York Alliance Church Sermons: Recent Episodes
York Alliance Church
Learning to depend on God is the first and primary lesson of the wilderness. Until we learn that, we cannot move toward maturity. Often, anxiety and lack of control are key components of our journey, just as they were for Israel. However, God meets us in the wilderness to show us that we can depend on Him.
Developing a rule of life is foundational to life as an apprentice of Jesus. However, it's still a means, not an end. We are called to be a community of love and move toward maturity, which is measured by loving as Jesus does. A rule of life that doesn't lead us toward love is a lot of effort with no real reward. Jesus is still the goal.
Conspicuous by its absence in many of the lives of followers of Jesus is the presence of joy. Yet it was one of the things that Jesus said would mark those who abide in Him, and it is chief among the fruit of those who are walking in step with the Spirit. How do we enter into the joy of Jesus? Or maybe better said, how do we not miss out on the joy that is rightfully ours in Christ? The answer is found in engaging the ancient rhythm of celebration.
Part of a healthy rule of life is an honest wrestling with the brokenness of the world around us. Those we love get hurt, people and situations disappoint us, and much of life does not go as we have planned. Lament is a vitally important action that allows the fullness of joy in our lives. Lament has a beginning and an end and, when accomplished, gives way to real joy.
As created beings, we must learn to embrace the fact that we have limits. Jesus left many things undone, and yet, He accomplished all that the Father sent Him to do. We must do the same. This can only happen when we come to grips with the fact that God has created us with limits, even though we live in the midst of a world that seems limitless.
It's not just the hurry of the modern world that pulls us away from the life of Jesus… it's the sheer noise. While the noises in our modern world are admittedly different, this isn't a new problem. Jesus modeled for us a rhythm of retreat into silence that allowed Him to regain the Father's perspective for His life and world. We are called to do the same.
The pull of hurry is possibly the greatest enemy of the spiritual life, and the digital world stokes this fire of hurry while sabotaging attentiveness to the way of Jesus. When we learn to take refuge in God and allow firm lines to be drawn, we find that true fulfillment comes from Him alone.
Using the metaphor of a vine, the call of Jesus is that we abide in Him. In the midst of a world filled with smartphones, hurry, and all forms of digital and tangible distraction, how can we obey this call? The answer comes in the form of another metaphor: a trellis, or as the ancients called it, a "rule of life." By establishing a rule of life, personally and communally, we establish a framework to abide in Christ.
Developing a rule of life is less about the activities that we do than it is about the loves and desires that act as the foundation of our lives. The world around us often teaches us that we're at the mercy of our desires and that our loves are just animalistic urges. However, both the Bible and the history of the church teach us that we are able to curate our desires through the way that we live.
The vitally important reminder as we engage formation is that we are called to stand in faith, but that God is the one who does the heavy lifting. Formation starts and ends with the work of God but must necessarily include our action. This mysterious tension is at the heart of true discipleship.
In an LGBTQ+ world, how do we live as faithful followers of Jesus? In a world that is upside down regarding gender, what does the Bible actually have to say to us? How do we love the world around us well?
In an LGBTQ+ world, how do we live as faithful followers of Jesus? In a world that is upside down regarding gender, what does the Bible actually have to say to us? How do we love the world around us well?
In an LGBTQ+ world, how do we live as faithful followers of Jesus? In a world that is upside down regarding gender, what does the Bible actually have to say to us? How do we love the world around us well?
In an LGBTQ+ world, how do we live as faithful followers of Jesus? In a world that is upside down regarding gender, what does the Bible actually have to say to us? How do we love the world around us well?
The vitally important reminder as we engage formation is that we are called to stand in faith, but that God is the one who does the heavy lifting. Formation starts and ends with the work of God but must necessarily include our action. This mysterious tension is at the heart of true discipleship.
Freedom from is only part of true freedom; it must give way to freedom for something as well. In God's message to Moses we find out that deliverance is the precursor to formation, and that formation is necessary for us to truly inhabit the Promised Land.
The Passover story is a clear precursor to the atoning work of Jesus. Through layers of symbolism, the deliverance story is told right before it happens, and the story of leaving Egypt is layered with signs of the goodness of God. In the same way, we tell the story over and over as we remember the power of Jesus' sacrifice and the true place of our hope.
There is a line that gets crossed when it becomes evident that God is at work. In those instances, we can either embrace the forward movement of the Kingdom of God or harden our heart against His rule and reign. The love of God confronts our idols and brings us into freedom.
We are comfortable with the love of God, but tend to recoil a bit at the judgment of God. However, true love requires real judgment. The plagues are a reminder of the futility of worshiping false gods, past and present, and of the extent to which God will go to deliver His people from oppression.
The promise of the new covenant not only provides forgiveness from sin but also the transformation of our whole person. Ezekiel prophesied that the new covenant would bring with it a new heart that replaces our former heart of stone. This means that we need to change and that progressive change will make us become like Jesus from the inside out.
The breadth of the beauty of the person and work of Jesus is beyond our ability to comprehend. Our vision is to engage the totality of Jesus while learning to engage His beauty progressively. This calls us to be with Jesus, abide in His presence, meditate on His work, and listen for His voice. As we experience all of Jesus, we will impact all the world.
As we approach the end of another challenging year, it's appropriate as the people of God for us to look back at the faithfulness of God and dream forward into the future into which He is calling us. The church is often commanded to remember His faithfulness as well as expect His goodness and grace in the future. This is a personal discipline, a corporate exercise and a way of life for the church.
Jesus came among us in the midst of both obscurity and scandal, not backing away from the most difficult aspects of our humanity. It's in His coming among us that Jesus creates a pathway for us to come to Him, inviting us all to be children of God.
From Genesis to Revelation, the desire of God is to be with His people. Consciously or subconsciously, we often perceive the desire of God to be over us or under us. When we understand that God's desire is to be with us, we are sustained through the joys and sorrows of our journey and we are able to carry His presence to the world around us.
The celebration of the first Advent points us to the second. The glorious image of eternity reminds us that Jesus came to be with us and that we will be with Him forever. Until that time, we are called to reveal His presence, be recaptured by urgency, and reach the world around us.
Before we can understand the full message of the Christmas season, we need to gaze at the beauty of God Himself. It is only when we understand who God is that we are able to respond to His coming with true joy.
Lost to most of us across culture and language is the powerful truth of Exodus 6: God proposes to Israel, His bride, and commits Himself to her and, by extension, to us as well. The promise of deliverance is the forerunner to the anticipation of intimacy and inheritance for the people of God.
Suffering and disappointment are part of the human experience, and Christians are not exempt from this reality. In fact, it's in the midst of the most powerful work of God that we often experience the formational work of suffering and pain in our lives. While we can't avoid suffering and disappointment, we can prepare ourselves for the inevitability of it and learn to sustain, and even grow, during those difficult seasons.
Our hesitation is no match for the plan of God. He works through imperfect people like us to accomplish profound things in our world. However, He also takes our response to His work seriously and asks us to submit to His Lordship. He can't be Savior unless He's also Lord.
In an LGBTQ+ world, how do we live as faithful followers of Jesus? What does the Bible actually have to say about sexuality, and what does it look like for us to live faithfully and lovingly in the modern world? This is the last of 4 Crossroads classes and has a mix between instruction and Q&A.
In an LGBTQ+ world, how do we live as faithful followers of Jesus? What does the Bible actually have to say about sexuality, and what does it look like for us to live faithfully and lovingly in the modern world? This is the third of 4 Crossroads classes and has a mix between instruction and Q&A.
In an LGBTQ+ world, how do we live as faithful followers of Jesus? What does the Bible actually have to say about sexuality, and what does it look like for us to live faithfully and lovingly in the modern world? This is the second of 4 Crossroads classes and has a mix between instruction and Q&A.
In an LGBTQ+ world, how do we live as faithful followers of Jesus? What does the Bible actually have to say about sexuality, and what does it look like for us to live faithfully and lovingly in the modern world? This is the first of 4 Crossroads classes and has a mix between instruction and Q&A.
When God appears to Moses in the burning bush, He declares one of the most powerful truths about Himself to us as His covenant people: He sees and hears us. There are times when it seems that God is far away and disengaged, and times when our prayers seem to disappear into the air. But the promise of the Bible is that God sees us, hears us, and is acting on our behalf, even when His timing doesn't match ours.
God is both transcendant and imminent. He is holy and yet close. He is the God in whose presence we must take off our sandals, but He also the God who invites us to come near. When we come to grips with this paradox, we begin to see the majesty of the salvation story and God's ongoing work of reconciliation in the world.
: Of the three 40-year periods into which Moses’ life can be divided, we have the least amount of information on the center period of time. However, we know that the man who went to Midian was not the same man who emerged 40 years later. The wilderness is a place where God desires to shape us. All too often, we run away from the wilderness and miss the formational work of Jesus in our lives.
Through a series of acts of civil disobedience, the line of Israel is sustained and a deliverer is born. In a season when our rights, or the violation of those rights, are a central conversation, the opening sequence of Exodus reminds us of when we are called to disobey the authorities so that we might obey God. While these times are more seldom than one might think, they are powerful examples of courage as God's plan unfolds.
The book of Exodus is a powerful foretelling of the work of salvation and restoration that God has done through Jesus. From a macro perspective, Exodus is one part in the five-volume epic that begins the Hebrew Bible. From the micro perspective, slavery in Egypt is a type for bondage of sin. Only when we see our helplessness and God's covenant love are we able to truly see the power of God's deliverance.
If we're honest, there are many times when community just isn't convenient, enjoyable or even desirable. However, our call to be an apprentice is to follow the model of Jesus and set aside our own preferences in order to love those in our community. By committing to journey with one another in a way that prioritizes the lives of others above our own, we model Jesus to one another and to a watching world.
God exists eternally in relationship and has invited us into that relationship. This means that we must learn to live authentically with one another, being loved just as we are. We receive and model the love of God as a steady flow to those around us. Like God Himself, we live lives that invite others to experience the love and grace of Jesus.
The predominate New Testament metaphor for the community of Jesus is that of family. This is rooted in Jesus' teaching and modeled throughout the history of the early church. The community of Jesus is called to be a counter-cultural expression of strong bonds developed with one another. We are saved not just into forgiveness and eternity—we are saved into a family.
Honor is a concept that is foreign to many of us as Westerners. We live in a culture of sarcasm, shaming, entitlement and disregard--a culture of contempt. However, the way of Jesus is honoring one another, even above ourselves. When we take this call seriously, we enter into a life-bringing and life-changing practice for our community and for the world around us.
Community was an intentional practice of Jesus that formed Him and those around Him. His community was diverse, committed to one another, and far from idealistic. Jesus' model was that of a servant, willingly setting aside His own rights to care for those around Him. This call is central to what it means to be an apprentice of Jesus and is powerfully formational for us as we follow after Him.
When we recognize the sovereign power of God, we can truly enter into the rest to which we are called. The invitation of Jesus is into a present and future rest that allows us to fully live into the Kingdom of God. When our culture directs us and we work for blessing, our souls are crushed. When Jesus blesses us, our souls are restored.
Justice is a vital and important topic in our world. However, too often the terms of justice are defined through worldly ideologies instead of Kingdom opportunities. As we engage the personal Gospel of Jesus, we are also called to embrace the cultural and social implications of that gospel for ourselves and for the church. Jesus modeled setting aside His ultimate privilege for our sake, and He calls us to do the same for those around us.
C.S. Lewis once wrote that we are "too easily satisfied." Our hunger for the power of God, the fullness of life, and revival in our community is often less than our desire for lunch. Triviality has replaced substance, and we have been lulled to sleep, not by the enemy of sin, but by apathy. The call of Jesus is to cultivate a deep hunger for that will not easily be satisfied and to relentlessly pursue His heart for the world.
Worship is counter-formation. We will always be worshiping something, and that something forms us. The deepest longings of our heart can only be met through the transcendent glory of God and, when we fail to recognize His glory, we shift glory to the created things which can never satisfy and will even destroy us. True worship orients us to the soul-satisfying power of God.
The world is shrinking. We live in a community that is increasingly diverse in every way as God brings the nations to us and sends us out to the nations as well. Unfortunately, fear of "the other" and of the increasing diversity of our world often blocks our ability to love and learn in this incredible landscape. The practice of hospitality makes the stranger a friend and allows us to see others as people, not as ideas.
The singular thing that we all agree on is that the world is broken. For those of us who are following Jesus, we recognize that He alone is the answer. However, what will it take for others to have the freedom to ask the questions necessary in order to come to the same conclusions? We must be ready to do whatever it takes to bring all of Jesus to the whole person for the whole world.
Cynicism seems to seep out of every pore in our world, and that often includes the church. We can be cynical about the move of God because we've experienced a broken world and have a hard time imagining anything different. In this world of cyncism, we are called to be people of joy who reflect the hope of Jesus. Celebration is a posture of godly defiance in a culture of doubt. Jesus calls us not to a Year of Jubilee but to a culture of Jubilee.
Hate is a common theme throughout our world. In a world of increasing polarization, each side feels justified in their hatred of the other, claiming a defense of the common good. First-century Rome was no different. In the midst of that world, and in the midst of ours, Jesus calls us to enemy love. When we choose love in a world of hate, we are transformed, we transform others, and we follow the teaching and example of Jesus.
Individualism and self-sufficiency in the world around us is a powerful force that pushes against the lordship of Jesus. Inherent in confessing Jesus as Lord is a recognition that we are unable to save ourselves and that the "good life" is beyond our human grasp. It's only when we lay down our preferences and embrace our place as subjects in the Kingdom of God that we truly live into the salvation and fullness of life that Jesus promised.
We must have a grounding in the Truth of Jesus that is stronger than the lies that surround us. We are constantly being formed by something—either the way of the world or the way of Jesus. Unless we engage Truth with intentionality, the foundation on which we build will be broken. When we commit to the face of God, we will no longer be conformed to the world but will be transformed by Him.
The prevailing culture around us is rushing headlong away from the gospel, the church and the hope of Jesus. As apprentices of Jesus, how do we remain faithful to His Way and call others to do the same? We must have a loyalty and conviction that is stronger than the cultural forces around us. The only way that will happen is if we relentlessly pursue the face of God and reflect His face to one another.
We are called to forgive because it's only through forgiveness that we find freedom. However, when we remain in unforgiveness, we also remain in bondage. For us, the call to forgiveness is grounded in the love of Jesus, even when it's difficult. There is deep power that comes from forgiving one another, both on a personal level and societal level. When living a lifestyle of forgiveness, we find the power of God for the fullness of life.
Forgiveness is our personal act to release individuals who sinned against us from our personal right to collect on the moral debt for their offense, with or without their participation in the process. Reconciliation, however, is when you move toward another and work to restore a broken relationship. We must work beyond guilt and shame as a community to fully embrace the life and freedom Jesus offers.
Forgiveness is releasing the personal right to pay back the one who has hurt me and absorbing the pain with God’s help. The process of forgiving someone can be laced with deep and powerful emotions. The memory of the wound and the offender has the ability to influence my behavior—relationally, emotionally, and spiritually. One of the hopes in the journey of forgiveness is to move from anger and hatred to love and compassion.
Receiving and granting forgiveness are some of the central actions of every disciple of Jesus. Forgiveness is not just releasing the personal right to payback the one who has hurt me, it is also personally absorbing the pain with God’s help. But it doesn’t stop there—God wants to take the wounds and pain of our lives and turn them for good. When forgiveness happens, we act in grace; when it doesn't, we transfer our pain to others.
Forgiveness is one of the most counter-cultural practices in the life of Jesus. When we forgive, we choose to release those who have sinned against us from our right to collect on the moral debt of their sin. A community practicing the way of Jesus not only practices this with one another, but lives this way in the world around us. If we are to engage forgiveness in a healthy way, we must understand what it is and what it isn't.
We are not just sent as incarnational representatives of Jesus, but we are sent everywhere as resurrectional ambassadors for Jesus. Just as Paul steadfastly refused to command the early Christians not to eat meat sacrificed to idols because of the way it would insulate the first-century church, we must be intentional in engaging every nook and cranny of the world with the love and power of Jesus.
We are called to “go” and make disciples as Jesus instructed us. However, as His disciples, we are also called to model our lives after His. In The Message, John 1:14 addresses the Incarnation stating that Jesus “became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” Thus, we too are called to not simply stand by watching from a distance; rather, we are called to be like Jesus and engage people right where they are.
Jesus used parties (meaning fun gatherings of any size) to welcome lost people and to invite them closer to Him. As Jesus’ followers, we can use the same strategy, especially this summer as people begin to “thaw out” from the worst of the pandemic. Let’s seek to be generous, accepting and highly intentional about creating relational environments where the Gospel can be shared through word and deed!
As a conclusion to YAC’s two-year study in the Gospel of Matthew, we take time today to simply listen as key passages from this book are read over us.
On Friday, God died. On Sunday, a very real human resurrected and will now live eternally. The incredible story of the death and life of God becomes the cornerstone for the message of hope that goes out to all people. This singular event creates a chain reaction that continues to impact every part of the world to this day. The invitation is for us: Where do we fit in the story?
In an incredible twist of irony, the One who is life Himself experiences death. The wage for sin is death, which was the judgment pronounced after the first Adam sinned. However, Jesus as the second Adam bears the punishment as the perfect sacrifice. At the cross, every shadow found in the law is brought to reality, justice is fulfilled, and we can know that, in Jesus’ death, death itself is conquered forever.
The gospel accounts of the cross are brief and spare the brutal details, but the physical suffering, mental anguish, spiritual isolation and cosmic injustice must not be lost on the reader. While we want to turn away, it's the brutality of the cross that points us to the weight of our sin, and it's the suffering of Jesus that leads us to embrace His radical love for us.
The Proverbs make a profound and heavy statement—that the way that seems right to man always leads to death. This is true for the individual, and it's true for the crowd. The call of Jesus is to live counter-culturally so that we, as exiles and foreigners in a culture of death, might be people who instead bring life.
Jesus. Who is this man? Two trials, one publicly held under the cover of darkness and one privately held in the corner by a fire, show us the weight and power of the question. Our willingness to acknowledge Jesus or stand for Him does nothing to impact His Lordship, but it dramatically impacts our lives and the lives of those around us. We are invited to live in the recognition that Jesus is Lord.
Application Sheet
Our will to act, while strong at any given moment, is never enough for us to live in the way of Jesus. When left to our human strength, we will always fail. Jesus shows us another way. In His humanity, Jesus relies on the Father for strength. It was in His moment of greatest weakness that Jesus gives us the pathway to strength.
Matthew's cross narrative begins with two contrasting pictures of worship: one is extravagant and deeply humble, and the other seems cheap and marked by pride. How do we respond to the deity of Jesus? How will we handle the downward journey to the cross? Matthew's message is not just that Jesus is enough, but that Jesus is everything.
God's intended plan for the transformation of the world is through the power of Jesus and through the vehicle of His Church. We are called as ambassadors for Christ, living each moment as a living testimony to the power and hope of Jesus. This means that every detail of our lives is being used by God, that we are never without purpose, and that every moment is an opportunity for Jesus to work.
For the Apostle Paul, the Gospel of Jesus was the foundational and central theme of everything He taught and of all He did. He said it this way: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
The call of Jesus was never primarily to a set of beliefs or a point in time commitment. Rather, He calls each of us to apprentice after Him—learning to be with Him, becoming like Him, and doing the things that He did. The goal of all apprentices of Jesus is that we would live as He would if He were us. This can only happen with our effort and with His power.
The New Testament vision of church was far from a religious organization. Instead, Paul and the early church leaders envisioned a counter-cultural society of people who lived together in such a way that their very existence made them a prophetic voice in the world around them. Living as God's new society isn't complex or difficult, but it requires all of us to be committed to one another in covenant love.
The concept of Discipleship Partners isn't complex, but it is essential. By regularly asking two simple questions, we engage one of the keys to spiritual formation: "What is Jesus saying? What am I doing in response?" Jesus is always at work in and around us, and often it takes others to open our eyes to that reality.
In this brief practice series to kick-off 2021, we are discussing the practice of co-pilgrimage. Jesus always surrounded Himself with others that were part of His journey. In snapshots from His life, we see that Jesus "needed" those who were journeying with Him, just as we do. Partners in apprenticeship are essential for the journey.
2020 was a rough year… but the gospel is all about new beginnings. Isaiah reminds us of two parallel truths: We are unable to get ourselves out of the mess that we've created, and God is our very willing and able Rescuer.
What is our hope at the end of a year like 2020? Our hope is never found in our best efforts or in good circumstances. Rather, we can know for sure that suffering and difficulty never come from the wrath of God and that He will use every bit of suffering for our good.
With two parabolic teachings, one a traditional story and one an imagined future, Jesus calls us to engage reality in light of eternity. For too many of us, our energy and resources are completely taken by the temporal and we fail to live in light of the eternal. Jesus calls us to remember the true nature of God and to live according to reality, not popular perception.
The responsibility of those who are waiting for the second Advent is to actively be prepared. With our propensity to be passive, this singular call is a vitally important reminder to us. While the celebration of the first Advent is often a significant distraction to this calling, it should serve as a reminder to be prepared for the second.
In answer to the disciples’ second question in regards to the signs of the second Advent, Jesus makes several principles very clear—His return will be unmistakable, unpredictable and unavoidable. The only proper response is keep watch. Jesus calls us to faithfully watch and wait while we live on earth as citizens of heaven.
A daily devotional thought from York Alliance as we journey together through this season.
A daily devotional thought from York Alliance as we journey together through this season.
A daily devotional thought from York Alliance as we journey together through this season.
A daily devotional thought from York Alliance as we journey together through this season.
In His longest teaching discourse on the second Advent and the end times, Jesus first answers the question of the timing of the destruction of the temple and the surrounding city. But embedded in these warnings is a clear declaration of the timing of His return and how we should respond as His apprentices. We are called to be actively on mission until Jesus returns.
In a final blistering indictment of the religious and political leaders of the day, Jesus recognizes the heart of false leadership as well as our propensity to follow such leaders. This doesn't just anger Jesus—it breaks His heart. The powerful love of Jesus, both receiving it ourselves and giving it to others, is the call of those who would follow godly leadership.
When our goal is discipleship on our terms, we will do anything we can to avoid complete obedience. The religious leaders of Jesus' day tried to focus on secondary issues rather than coming to grips with the identity of Jesus. We tend do the same thing today. When we recognize who Jesus truly is, we need to stop playing games… we must respond.
When we are faced with the claims of Jesus and His call to complete discipleship, most of us tend to squirm a bit. Rather than complete submission to this new way of life, we try to work out of a way of following Jesus that isn't so radical and costly. However, in the end, we are simply playing games rather than submitting to His authority.
If we are honest, most of us desire that Jesus would fix up a few of the broken details of our lives. We want a Divine helper, not a king. However, Jesus isn't interested in fixing the broken system—He is establishing a new system. The old system is built on our work, and it always just seems like “a little bit more will do it.” The new system is built on faith, and Jesus has already done it!
Following Jesus is an all-out pursuit and we can't measure our place in the Kingdom based on worldly standards. Jesus' challenge is that we would give up all that we have in order to receive that which we truly need.
The heart of the encounter between Jesus and the rich young man is the fact that many of us fail to follow Jesus completely. We tend to live with one foot in Jesus' Kingdom and another in the kingdom of the world. The call of Jesus is that we would be wholehearted in our pursuit of Him and, just when that seems impossible, He reminds us that He's able to do all things. We simply must be willing.
Discipleship will always be a failed enterprise if we rely on our own abilities. However, Jesus doesn't just leave us with a model to follow—He remains in us through the power of His Spirit. When we understand this reality, the proclamation of the Kingdom isn't primarily about evangelizing potential converts, but is about discipleship to all people as we moment by moment consider the invitation of Jesus.
A daily devotional thought from York Alliance as we journey together through this season.
More than just tolerating us, Jesus actually likes us! Throughout the Scriptures, the holy God chose to be with His sinful people. We are equally called to be present to a broken world. It is in this act of becoming one of us that Jesus is able to deal once and for all with the sin problem that separates us from Him. When we become "one of" a community, we earn the right to truly proclaim the One who became one of us.
One of the practices in the life of Jesus was the ready proclamation of the Kingdom of God. As His apprentices, how do we tell others about the Kingdom, particularly as the world values inclusion and tolerance more highly than truth and authority? Jesus calls His disciples to this practice with some clear guidelines and a powerful motivation—both of which are still vitally important today.
The heart of Jesus for the world is simple, clear and easy to understand. In a world in which Christianity is often seen as narrow-minded and divisive, the message of the Kingdom begins with a simple declaration: God is for you, and Jesus loves you.
The challenge of forgiveness is deep and can be very painful. However, rightly understanding forgiveness is actually key to truly understanding the gospel, and actually practicing forgiveness is a gift from God to us. We are called to be a community that's marked by forgiveness, even in the midst of a divided world.
In a culture where about 50% of marriages end in divorce, Jesus' teaching can be confusing, challenging, and guilt-inducing for many. What was Jesus saying, and what wasn't He saying? The heart of God is that marriage be a life-long endeavor, and the challenge of Jesus is that we love our spouse sacrificially as a reflection of the gospel, even in the midst of a broken world.
Humility is a lost virtue in our day. Instead of approaching the world around us from the position of a learner, many of us live within an echo chamber that reinforces our own ideas and keeps us from ever growing in the grace of humility. Jesus, however, has a very honest and sober view of humanity, and calls us to adopt one as well. His call is for us to live as children, love the outliers, and forgive others freely.
The heart of the gospel is that Jesus is greater than the religious systems that we put in place. However, in order for that reality to truly be experienced, we as His followers must be willing to follow Him, and the culture around us must be willing to see Him. Frustration with the disciples gives way to an allowance to the temple, all because they aren't ready to receive Him. The question is: Am I ready to receive Him?
The strange and powerful transfiguration encounter with Jesus on the mountain gives us insight into who He is and the work that He would ultimately do on a hill outside Jerusalem. On the mountain Jesus reveals one kind of glory, but on the hill, He reveals another. If we are to truly understand the transfiguration, we must also look to the crucifixion, and in both, we find an invitation.
The calling of an apprentice is to be with Jesus, to become like Jesus, and to do what He did. Jesus described His way of life as an ongoing and vital connection to His Father, and we have the opportunity to do that as well. When we join God in the work that He's doing in the world, we find that we are joining Him in the incredible works that He's doing in the world.
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Learning to hear from God is foundationally expressed in prayer and is one of the most basic and vital practices of what it means to be in relationship with God. God is longing to reveal His heart to us for our own lives—for those around us and for our world.
Intercession is more than a laundry list of prayer requests. It is birthed out of a deep desire to see God radically move in the world around us. This means that we are seeking God's will and ways first, and then applying His heart to our world. While our intercession doesn't always bring us the answers we want, we can be assured that God hears our prayer and that His response is always good.
Prayer is not just a verbal dialogue with God, but rather, we are able to engage God with our imagination—during times of silence and even in sharing experiences with Him. Prayer is not about "saying prayers" but rather about doing whatever we can to deepen our friendship with God and to walk with Him on a daily basis.
For many of us, prayer feels like a weak point in our apprenticeship to Jesus. For Jesus, prayer was a central aspect in His life with God, seeming to live in constant conversation with the Father. We are invited into that same reality. However, like the disciples, we need to ask Jesus to teach us to pray.
Jesus never promised that apprenticeship would be comfortable. He never asked us to fit in our apprenticeship to Him between our other priorities. The invitation of Jesus was, and is, to an entire life commitment. The call on our lives may be difficult and all-encompassing, but the effect on our souls is that His yoke is easy.
Identity has many implications. When we truly understand who Jesus is, we are forced to reconcile His Lordship with our desire for control. When we truly understand His power and His nature, surrendering control is a natural response.
A strange story about Jesus refusing healing to a woman is paired with a second miraculous feeding. In both stories, we see Jesus inviting us to persevere in our prayer, to overcome our prejudices, and to trust His ability to provide. Not only is He able to provide exactly what we need, there is more than enough available—enough for the whole world.
What seems to be a debate over a minor question of ritual purity reveals for us a far deeper reality: Jesus didn't come to make our lives look better on the surface, but to transform us from the inside out. If we are satisfied with external cleansing, we miss the invitation of Jesus to be truly cleansed.
A daily devotional thought from York Alliance as we journey together through this season.
One of the primary cultural problems that we experience, particularly in this moment, is an out of control level of anxiety that pervades all of life. This reality drives the breakdown of our families, our social systems, and even the church. Jesus invites us to become a "non-anxious presence" in this kind of world by pressing into faith and releasing control.
When we are faced with blatant injustice in our society, and the brokenness of the world is exposed, how should we respond? Jesus responded to the "anti-Kingdom" by continuing to practice the Kingdom. He invites us to do the same. Even when it seems that we don't have anything to offer He can provide all that's needed... as long as we're willing to give up what's ours, as insignificant as it may seem.
The kingdom parables of Jesus point to two different but related realities. First, the Kingdom of God is the most valuable thing in the world. Second, we are not forced into the Kingdom—we're just invited. That means that, for this moment, all is not as it should be. It is only when we understand both of these two realities that we are left with great hope.
The Word of God is not a textbook to memorize or a formula to solve. The Scriptures reveal God to us, reveal the way the world is meant to be, and show us the truth of our own hearts. When we have internalized these truths, we are invited to proclaim them to the world around us.