pray this personally?
Scripture: Matthew 6:11, 25-34
Everyone faces moments when they need help; sometimes we humbly accept it and other times we stubbornly reject it. If I’m lost, I often refuse to ask directions. We have the strange ability to live in the worst of situations and pretend everything’s under control. Life goes so much better when we can admit we need help. All of us face moments when we need a deliverer. The people of Israel came to this place often. Sometimes they stubbornly refused God’s help and lived with the consequences; other times they’d cry out and receive God’s deliverance.
Scripture: Exodus 1-12
Last time we looked at the petition in the Lord’s Prayer: “may your kingdom come.” We noted that the kingdom is God’s active rule that happens progressively in the world and in individual lives. To pray that petition is to pray both Jesus, continue to rule this world and Jesus, come and rule my life. We also noted that this next petition is directly connected: when the will of God is done on earth, the kingship of God is expanded. Let’s look at three things that tell us what it means to pray “your will be done.”
Scripture: Matthew 6:10; Luke 22:39-46
In Paul's 2nd letter to the Corinthians, Paul discusses his suffering and the fact that even in the midst of suffering God's grace is sufficient.
Scripture: 2 Corinthians, 12:1-10
This sermon looks at Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus and illustrates how God's amazing grace is available for all and dramatically changes lives.
Scripture: Luke 19:1-10
If we are honest, a simple reading of the book of Genesis shows that the Bible pulls no punches and glosses over nothing. These are not a bunch of pious stories; this is real life! Why be so honest and graphic? Mostly God tells us these stories because the real hero of Genesis is God!
There are lots of pivotal people who seem heroes on one day, goats the next. Sometimes good people do bad things and bad people do good things. It shows that God, the real hero, is working with real, flesh and blood people in a real, sin-filled world. If there is one moral of the story of the second half of Genesis, it is that: if God can be with them, God can be with us!
Scripture: Genesis 23-50
As we’ve been studying the Lord’s Prayer, we’ve learned that the context in which we pray is to our Father in heaven – God’s intimate relationship with us, tempered by the fact that he is the sovereign king. It means that God wants to listen and act on our behalf as Father, but he also has all the power to deliver what we need. Because of who he is, we pray committing ourselves to honor or sanctify his name by our thoughts, words and actions. Those actions, in particular, come out in the next two petitions of the Lord’s Prayer: "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Scripture: Matthew 6:10
We have seen how God created us to be in community with him, but we then broke community in our sin. Then came the tower of Babel incident. Has God now lost patience? Is his dream of community broken beyond repair? Genesis 12 tells us that God still has plans for his children, and it starts with one man: Abraham. God calls him into covenant, a binding relationship between two partners. Often in relationships comes a time when we define the relationship. We ask: What are we doing? Where is this going? Are we committed? Let’s look at Abraham’s life and the four dramatic encounters he had with God that kept defining the relationship.
Scripture: Genesis 12-22
The Lord’s Prayer is one in which Jesus stresses the most important things to pray, the essence of our communication with God. He teaches us is to pray to “Our Father,” a reminder of our intimate relationship with God, as well as his promise to care for us as children. Now we turn to a promise of our own: “hallowed be your name” Do we need to make God’s name holy? NO, it already is holy! Then what does Jesus mean by this phrase? What “promise” are we making?
Scripture: Matthew 6:9
Last week, we saw that God created the world as a place where he could be in community with us. But next we will look at Community Busters; we’ll survey four scenes in Genesis 3-11 that chart the downward spiral of sin and God’s response to it.
Scripture: Genesis 3-11
As we noted last week, the Disciples’ Prayer (aka Lord’s Prayer) is very Jewish. So to better understand how and what Jesus is teaching us to pray, we need to explore some of these Jewish aspects. It starts with the opening, which in Hebrew would be: Avinu shebashamayim (our Father in the heavens). The disciples ask: “Lord, teach us HOW to pray.” In the opening address, Jesus already is teaching how; but how we pray depends on to whom we are praying.
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-15; 7:7-11
Over the course of the new church year, we will spend our evenings in the Old Testament, the Bible Jesus read and quoted, and which points to him. We begin with the first words spoken and written in the Bible: "In the beginning God" - a transcendent, all powerful, eternal, personal being - "created the heavens and the earth". And the world has never been the same. These words, the whole Bible, are God's great gift to us. But they lead us to ask some basic questions: who is God? Why creation? What's His relation to us?
Scripture: Genesis 1-2
One day Jesus' disciples asked: "Lord, teach us to pray." What are they asking? How does Jesus answer? We will explore this over the next several weeks in a series on the Lord's Prayer, focusing in particular on what we can learn from the Jewish background of this prayer.
Scripture: Luke 11:1-3; Matthew 6:5-15
Psalm 2 talks about some fools making a king laugh. They are not paid to make him laugh, like a court jests; in fact, they will pay, says the king! If the court jester was in a dangerous position, the fools of this Psalm are walking an event thinner line. What's more, this king is the God of the universe! And it doesn't take much of an eye to see that there are plenty of fools around today causing him laughter, derisive laughter, thundering from his heavenly throne.
Scripture: Psalm 2
Are we really satisfied or do we always want more? And how do we get what we want? The 10th commandment is really a summary of the attitude that underlies the first nine commandments. The 10th commandment describes our inner wants and desires while commandments 1-9 deal with the outer actions we use to fill those desires. The 10th commandment shows us the attitude behind our actions.
Scripture: Exodus 20:17; Philippians 3:1-21
The Israelites were captive in Babylon: men forced to work, women abused. Verse 9 notes one of the more grotesque scenes, the needless slaughter of children. Perhaps the Israelites turned to song, which then gave the captors something to taunt them about. "Give us some entertainment; sing us one of the songs of Zion." The response was: "Let's hang up our harp! Zip our lips! How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"
Scripture: Psalm 137
"Watch your mouth!" Did your parents ever have to say that to you? Maybe you said something hurtful or sinful. In the 9th commandment, God says: "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.". Jesus put up with a lot of "false testimony", especially in this story. He uses the situation to talk about speech. As with other commandments, Jesus gets at the attitude as well as the action, the heart as well as the mouth.
Scripture: Matthew 12:22-37
Psalm 121 is a great comfort. especially before surgery with its promises that while one is "asleep" under anesthesia, God neither slumbers nor sleeps. Some use it before they begin a trip somewhere with its promise of God watching over our "comings and goings." Indeed, it is a travel Psalm, or more specifically a pilgrim's song. "Songs of Ascent" were used by pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem for a feast, a journey of several days for most of them. We've been on a different kind of journey for the last few months, but this Psalm speaks to us as well.
Scripture: Psalm 121
Micah prophesied during a time of intense social injustice in the divided kingdom. False prophets preached for riches, not for righteousness. Princes thrived on cruelty, violence, and corruption. Priests ministered more for greed than for God. Landlords stole from the poor and evicted widows. Judges lusted after bribes. Businessmen used deceitful scales and weights. Sin had infiltrated every segment of society. God brings a lawsuit against his people. At the heart of it is idolatry, but the idolatry expresses itself in greed, a breaking of the 8th commandment.
Scripture: Exodus 20:15
"Look," said the college bound student, "just because some old man spent a night on a mountain and came down and said, 'You shall not commit adultery,' why should I let that spoil my fun?". In actuality, most people don't even think that hard abour it. Premarital sexual activity and living together without even the thought of marriage has become the norm in our culture. What does the 7th commandment say to such an age?
Scripture: Matthew 5:27-32; 19:3-9
We've seen the success of Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step programs over the years, and one of the key principles behind them is to "let go and let God," to give up some control over yourself and let God be in control. That's not a new idea. In fact, we find it in Psalm 42-43. While these Psalms can stand alone, the identical refrain (42:5, 11; 43:5) indicates that they may have been originally written as one Psalm, or at least used together. They are psalms of lament, an urgent prayer in the situation of need.
Scripture: Psalm 42-43
Memory is an interesting thing. Without it, we’d never learn anything; every event would be new. Yet, even with memory, people remember things differently. One incident is remembered differently by different people. We remember some people, forget others. We have selective memory; parents know children have these. David had memories he’d like to have forgotten But in the very heart of his prayer, David prays: remember me!
Scripture: Psalm 25
What does it mean in the 21st century: you shall not kill? How can we, many of whom have never handled a weapon nor intend to kill, take this command to heart? Or have we, who’ve experienced thousands of murders on TV and movies, become callous to killing? We can look at the command as Jesus did, on two levels: external and internal.
Scripture: Matthew 5:21-29; Exodus 20:13
Have you ever felt totally removed from God? Does it seem like there is a divine silence? Maybe it occurs during a lingering illness, at the loss of a loved one, when in a broken relationship. You cried out to God, only to see and hear nothing. If you’ve ever felt this way, Psalm 19 gives you hope. Even when God seems silent, he is always speaking in two ways: through the world and his Word.
Scripture: Psalm 19
Paul has been talking about relationships in people’s lives, starting with a marriage relationship and ending with one’s work (slave-master!) relationship. He notes that both are two-sided. In between, he turns to the relationship between parents and children, so important God addressed it with the 5th commandment. Paul reflects on this relationship, which we don’t often think of as two sided or mutual: honorable parents and honoring parents.
Scripture: Ephesians 6:1-4
TGIF, ‘Thank God It’s Friday!” is a popular saying people use to celebrate the end of work’s drudgery and look forward to the coming of the weekend, with all of its fun activities. For most, Sunday simply becomes the second day of that weekend, the last day of mindless pleasure. What does the weekend consist of? How might we be able to say “Thank God It’s Sunday!” with great meaning?
Scripture: Exodus 20:8-11; Matthew 12:1-14
David is a happy man; he feels “blessed,” living a “blessed” life. But that was not always the case. Psalm 51 is the immediate expression of confession over his sin with Bathsheba and God’s restoration of him, filled with the emotion of the moment. Psalm 32 seems to be written later, after some reflection, apparently the fulfillment of David’s vow in Psalm 51:13 “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.”
Scripture: Psalm 32
Power had corrupted David. At a time when he should have been with his army, he was instead wandering on the palace rooftop. This led to one sin piling atop another, until the prophet Nathan called him to account. Psalm 51 records David’s prayer for forgiveness and how it affects his fellowship with God.
Scripture: Psalm 51
What’s in a name? Chosen by our parents, a name becomes our character, our identity. It is important, so that we take offense if it is forgotten, misused, abused. Biblical names also tell us about the role of a person. By revealing his identity, God exposes himself to us, his holiness, his dignity. So we can call on him, worship him, confess his name, glorify his name. But we can also misuse and abuse his name. Being given the name of God gives us tremendous responsibility and privilege. This command is all about the treatment of God’s holy name.
Scripture: Exodus 20:7; Acts 4:1-22
Samaritans worshiped on Mount Gerizim, as Moses commanded (Deut. 11-12) and where had had altars built. Jews knew that God had later commanded worship in Jerusalem, where he had Solomon build the Temple. This was the true place of worship. In a sense, the two temples themselves became idols for them. Both believed that the Messiah would come and justify their position. Into this argument walks Jesus; what will Messiah say?
Scripture: Exodus 20:4-6; John 4:1-26
On our currency we find the reminder: “In God we trust.” But when our life is on the line or a catastrophe like the corona virus strikes, are we willing to trust in God? That’s
really what Psalm 46 is all about. Who is God? Where do we find our security, stability and serenity?
Scripture: Psalm 46
As we re-gather for corporate worship back in our church building, we are going to break into our regular sermon series to reflect on our return. We met the Sons of Korah in Psalms 42-43, as they made their way into exile in Babylon, already feeling the pull of home as they were forced to leave it. This Psalm reflects a similar longing for being in God’s House ⸺ a longing many of us echoed in the past months of the pandemic. What have we learned in “exile” that we can better “be the church” outside these walls?
Scripture: Psalm 84
External success and internal feelings; most people use these as a sort of cost-benefit analyses to shape their lives in selecting or changing a career, acting morally, hanging
friends, etc. External success and internal feelings. In both cases, “self” is the goal of life, the core of life’s meaning, the highest value. Each self becomes its own moral universe, guided by self-interest. What could be more alien to the first commandment, to have no other gods? Jesus speaks to this commandment and the idea of God vs. self.
Scripture: Matthew 6:19-24, 33
We are all subject to fears. What are the greatest fears for you? The phone rings at 1:00 in the morning and your heart skips a beat? You hear a noise downstairs and have visions of a burglar? As a child maybe you had fears that this argument between your parents might lead to divorce. Or as a parent you may be concerned about a rebellious child. And, of course, we’ve lived through the fear of a pandemic that virtually shuts down our country or life as we know it. David expresses his fears in this Psalm, which he also uses to give others the benefits of the insights he learned on how to handle fear.
Scripture: Psalm 27
We are free from the Law, we live by grace! We are New Testament Christians who live by love, not Old Testament believers who feared a wrathful God. How often haven’t you heard this from well-meaning Christians? Those who make such statements sometimes make an even greater leap: there is no place for the Ten Commandments! That’s why it surprises some people, if they read the Sermon on the Mount carefully and correctly, to hear Jesus
say: Yes, absolutely the Law still applies in the 21st century! Let’s look at how and why he says so, as we prepare to study the Ten Commandments this summer.
Scripture: Matthew 5:17-20; 22:34-40
The book of Psalms begins by reminding us of two ways of life, holding up the “way” of the Bible-observing, righteous person as the lifestyle that is blessed by God. That is contrasted by the person who increasingly “feels at home” with the world and its ways. Join us next Sunday as we begin a summer-long look at some favorite and important Psalms.
Scripture: Psalm 1
Paul’s concerned about unity in the Ephesian church, which is mixed racially, culturally, socially. But now he focuses on what it means to be the church personally. Paul is writing to some who have a long-established habit of “being in the dark.” But he teaches them that their former lifestyle doesn’t match their now-professed faith What does it mean to live as part of the Body of Christ, the Church? What lifestyle is expected and how do they get there?
Scripture: Ephesians 4:17-5:20
While we talk about Pentecost as a Christian holiday, it was first a Jewish feast. It was one of three times a year God’s people were to appear before Him at the Temple. Each feast was a ceremony deeply rooted in the past, but also gave hope for future. God chose those feast days for the great redemptive acts of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. On Passover, Jesus died as our Passover lamb. But on Pentecost, God revealed his presence in a whole new way.
Scripture: Acts 2:1-21, 37-47
While the disciples celebrate the ascension of Christ in Luke 24, they weren’t always that thrilled about his leaving them. In John 14:1-21, Jesus reminds them of some of the advantages of his ascension: He guarantees our personal home with the Father, our personal hotline to Christ, and our personal helper, the Holy Spirit.
Scripture: Luke 24:50-53; John 14
Have you ever really blown it and thought there was no way you could ever make up for it? Meet Peter. He blew it big time, denying his Lord, the Son of God, three times! But on the other side of Easter is the restoring love of Jesus, a love which questions our love in order to confirm it, and which calls us toshow our love through actions.
Scripture: John 21:15-23
Uncertain about their future, some of the disciples appear to be returning to their location of fishing. Jesus orchestrates a large catch of fish to show them he could still provide for their daily needs, but also to remind them of their call to be fishers of men and of the many "fish" awaiting them.
Scripture: John 21:1-14
Preaching is important. In fact, the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us that it is one of the "keys of the kingdom." It opens the kingdom by proclaiming the Gospel message so people might accept by faith a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It closes the kingdom by announcing God's wrath against the sin of those who remain unrepentant. It is, in a sense, the "backbone" of the body of Christ.
Scripture: Acts 2:14-47
Last week we looked at the story of Jesus passing the keys of the kingdom on to his Apostles, giving the church the authority to "open and close the kingdom of heaven (God)." One key is the preaching of the Word, centered on the confession of Jesus as Messiah and Lord, a regular part of the church's weekly life. The second key is less regular and less comfortable: discipline. If thought about rightly and done properly, it is an important aspect of church life. Matthew 18 gives us the process of discipline, but also reveals the power and purpose of discipline.
Scripture: Matthew 18:7-22
Every Gospel and letter in the New Testament is written from the other side of Easter, which makes a great difference in how we understand the life of Jesus. After Easter, the disciples gained a new understanding of the past (the Old Testament and how it spoke of Jesus), the present ("while I was still with you"), and the future (their new task).
Scripture: Luke 24:36-49
Political leaders are known to see which way the people are marching and hurry in front to "lead" them. But not Jesus; he refused to allow public opinion to change his ministry. Now his public popularity has been dwindling. Herod Antipas is concerned about Jesus' political ambitions. The Jewish authorities are increasingly hostile. Some disciples are leaving him, frustrated by his refusal to be a conquering king. Jesus and his Apostles retreat to Caesarea Philippi, where we see a turning point in Jesus' ministry - all the events that follow lead to a cross - and the Apostles' discipleship - will they follow him to the end? Will they maintain Jesus' message and ministry when he's gone, or drop away like the fickle crowds?
Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20
Whenever and wherever Jesus appeared to people after Easter, not only did minds change about the reality of his resurrection, but lives were transformed. The disciples were transformed from fear to courage, Thomas from doubt to confidence, and every one of us from death to life.
Scripture: John 20:19-31
Do you ever think about what a wedding ring means? Giving and receiving the ring doesn't make one married. But it does two things: it is a sign/symbol of marriage and it is a pledge of martial faithfulness to each other. That is also true of the sacraments of the church. We'll look at the sacraments as a whole, but referring more specifically through the lens of an Old Testament sacrament which Paul cites in Romans 4: circumcision.
Scripture: Romans 3:21 - 4:12
Spiritual heartburn can come from a variety of places. For Cleopas and his friend, it came from a close call with spiritual death, trying to digest too much of the Bread of Life, and meeting their Maker face-to-face! When we take it seriously, Easter will give us spiritual heartburn before it yields hearts of joy!
Scripture: Luke 24:13-35
Easter is a great Christian holiday. Easter is a celebration of new life, a celebration that Jesus arose and is our living Lord. But let me ask you what's so great about that? What difference does it make in our lives? On Easter, I want to look at the very heart of the Christian faith. Why do we do what we do? Why do we believe what we believe? Why does Jesus make a difference?
We will focus on the suffering of Jesus Christ, particularly looking at two elements of that suffering: the cross and the cry.
Scripture: Mark 15:21-39
Before we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we traditionally (in the CRC) use the previous Sunday to prepare to partake of the sacrament. Why do we need to prepare? What sort of preparation? The main passage referring to this preparation is 1 Corinthians 11. In the context of the abuse of the Lord's Supper going on in the Corinthian church, Paul explains the need for self-examination and intentional preparation.
Scripture: I Corinthians 11:17-34
We have come to call the events described in Luke 19:28-44 (and parallels) Palm Sunday, and the event of the day "the triumphal entry." But I think we've got the names wrong, both of them. Why Palm Sunday when palms were an inappropriate image for the day? And what is triumphant about an entry into Jerusalem that leaves Jesus weeping? So what is the appropriate image? What should the day be called?
Scripture: Luke 19:28-44
Years ago, there was an extremely talented law school student whose life was changed by a couple of scary events: his friend’s sudden death and his own narrow escape from a lightning strike. Suddenly he became terribly afraid for his own salvation. How could he be right with God and find peace for his soul? He eventually found it when he took to heart Romans 3. It changed his life, and it changed the history of the church.
Scripture: Romans 3:9-31
If you looked in a dictionary, you might find the following definition of pharisaical: “observing the form but neglecting the spirit of religion.” A Pharisee is often defined as a self-righteous, hypocritical person. These are probably the definitions we grew up with. But one thing I’ve found in exploring the cultural background of the Bible: it often explodes your definitions and assumptions. And nowhere is that more true than in our understanding of the Pharisees and their relationship with Jesus!
Scripture: Matthew 23
As we near the Passion Week of Jesus, we encounter in the story of Jesus’ suffering two sinners: Peter and Judas. Matthew puts these stories together for a purpose: to compare the sins and to contrast the responses. What is Matthew trying to teach the church of his day? And how is God speaking through these stories to us today?
Scripture: Matthew 26:69 – 27:5
In preparation for heading to Jerusalem and the cross, Jesus had just asked his disciples “who do you say I am?” and they responded, through their spokesman Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Then Jesus revealed that he was going to suffer and die in Jerusalem, something they weren’t prepared for. They’d made the great confession (son of God), but did they believe it with every ounce of their being? Later, in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus would give authority to carry on his work, but where did he get it?
Scripture: Matthew 17:1-13
The Hebrew Christians were greatly persecuted by Rome. They were tempted to drop out of the race of the Christian life (in fact, many did), because it was too hard and unrewarding. Here the author of this letter to those Hebrew Christians encourages them with stories of former “saints” who ran and won the race, and now closes this section saying, in essence: “If you don’t run, you can’t win!”
Scripture: Hebrews 11:32 - 12:3
Jesus actually changed his hometown from Nazareth to Capernaum. Why? Especially at a time when that wasn’t the norm? Any time you move, it is a conscious decision that comes with reasons. In fact, we could all ask that of ourselves: Why has God placed you in this place at this time? So it is not unusual for us to ask that of Jesus. Why did he move to Capernaum?
Scripture: Matthew 4:12-25
Pastor Disselkoen leads us in worship tonight by exploring the Great Commission and Jesus' command to "Go".
Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20
Doug Higby examines God's invitation to the Israelites to listen and live. This passage in Isaiah invites "all you who are thirsty" to receive God's grace and blessings.
Scripture: Isaiah 55:1-7
I like to visit sites and read books about American history and those who stood up for our freedoms, people like Washington, Jefferson, Paul Revere, and so on. But we don’t celebrate Benedict Arnold, who would have been a hero if he hadn’t turned traitor. We don’t celebrate traitors. Rather, we admire people who stand up for what it right, even against the world and at the price of their death (like Nathan Hale). But we will look at the story of a person, honored in Hebrews 11, who was a mixture of traitor and hero. Rahab of Jericho.
Scripture: Hebrews 11:31; Joshua 2
Ever since I preached at my home church as a seminarian, I’ve been heartened by Jesus’ visit to his hometown, where he commented that no prophet was accepted in his hometown. But there is more going on here than simply bad memories of a hometown boy. Why did the synagogue crowd of Nazareth react to Jesus the way they did? How did Jesus respond to their reaction?
Scripture: Luke 4:16-30
In life we cannot see beyond the obstacle in front of us. We are short on perspective. God, who sees all, wants to guide us through life He gives us His Word, invites us to pray, wants us to listen and be open to his leading. But we don’t always listen or like where he leads. Israel was that way, forced to learn faith in God’s guidance.
Scripture: Hebrews 11:29; Exodus 13:17-14:31
We’ve been looking at Jesus through the eyes of the culture of his day as a Rabbi and a parable teller. In that capacity, his goal would have been to make many disciples, who would not only learn his teaching but be prepared to carry on his mission. Jesus comes talking about the kingdom already being here and making disciples. What’s his plan and where do his disciples fit? And what does it mean to be disciples of Jesus today?
Scripture: Matthew 4-7
Moses lived a life that was characterized by faith. He fled Egypt at one point, but eventually returned to lead Israel out of their captivity. He could easily be called a “hero of faith.” But Exodus 3-4 reminds us that so-called “heroes” are just human beings with weaknesses, failures, insecurities. God helped them, and can help us, overcome those insecurities through faith.
Scripture: Hebrews 11:23-28; Exodus 3-4
Christian polls comparing the behaviors of those who claim they are “born again” Christians with those who say they are not Christians generally find that the behaviors of the two groups are remarkably similar! Why do those professing to be born-again Christians differ little from self-proclaimed non-Christians? The answer can be found in Jesus’ use of parables.
Scripture: Matthew 13:1-23
Hebrews 11:20-22 talks about three patriarchs dying in their faith. But these were not death-bed conversions (like the thief beside Jesus on the cross); they had an active faith throughout their lives. These three patriarchs, who serve as links between God’s promise to Abraham and God’s redemption through Moses, didn’t experience God’s promises fulfilled, but we see them dying with a living faith in God, his plans and promises.
In Matthew 21-22, we see Jesus at the Temple, overthrowing the moneychangers’ tables, and his authority is questioned. Then he tells some parables, some Pharisees & Sadducees try to trip him up with questions, which causes Jesus to ask questions of his own. It’s pretty familiar, but what’s going on? It’s easy to say that it illustrates that Jesus just didn’t fit in. But in actuality, it tells us just the opposite: for the most part, Jesus fit in his culture pretty well.
Scripture: Matt 21:23-27; 22:15-46; 11:12; 13:31-33
If we want God’s best, we must sometimes go through the furnace of testing until we fully display God’s intended design in our life. Perhaps no one understood this better than Abraham. Genesis 22 is a haunting story about what it means to do God’s will, to experience God! Isaac is growing up; God’s covenant with Abraham is well on its way to fulfillment. Then out of the blue God calls for sacrifice, and not just any sacrifice: Isaac — Abraham’s only son, the son of the covenant, his hope for the future he’s waited for all his life. After all Abraham’s been through, what’s going on?
Scripture: Hebrews 11:17-19; Genesis 22:1-18
There are two issues that might get in the way of people’s reading of this story. One is the impossibility of the miraculous, given the scientific understandings of the modern era. Such stories are easily written off as the expectations and faulty understanding of the time. The other is that we often look at Jesus’ life from our cultural perspective. From our perspective, the miracles done by Jesus should have made it obvious who Jesus was. Well, yes and no.
Scripture: Matthew 9:1-8, 20-22
Genesis 12 is a peak in the Bible on which we can stand and survey all that is significant. As we look back, we see the creation, then see it fractured by sin. That eventually leads to the downward spiral of sin, which results in murder, the flood of judgment, and the tower of Babel showing that people hadn’t learned their lesson. What will God do? Will he let man destroy everything? Genesis 12 shows us God’s response, which is to call a man and give him a promise of a land and a family that will become a great nation through which God will bless the world.
Scripture: Hebrews 11:8-12; Genesis 12:1-9
On Cadet Sunday we’ll look at their theme: coming to God in prayer, especially coming in confidence that God is listening to us. Jeremiah 29:12 says: “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” Is that sometimes hard to believe? That the Creator God actually takes time and loves us enough to listen to what we are saying to him? Jesus promises that “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” That should give us great confidence in our prayers to God. But it might also raise a question. If God knows our needs, why pray?
Scripture: Jeremiah 29:12; Matt 6:5-13
Noah and his society faced lived in a dry land, with very little rainfall. Yet Noah announces that God is sending a flood and he begins building an ark! It had to sound
ridiculous. Today, this may be the way people respond to talk of God’s final judgment. The flood of the Old Testament was the final judgment for that society. And
Noah’s faith response has something to say to our faith response to God.
Scripture: Hebrews 11:7; Genesis 6
Imagine you are Gospel writer with the task of convincing people that Jesus is not just another claiming to be Messiah; he really is! Thankfully God has given you a lot to work with. He has shown how his birth and childhood fulfill prophecy. And at his baptism we hear the voice of God authenticating Jesus and we see the Holy Spirit empowering him. But now Jesus goes into the wilderness to be tempted. How does this fit into your presentation of Messiah?
Scripture: Luke 4:1-13
Hebrews 11 gives us a number of Old Testament examples of faith. The example of Abel deals with our attitude in worship. While the Genesis 4 story emphasizes his murder and the spread of sin (and that certainly plays into God’s evaluation of Cain), Hebrews 11:4 comes from another angle: God’s acceptance or rejection of our worship. It forces us to ask the question: How do we worship God: from the heart or going through the motions? How does God react to our worship?
Scripture: Hebrews 11:4; Genesis 4:1-16
Around thirty years old, Jesus is finally ready to begin his ministry, and his first action is baptism. Why? That was John the Baptizer’s question. He recognized as the sinless Lamb of God who would take away sins of world and baptize with the Holy Spirit. Now Jesus asks to be baptized himself. John’s baptism was one of repentance, a cleansing for sin. Why would Jesus, the sinless one, need to undergo such a ritual?
Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:21-22
One survey found that 86% of Americans call themselves Christians, but less than half go to church. Even fewer exhibited knowledge of basic Bible facts and stories, and they found very little difference between Christians and non-Christians in their behavior. Why would that be so? Some would attribute it to an increasingly Greek way of thinking, in particular in our view of faith as opposed to the biblical, that is Hebraic, view of faith. We’re going to apply some of that thinking to Hebrews 11, the great chapter on faith.
Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-16
Over the next couple of months, we will focus on an exploration of “Jesus our Jewish Messiah,” with the underlying premise that to understand Jesus and his teaching more fully, we need to understand who he was within culture of day. One of the foundational misunderstandings Christians have about Jesus is his relationship to the Law/Torah. We’ll begin with two seemingly disparate passages to learn how Jesus was a “son of the commandments.”
Scripture: Luke 2:39-52; Matt 5:17-20
We’ve already asked about Mary and Joseph, how far was it to Bethlehem for them?
What did it take to get them to a face-to-face encounter with God’s incarnate Son?
And what will it take us this advent season?
One of the farthest journeys was taken by the oddest characters of to be part of the story: Magi from the East.
Why did God include them as part of Jesus’ greeting party?
How does Matthew use Old Testament prophecy to help us understand their role … and ours?
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
As the shepherds encountered the angels in the night sky outside of Bethlehem, what do you think was their first impression? I think it might have been one of glory. Today we use that word rather casually, applying it to sports stars, political figures, entertainers and other celebrities. But in the Bible, glory properly applies only to God himself, and eventually to his son Jesus. God’s glory evokes amazement, reverent fear, and worship. It dazzles us, reminding us that we are earthly and God is heavenly. This Christmas, we remember one time when, for a few brief moments, the Glory of heaven broke through.
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
“Are we there yet?” “How far is it?”
We used to hear this a lot from our kids during a long road trip. As we mature, we still ask “how far is it?”, but with a different purpose in mind. We learn that a journey is a process that brings us from one point to another, with stops and starts, re-fueling and adjustments along the way. The same is true of a spiritual journey. Whether days, weeks, or years, it is a movement through time, and possibly through physical space, but also in one’s heart and mind, one’s emotions and thinking. Along the way we change, as God prepares us for what he has next.
We’re going to see how far it was to Bethlehem for Mary and Joseph, how God brought them to an encounter with Him through His incarnate Son. We’ll see how they changed spiritually, even as they journeyed physically.
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25
In conjunction with the children’s Christmas program, we will look specifically at the shepherds in the Christmas story. As we look at all the characters surrounding the Christmas story, including the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, and the “King of the Jews,” Herod the Great, who would be the best candidate for a world-shattering announcement? For a king to be introduced? To whom would God reveal his Word? The unlikely shepherds, but why?
Luke 2:8-20
You could make the case that Joseph is the forgotten man of Christmas. Some call him “Joseph the just” (and he was), but we could also call him “Joseph the Silent.” He never speaks a word! He is seemingly a minor character in the Christmas story. But, as Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” Joseph’s actions spoke so loudly that he didn’t have to. In looking at his story, we will see how he responds to God in obedience.
Matthew 1:18-25; 2:13-23
What’s in a name? Having asked that in the morning service, we will continue our look at the name of Jesus and the power it had for the early church. Peter mentions the name “Jesus” in Acts 4:12, affirming that there is no other name by which people can be saved. But then Peter adds another name to the mix:
“Christ.” What does this name mean for us?
Names make a difference. Why else would so many go to court to have theirs changed? Why do parents agonize over naming of a child? Why do nicknames have such influence, positive or negative, on people’s lives? That is especially true in the Bible, and no biblical names are more important than those of our Savior. Matthew now moves from the historical significance of Jesus’ family tree to the significance of two of his names: Jesus and Immanuel.
Isaiah 64 - Isaiah has a beautiful dream of Israel’s future in Isaiah 35, where he dreams of a time of shalom for the people of God, presently in exile. The desert will bloom, God’s people will return from exile, gladness and joy will overtake them. This was not the present reality, however badly Isaiah wanted it. Have you ever wanted something that bad. Isaiah breaks out of prophecy mode and talks to God: If only … but … yet … In his conversation with God, we get a feel for what Advent was about: anxious longing and waiting.
Matthew 1:1-17 You will be a little bored when you read Jesus’ family tree in Matthew 1. But for a Jewish person, this genealogy is anything but bland and boring. On the one hand, it is a very impressive pedigree! But, on closer investigation, this genealogy reveals reminders of colorful people and events that would cause some eyebrow raising and head shaking. Some are downright embarrassing, people and events that you would think Matthew would have hidden. But he didn’t; so what does he want us to learn?
Isaiah 41:8-13
Comfort - Do not fear for I am with you.
Calmness - Do not be dismayed for I am your God.
Confidence - I will strengthen you and I will help you.
Conquest (Victory) - I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
The Etiquette of the Kingdom – Luke 14:1-14
I’ve never been one to pay much attention to Miss Manners or Emily Post, to get too involved with social etiquette. I don’t really like people telling me what I can and cannot do! So this parable doesn’t really get my heart pumping — and I’m not the only one. This
has to be one of the most ignored parables in the Bible. Has Jesus turned into a Mr. Manners? Is this some kind of divinely instituted social etiquette? Of course not. So what’s it all about?
Relational Communication – Colossians 4:2-18
Paul has encouraged and challenged the Colossians to uphold Jesus Christ as supreme and sufficient for their salvation, and as the starting point of holy living. Then he describes what holy living should look like in one’s personal life and in relationships (church, marriage,
family, job). Now Paul concludes his letter to the Colossians describing a few more important relationships, and how to communicate within them.
(The doxology at the end of the recording is performed by the South Christian High School choir)
Rule for Relationships - Colossians 3:18-4:1
Paul moves from giving rules for holy living personally and within the church community (3:1-17) to holy living within our relationships. He addresses the three primary
relationships that most people have: marriage, family, job.
The Fair Unfairness of the Kingdom– Matthew 20:1-16
This is perhaps one of the most puzzling of Jesus’ parables, not because meaning isn’t clear but because we have a problem with the fairness/unfairness of it.
Here we learn from Jesus’ lips about the radical nature of God’s grace and generosity.
Psalm 150 – Hallelujah!
Why do we praise God? We praise got for what he does. We praise God for who He is.
Who Is My Neighbor? – Luke 10:25-37
How do we address some of the hot-button social issues of our times as individuals and as a church? How does our theology impact our answer? And how does our lifestyle impact our theology? In this parable, we see Jesus weighing in on a hot-button theological topic of his day: “who is my neighbor?” But even in this Jewish debate, one’s way of living impacts one’s answer.
SENT With – Luke 10:1-12
As we see from this passage, we don’t go into the harvest alone. Jesus sent his disciples in pairs, and we too are intended to minister as a team ⸺ not just with other disciples, but also led and energized by the Holy Spirit. But another aspect is that we are sent to be with people, to enter not only into our community but into their lives.
What might that look like for us?
Holy Living – Colossians 3:1-17
Paul has just talked about freedom from human regulations and laws. Some false teachers were telling the Colossians that Gentiles had to become Jewish before they could truly be Christians, which Paul vehemently denies. But then he turns right around and gives “rules for holy living!” So Paul, freedom or rules, which is it? Here he addresses the issues of legalism and grace.
SENT Into – Luke 10:1-12
We are sent into the harvest; the harvest doesn’t come to us. That includes the wishful thinking that people will just start coming to our church without any previous relationships with people from the church. This is why Jesus sends us into the harvest. As we go (or consider going) into the harvest, we might have some questions: Why? What? When? Who? Where? And How? We’ll seek to answer those questions as we think about going into our community.
Paul was dealing with a group of false teachers in Colosse saying Christ wasn’t enough for salvation. Gentiles coming into the church had to first become Jewish! Paul is concerned about this young church and has already encouraged them. Now he gets to the heart of the matter: Christ is absolutely sufficient for our salvation. He encourages them to live in Christ rather than play with shadows.
SENT For – Luke 10:1-12
Jesus, while on earth, represented God in the flesh. But since he was eventually going to ascend into heaven, he now calls and trains his disciples to do that.
So what is this kingdom we represent and proclaim as imager-bearers of the King?
We’ll look at the kingdom as God’s rule, his power, and his people, and our role in proclaiming it to our community.
SENT By – Luke 10:1-12
What does it mean for us to be SENT by Jesus into the harvest field?
Perhaps, given the poor reputation of Christian evangelism in our country, we might even ask the question WHY? Not only have we often done a poor job of it, but we don’t sense that the world is very receptive to our witness.
Why bother? The answer to that is who we are SENT by.