Giving Hope: Recent Episodes
Rev. Jennifer Jensen
The local church that was called Giving Hope has been disorganized. Sermons from later than January 2020 are from The Mission Church of the Nazarene in Hammond, Indiana, and either preached by Rev. Robbie Cansler or by Rev. Jennifer Jensen.
The final message by Pastor Jen @ Giving Hope
II Corinthians 4:5-12; I Kings 19:1-18
2 Corinthians 4:5-12 New International Version (NIV)
For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
1 Kings 19:1-18 New International Version (NIV)
Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night.
And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
You may be seated.
There is a book you may have heard of. It is called Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day. It is intended to teach children, and I suppose their parents as well, that bad days are temporary and they affect all of us – even when it feels like we are all alone in our bad circumstances. Alexander wakes up with gum in his hair and everything after that is just wrong for him all day, right down to not getting to wear his favorite pajamas that night as he goes to bed. All day he says he’d like to move to Australia, certain that in that magical place no one has Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad days. Finally he realizes that tomorrow will probably be better and that even in Australia, there are bad days.
Sometimes I think we read our Bibles and listen to the stories in them as if we were expecting that it is like the Australia of Alexander’s imagination: there are no bad days, there are no terrible moments, there are only instances of God making everything work to good. Certainly, we sometimes convey that to children in Sunday School as we tell stories of heroic David and paint our nursery walls with cute pictures of Noah’s ark full of cartoon animals.
Perhaps there is nothing too wrong with giving that kind of bubble gum coverage to the Bible stories we learn in our youth, but I think it is important to note that most of the time, the stories in scripture are way more like the Alexander in reality – they wake up with a crappy day and it just kind of follows them around, until in Scripture, God either intervenes or shows them what it could look like.
This story of Elijah is one of my favorites – in fact, I have preached on it before, speaking of focus and talking about how when we lose focus we lose sight of what matters. Today, I bring you this message because I think we can all relate to what Elijah was feeling. Because Elijah has just had what could only be called the opposite of a terrible horrible no good very bad day – he made a bet with the King of Israel and he won: King Ahab’s Baal priests have all been destroyed. Elijah won, because God showed up and showed off and the wonder of that moment should have carried him for weeks…except within just a day or so, Elijah is on the run, hiding out, and ready to give up.
He had every reason to trust God. He had survived drought and famine and a murderous queen Jezebel. He had been taken care of, fed, healed and confronted God’s enemies – and still, he ran and hid and kind of pouted…listen to what he says: . “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”
He. Can’t. Even.
What makes this narrative so powerful is not how Elijah is afraid and feeling alone and dejected, although those things are all true.
It is how God reacts in that moment: God feeds him, God gives him rest, and then God calls him to a new place and a new effort, reassuring him that God isn’t done, God hasn’t lost, and he is never alone.
Elijah acts a little like a toddler throwing a tantrum, and God does what any good parent does: he gives him a snack, a nap, and a distraction!
Seriously, though, it is in God’s response that we can find comfort. God didn’t call Elijah a failure even though the people didn’t listen to the message.
God didn’t scold Elijah for being worn out after fighting so hard.
God didn’t erase Elijah’s work as though it were nothing.
God, instead, pulled him up and got him going as soon as it made sense to do so.
That’s what God does.
We have spent many hours and days and months in this town working to bring the light of the Gospel to the people who live in darkness. Not only is that our reading from Isaiah today, but it is also part of the reading in II Corinthians for this message: The people living in darkness have seen a great light.
We have been that light sometimes. We have stood in this place and done what God has called us to do.
Paul says that he experienced so many disappointments and discouragements in how he was treated, in what he encountered and how even, the churches he planted and ministered to reacted to the Gospel or lived it out later. But what he says is even though he has encountered all of these things: he does not give up the Gospel. He does not give up living out what God has called him to. We know that the dying off of the old is necessary to bring out the new, he says, and he means that as we die in Christ, our new life brings us forward with joy and hope so that we live in light even as the world turns dark around us.
After the first message I ever preached, the pastor’s wife came up to me and handed me a slip of paper with this scripture from I Corinthians on it, and she said “when ministry gets hard, and it will, remember this promise”
She was right. But the promise holds true. What was true for Elijah, what was true for Paul and what remains true for each and everyone of us is this: We have this treasure in jars of clay. The Holy Spirit continues to empower and embrace and enfold us and move us forward in the proclamation of the gospel.
If you have found Jesus and you have loved him and you have been filled with the Holy Spirit, the closing of this church or any other matters little to the job that you have been given: to proclaim the good news of Christ Jesus to everyone around you, by living loved, by loving your neighbors, by loving God.
I am going to enter a season of ministry in the context of my family for awhile. I will likely visit several churches, looking for a final new church home. Knowing myself, it will be a challenge to not get busy right away in serving, because that is what I know I am called to – but I am going to wait, because I know God is providing me this time for that purpose. Even so, my life will reflect my Savior. My faith will be visible in how I live and how I love and I will continue to grow in the grace and faith of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But when God is ready for me to resume ministry in this sphere, the sphere of pastoring a church, the sphere of shepherding God’s people well – I will always and can always only answer yes. I pray that you too will take a season of rest – take a nap, if you will. Get fed for awhile. And then be listening for the next place God will call you to serve – because God will always have a place for you, if you are ready and willing. I know you can, I trust you will. We have loved and served together well – I will miss you all, but I promise even though this may have been a terrible horrible no good very bad season in our church life, some seasons are like that – even in Australia.
Advent is the new year in the church. New years are often a time for resolutions and for thinking of ways we want to improve. We don’t always think of Advent as a season of reflection and renewal, but what if we shifted our thinking? What if we found a way to reduce distractions, to simplify things, and to focus on remembering the coming of Christ and anticipating his return? How might we be transformed by that, and how might the world be transformed by our faithful witness of watching and waiting with hope?
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
I Peter 5:5b – 7
all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
When I was a non-believer, my favorite Bible verse, the one I put in all the sympathy cards, the one I always quoted to people when they were upset was I Peter 5:7. By itself, I always quoted it as “Cast your cares on him for he cares for you” It’s a nice sentiment. It is a lovely thought. But the whole of it encompasses more than just giving up our burdens to a caring God – it has to do with our posture in the laying them aside and it has to do with the fact that God has asked us to not just surrender our anxieties, but our very selves. In fact, God says to not only be humble before God, but to be humble to one another – to lay aside our need to be right, our need to be first, our need to prove our point, and instead trust that God will be faithful in demonstrating just exactly who is right and vindicating our position.
We have to surrender ourselves or we risk losing who we are called to be to our sinful nature. God has called us to be different, to live differently, but sometimes we just don’t get it. Sometimes we have to learn the same lessons over and over. And I will tell you that every message I preach is intended not only for you, but for me and sometimes I wish you listened better, but then I remember that I need to listen better, too. So here we are again: God has called us to be humble. And God doesn’t call us to that without also having lived it: Jesus had every reason to be exalted his whole life, but as we prepare to go through advent, we will remember that even though Jesus was born a king, he allowed himself to live as one of us, to be tempted like one of us, to be a human being with wants and needs and desires – he emptied himself and showed us what humility looks like (you only have to read Paul’s hymn in Philippians 2 to know that this humility was beautifully expressed in who Jesus is) Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This is what God is calling us to. This is what Peter is talking about in his letter to suffering Christians: give up your very selves and trust God because God cares what is happening. God will lift you up because it is God’s reputation on the line.
And here’s the thing: you can’t truly surrender your cares to God unless you actually trust God to handle them, which means letting them go 100%, which means that you cannot be proud about the resolution. You cannot think you can solve the problem – that’s pride, too. You can’t think “oh I’ll just tell God about it to hedge my bets” as though God is one of many options in the resolution to the concerns you have.
When you pray and ask God to handle your situation, your illness, your decision, your future, your work – you no longer have to worry about it. You no longer have to keep tossing around ideas to fix it. You no longer have to turn it over in your mind wondering what is going to happen next.
Instead, when it comes back to mind, you say “I have given that to God. I cannot do better than that”
This doesn’t mean you forgo doctor appointments or medicines or family counseling or going on the job interview – what it does mean is that you surrender the OUTCOME to the God who cares about what you are going through and wants you to turn it over to him.
I do also want to say that sometimes anxiety is a mental disorder. Sometimes only medication can resolve it. That is not what I am talking about, because that is not something you have control over (think of it like diabetes = you can’t control your blood sugar without medication with that, so with an anxiety disorder, the same is true of your anxious thoughts) If that is true for you, that is completely different.
Because casting your anxiety on God is about the anxiety you control, the worries you bring on yourself, the things you refuse to let go of, not the things you can’t let go of because your brain won’t let you.
Humility means being willing to let God own your issues. It means resolving to continually give them back to him, not trying to wrest them away. It means knowing that when that worry or fear starts to pop up again, I am going to remind myself that it does not belong to me anymore. I do the things I need to do, and I let God own what happens next.
I go to the doctor and hear the diagnosis.
I participate in counseling sessions.
I go to the job interview.
But all the while, I remember that God has been given the outcome controls. So if the diagnosis is bad, I do the treatment and trust that God will be with me.
If the divorce still happens, if the children still go into foster care, if I don’t get the job, if everything falls apart – I still trust God with the outcome. I do not worry that God will fail. Life is hard. Life has obstacles to overcome and challenges to face, but if I cast my cares on God, I am trusting that God will provide.
Jesus said that in this world we would have trouble, but that he would be with us and that he would send a Comforter.
Paul reminds us that God is working all things for good and he tells us to pray continuously.
And here, Peter says, give it to God because God cares.
There are people who suggest that we should limit our prayers to the big things: cancer, disasters, car accidents, job loss.
But I believe God caring doesn’t stop at the giant things – God cares about the little things too: the sick pet, the lost keys, the crazy day. As long as you are not praying out of selfish ambition or pride (yeah, let’s not pray for Rockstar parking at the Target on Christmas Eve, ok?) but truly out of a place of ‘here God, I can’t, you can’ God will listen and God will answer.
Sometimes the need feels too big. That’s ok, too, because when you are humble enough to know that God can handle it, the Holy Spirit intercedes on your behalf, sometimes groaning right along with you. You see, when Jesus said he was going to be with us, he didn’t just mean that he was everywhere in the world and therefore available to us.
He meant that like a best friend, like someone who loves us, he would be there – next to us, suffering with us, knowing our need and caring about it.
God has given us a beautiful promise – God is mighty, God is powerful, God is able, and God cares about you. God promises to take your burden if you cast it on him.
I love that word “cast” – it isn’t just a laying it down, but if you have ever seen fishermen at work, which remember, Peter was a fisherman by trade, when they cast a line or a net, they throw it out as far as they can. They don’t try to keep it close and successful fishermen keep the line out in the water, they don’t reel it back in every 5 minutes. They wait.
Peter isn’t using this word casually. He suggests that we throw our burdens as far as we can away from ourselves: all the way to God’s throne, where they can actually be addressed and managed by the God of all mercy and grace. The God who cares about our needs and about us.
So what things do you need to surrender to God today? How can you, right now, cast your cares on God? How can you say “here God, I can’t, you can” about the things in your life that you cannot control?
I ask everyone to take a sticky note and write your one thing down. I have this jar up here on the table and I am going to ask everyone to come and put their one thing in it. We are going to leave this jar here, on the altar. And every time you start to want to take your burden back, picture it here – all of it, sitting in this place where God sees it and no one else knows it. And as each of us think of the burdens in this jar during the week, pray that God will move on behalf of the person who laid it down. It doesn’t have to be a long involved prayer – just “God, you know what is there and who put it in. Show them your care by working on their behalf. In Jesus name, amen”
In this way, we are not only surrendering to God, but sharing the load with our fellow Christians, which is also an admonition that we have been given about the burdens we carry.
I suggest to you, that when you can surrender this one thing to God today, if you can remember that God cares enough to stand with you in the midst of your trial, if you can allow the rest of us to pray for your need not even knowing what it is, if you can trust that God can where you can’t, you will be freer than you have been for a long time – trusting the God of miracles to care about your mess.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
James 1:19-27
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Three Indiana judges have been suspended without pay for their involvement in a shooting during a drunken brawl outside a White Castle restaurant in May.
The state Supreme Court said in an order published Tuesday that the county circuit judges — Andrew Adams and Bradley B. Jacobs of Clark County and Sabrina R. Bell or Crawford County — behaved in a way that was "not merely embarrassing on a personal level; they discredited the entire Indiana judiciary."
Adams previously was sentenced to a year in jail with all but two days suspended after he pleaded guilty to battery in the incident, during which he and Jacobs suffered gunshot wounds.
An investigation by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications depicted the judges as wandering the streets of Indianapolis, where they were attending a judicial conference, in a drunken haze in the middle of the night on May 1.
The judges and a fourth man, Clark County Magistrate William Dawkins, met up at a bar where they drank for several hours before deciding to go to a strip club, which was closed, investigators said. So they then went to the White Castle.
The judges remained outside while Dawkins went inside at about 3:15 a.m., according to judicial documents. That was when two men drove by in a car and shouted something out the window, to which Bell "extended her middle finger" in response, investigators said.
The men pulled into the parking lot and got out, which led to "a heated verbal altercation ... with all participants yelling, using profanity, and making dismissive, mocking, or insolent gestures toward the other group," according to the documents.
The confrontation ended when one of the men from the car, identified as Brandon Kaiser, pulled a gun and shot Adams once and Jacobs twice, investigators said. Both men underwent emergency surgery and were hospitalized for several days.
Judges arrested for disobeying the laws they help enforce. Laws they know. Laws they quote. Laws they are sworn to uphold in the enactment of justice. It is shocking to us, still, in this day and age, when people who are expected to behave one way, with decorum and propriety, with dignity and honor, act as though they are eighth graders left unsupervised at the mall. This is the same reaction we once had when learned of disgraced priests who hurt children or celebrity pastors who cheated on their wives, or even famous actors who portrayed good guys and then we found out were not so nice behind the scenes to those around them. Over time, we have become less shocked by some of these things because they happen so often, we nearly expect them. But it does still seem odd to hear of judges, who know the law so well, who are expected to tell others what it means and how to do it, have seemingly forgotten all about it and become the very criminals they usually punish.
This is what James writes to the church in this letter = when you only hear the words of God and do not behave as though you believe or know them, you are like someone who looks in the mirror and immediately forgets their own face. Imagine that for a moment: you look in the mirror and forget what you look like as soon as you turn away. James is telling us that the law of God, the law that we are to follow as Christians ought to be as familiar to us as our own faces and just as difficult to dismiss in our thinking and lives.
James is the brother of Jesus. His father is Joseph, his mother is Mary. James grew up a devout Jew, just like Jesus. He was raised by the same people and lived and played and engaged with Jesus the same way any of us do with our siblings. I imagine them playing hide and seek in the family compound, or chopping the wood their father would use to build tables and doors for others in the community, or telling jokes at the dinner table. They would have celebrated Passover together, and the family would have frequently told the story of Jesus being forgotten at the temple when he was twelve and how worried everyone was on that trip to Jerusalem.
So it’s easy to understand how James was pretty reluctant at first to believe his big brother was the Messiah. It’s easy to understand why he and his other brothers told Jesus to go to Judea and gather disciples – they wanted him to show his hand so that this whole thing could get nipped in the bud before it got out of control. But the resurrection. James saw Jesus after the resurrection.
We read about it as an offhand comment Paul makes in I Corinthians: Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Paul is giving his testimony and he is referring to James the brother of Jesus as one who was given a special audience with Jesus after the resurrection. James became a big deal in the church. James became a prominent leader who wrote this letter to the Jews who had become Christians but were not in Jerusalem any longer, reminding them that the law they had known was fulfilled in Jesus, and the royal law – the law that Jesus had commanded them to follow was the law that leads to freedom: the very law we have preached in so many messages, the law that changes who we are to our core when we live it, the law that frees us from lists of dos and don’ts, the law that says simply love your neighbor.
James says if we hear it and we don’t live it, we are in danger of being just as shocking as those judges in Indiana: people who know better, but don’t do better. James says that when we follow it, when we do live it, then we have gotten rid of moral filth and evil in our lives.
James tells us to be slow to get angry, quick to listen. He later also says to care for widows and orphans. These are instructions for what loving your neighbor looks like: taking care to listen and perhaps understand something that is beyond your normal sphere of understanding, so you can care for those who are on the margins, those that the rest of the world casts aside and tries to devour. James gives us these instructions to help us see that loving our neighbor encompasses more than just doing nice things once and a while for someone down the street (although that’s a good thing) it means changing how we interact with the world around us so that the very way we display our emotional temperature is radically different from those around us.
We live in a culture of outrage and indignation that pronounces judgements and throws around memes and posts expressing angst and hurt before ever waiting to hear the other persons point of view. Some have said we have turned ourselves into emergency addicts: seeing each new outrage as a new crisis to submerge ourselves in, facts be damned as we rage against the vile oppressor, whoever they may be. This behavior is not contained to one group or another, either, it has become an outflow of any group who says you are in and you are out and when you are out, you often do things that are a violation of everything those of us who are in believe in.
This happens with non-Christians, you might say, but certainly not with Christians…well, sorry to disappoint you, but it is happening in our churches too. When we say this person is not welcome or that group is not welcome or that kind of person is not welcome in our churches and then stand in places where those people are welcome and announce their vileness to us: we are just as engaged in outrage culture as those who point their fingers at churches and decry the things we stand for without understanding them. We become angry over things that others within the church do or say, we become angry about the ways in which someone disagrees with us and we don’t take a moment to think about a response that is loving and kind, we lash out. James says that is evil. It breeds hate and harm.
Jesus prayed for unity for believers. Jesus said that we would be known by our love for one another. Jesus told us to love our neighbors. And if we cannot live by the words Jesus died for then are we even following him?
This week, if you watch the impeachment hearings, read stories of betrayal or sorrow, or hang around people with opinions that are different than yours, spend a few moments listening to what someone else has to say, taking some time to understand the perspective that seems so foreign to your own, recognizing that all outrage does is burn like a flash and feed hate and animosity. 2000 years ago, James warned believers that this was a bad idea, almost as if he had a vision of what our culture in this century might look like. Really, he knew what people are like and he knew that no matter the day or season, people find ways to be less than loving to one another. And he reminds us that loving our neighbors is far more satisfying, far more freeing than reacting with righteous indignation over every slight and differing opinion.
God loved us so that we could love others. We love others by breaking away from being angry at every turn and instead finding ways to listen before we speak, to understand before we condemn, to live out the royal law that brings freedom, remembering what we are supposed to look like even after we turn away from the mirror. We are called to love. Because God loves us.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Hebrews 10:21-25 from the Message:
So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Giving Hope: creatively do good together. That is the way we have distilled these 4 verses to a t-shirt slogan. But it really means something deeper and it defines us not only as members and attendees of this church, but as Christians who are necessarily called to do three things: Living a life that holds on to hope (full of belief, confident that we’re presentable…keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going), creatively doing good (let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out), and being together (not avoiding worshiping together), as the author of the book of Hebrews says.
Hebrews is a fun book. It ties together in a way that no other New Testament book does the entire picture of Old Testament sacrifice as a foreshadow of the work of God in Christ on behalf of the world. The book has no identifiable author, but there are many theories: Paul, Apollos, Clement, Barnabas, Timothy, Priscilla, or Junia. In the end it is somewhat irrelevant who wrote the book, but who ever it was had some great insights and gave us some great passages of scripture.
The faith chapter, for example, is found in Hebrews 11, where we read a minor synopsis of the Old Testament Hall of Famers – those who held on to the hope they had, who gave it away, and who did God’s work in the face of adversity, not even having seen what God’s final plan might look like.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, the author writes, and this phrasing helps us see faith for what it is: something we know about and trust to happen, but haven’t yet experienced.
But faith isn’t the only thing in Hebrews: it is also a chapter full of hope. In it we learn that our redemption has been purchased, so that we can move into the very presence of God. We no longer live with the guilt of past sin, we no longer have to stand trembling and ashamed, instead we lean in and receive the beautiful grace that was bought for us with the shed blood of our redeemer, Jesus.
Our hope, then is multi-faceted: it is the hope of Christ’s work in us now and the hope of an eternity in God’s presence. It is the hope of the resurrection from the dead, the hope of bodies transformed and spirits renewed. It is the hope of abundant lives now, full of the grace and mercy we have been given, being given to others. It is the hope that we cling to, by faith, and that in this place we have resolved to give away. It is the hope that defines us as Christians, as those who know who God is and what God has promised and the hope that allows us to believe that the faithfulness of God is foundational to who we are now and who we will be as God continues the transforming work in each of us through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Even Job, as we read in our scriptures from the lectionary today, had a grasp on this hope, although he had no view of Christ in his life. Listen again to Job’s words from Job 19:25-27:
I know that my redeemer[b] lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.[c] 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet[d] in[e] my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
This is a man who has lost absolutely everything. We tend to revere him for patience, as though his losses somehow gave him the ability to withstand longer. But I submit that what we should remember Job for is his willingness to question and his willingness to believe despite the circumstances: for the hope that he stubbornly held onto even when everything was terrible. He clung to hope when all else was lost, when even his wife would have him curse God and die. Job’s hope is pre-Jesus, but Jesus helps us know that Job’s hope was not in vain, that Job’s hope was right, and that our hope then is right and not in vain.
Our hope is also something that others can see and know that God is faithful. We have the opportunity to give our hope away by living into the hope that we have. We can serve those around us, which is what the author of Hebrews reminds us to do: Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, as Eugene Peterson tells us in the Message version of the book. We give hope away by encouraging others, by helping others to see who Jesus is, to see the hope we have fulfilled in the life we live for others.
The last part of that scripture reminds us that our hope is bigger and more real to us when we celebrate it and work it through together. In the NIV, this verse says “and do not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing” because the author knows that the Church as a collective is needed for the fulfillment of our hope, too. We cannot hold onto the hope we have unless we do it together, unless we work through it collectively. We need one another. We need to see God at work in each other, we need to hear how God is doing things, we need to know where there are hurt people because we know hurt people need healing and sometimes we are the means for that healing and help. Our gatherings are about worship, too, worshiping God collectively is important. And all of the different aspects of worship draw us closer not only to each other, but to the God we love and serve.
So God’s love for us is visible to us in the hope we have and in the beauty of our collective worship and mission. We are together to love and to serve and to give our hope to those both in this space with us and in the world around us. Our vision is not just a t-shirt slogan, then; instead it is the wonder of a Christian life lived for those around us so that they to might know the hope of a God who loves. Giving Hope – Creatively Do Good Together.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Philemon
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
It’s the story of a church leader who was doing all the right things.
It’s the story of his worker who had not.
And it is the story of the pastor asking the church leader to do the right thing again, even though it was harder than ever. Even though the right thing meant giving up his rights. Even though the right thing looked a whole lot like a one-sided deal.
But one thing had changed: the worker had come to Christ. The worker had become, in the pastor’s care, a brother in love. The worker had shifted from the one who stole and cheated and lied to the one who was forgiven by the One who had saved us all.
This letter of Paul’s could have been written in any time and in any place. It has all the elements of a good movie, even: the bad guy with the change of heart and the good guy who has the opportunity to make it right and the one who brings everyone together because of the One who brings everyone together.
The only problem with the story is that we don’t know the ending. In fact, except for a vague statement of ‘wrong’ we don’t even know the beginning. The beauty of this story, which is included by way of a letter from one leader to another, is that we don’t have to know all the details: we can all find ourselves in this story in one place or another at one time or another.
This letter that Paul writes to Philemon is one that has stayed in the canon despite it’s short length, despite it’s incomplete story, and despite it’s very personal nature, because it resonates (or it should resonate) with all Christ followers everywhere: it is the story of forgiveness and redemption that all of us know – we are either the one who must give it or the one who must ask for it or the one encouraging another to live it: but all in all this is the story of Christ’s love writ in real circumstances.
In Philemon and Onesimus’s story, Onesimus is the sinner. He has, at the least, run away and potentially, he has stolen from his master. Philemon is the wronged master. In the Roman empire, people often sold themselves into slavery to pay debts. The slavery was generally temporary; slaves had the opportunity to earn their freedom. Slaves who broke their agreement were despised by most, because they were doubly in error: they had broken their word and they had defaulted on a debt. Because of this, Philemon has rights in the Roman empire, that include the option of condemning Onesimus to death.
But Jesus.
Paul tells Philemon that even though he could exercise his rights, Onesimus has not only had a change of heart, he’s become Philemon’s brother in the Kingdom, serving Paul as though he were Philemon himself. And that should mean something.
The Kingdom that we are a part of, God’s Kingdom through Christ, makes us behave differently. We waive rights that we would have insisted on before, we challenge the status quo that insists that each of us is better than the rest of us. We defy logic. We love the ones who have hurt us. We give to those who might take advantage of us. We surrender our rights to the love and favor of the God who runs the Kingdom we live in: we are always only looking for God to say well done at the end of our living instead of living for the accolades of our world. We don’t care what others think – we care only that God has said love your neighbors, pray for your enemies, and live as though the designation of last place is as precious (if not more so) than the designation of winner.
We don’t know what Philemon did when his runaway slave came back to him. But we do know that if Philemon was a true follower of Jesus then the right thing, although it was the harder thing, was what he did.
This week someone told me that Christians too often are the ones who throw stones, who spend their time condemning others and hurting them instead of standing up for those who are finding their way or being dismissed and detained and victimized. My answer to that is that true Christ followers find their place catching the stones that others throw and dropping them in order to love both sides: those who can’t see past their own righteous indignation to throw them and those who can’t run away when they are lobbed. It isn’t comfortable to stand in between. It isn’t easy. It isn’t even fun, but the Jesus who dressed in human flesh even though he is God, says that this is the way of the cross. We don’t get to throw stones, even at those we disagree with. We don’t get to adamantly insist on our rights being acknowledged of fulfilled, even when we are right and the other one is wrong, because Jesus calls us to something more. To a hope in a life where giving of ourselves and giving all we are offers the return of abundant grace that makes our surrender a precious receipt of the beauty of God’s favor. God’s blessing is God’s presence and we forfeit that blessing when we insist on making ourselves the first and foremost in any situation. Loving others is hard work, it requires effort to be kind.
Paul gives this introductory statement about who Philemon is:
I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.
Based on this, it seems reasonable to assume that although Onesimus deserved something else, Philemon, in love, welcomed his former slave as a brother in love.
We all might be Philemon. We all have been Onesimus. We all have been in the position of asking for grace where we deserved something else. That is the very definition of the gospel: God gives us grace and mercy when we deserved anything else. God offers us relationship where we once were rebellious. God says please come to me even when we run away. In fact, God started the redemption story by offering ways to get back in relationship and building a plan whereby God himself would come to us, would pursue us, so that we might see the truth of God’s love in the beauty of a babe in a manger, the harshness of a savior on a cross, and the glory of an empty tomb that promises a resurrection that defies the damages we do to each other.
God asks us to love God more than we love ourselves because God loves us and gave himself up for us and because in the place where we live into God’s Kingdom, we can receive the blessing of God in our lives.
How could we possibly imagine saying no to that? I don’t think Philemon did; I hope that each of us refuse to as well.
If you aren’t a Christ follower today or if you aren’t sure if your life of Christ following looks like this, I ask you to remember God’s love for you as we move into our time of response and reflection. It is at the table of Christ, what we call communion, that we find our way home. It is through communion that grace is given and that redemption makes its way from our heads to our hearts. It is my prayer that everyone who hears my voice today will know that Jesus lives and that Jesus loves and that you are welcome, no matter who you are or what you have done.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
How can we see God's love through the giving of the Holy Spirit and the expectation to live a holy life?
One of my favorite hymns is based on this passage. Hear how a faithful God gives us confidence.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
I Thessalonians 5:13-24
II Thessalonians 2:13-17
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
I grew up in the church of the Nazarene. I spent my whole life hearing words like entire sanctification and holiness and salvation. I probably knew what sin was before I knew my colors and I learned scripture and I knew all the Jesus stories and the Old Testament stories better than I knew any pop culture reference.
So I was really shocked and surprised as I grew up when other people: my husband and his friends, my school mates, my work colleagues were either unfamiliar with these things or understood them in a way that was completely different.
In fact, that is often the case with ideas and concepts that we are familiar with because we know them well: we expect everyone else to understand them exactly the way we do, because we know them and understand them as a second part of us.
A married couple I know tell the story of their initial dating this way: Bob (not his real name) met Carrie (not her real name) in college. They started dating and Bob’s Christian faith – the faith he’d had since childhood – became an issue because Carrie wasn’t a Christian at all. So one day, he took his girlfriend to a place where everyone in their college “parked” and he told her with great sorrow and conviction that he was not allowed to be unequally yoked with her.
He broke up with her, using Jesus as the excuse – or at least that’s what he thought.
She left their conversation completely perplexed as to why he broke up with her over eggs!
Eventually, she became a Christian after they parted ways and they met again some years later and now they’ve been married for over 20 years, solidly Christian people with a heart for service.
The wonder of that story is that two people had a long conversation about their future together and one of them had absolutely no idea what the other was even talking about!
The reason I say all of this when I talk about these letters Paul wrote to the Thessalonians is because there are a lot of things that could be very confusing in this letter, things that we often think we understand, but which we are often thinking about eggs while we should be thinking about Jesus.
The church in Thessalonica was one Paul started after he left Philippi, where he had been beaten and thrown into prison. Paul is in Thessalonica with Silas, and here the Jews who are jealous of their success call out the non-Jews who were hosting them as housing rebellious insurrectionists. Paul and Silas and Timothy escape in the middle of the night to the next town. The Thessalonian Jews followed them to that town after some time and finally, Paul moved to Athens and left his co-workers behind, eventually heading off to Corinth. Timothy circled back to Thessalonia, and then caught up with Paul in Corinth – telling him of some of the things that the Thessalonians are doing and prompting Paul to write these letters. The first one gets sent and in pretty short order, Paul hears that the issues are continuing and that there are some Paul impersonators hanging around Thessalonia, so he writes the second letter for continued clarification.
The two main points he has are about what happens to Christ followers while they live and what happens to Christ followers after they die. Paul talks about Jesus coming back and he really wants to encourage the Thessalonians that even if they die before Jesus comes back, they are still redeemed and that Jesus has NOT returned yet, despite things they have been told to the contrary. And in all of this, Paul emphasizes what it means to be a Jesus follower, what it means to live for Jesus. He uses words that can have very complicated meanings for us today, such as sanctification and holy living. Not only do they have complex associations for us, but they weren’t exactly understood in the time of Paul – especially as the non-jews or gentiles and the jews who converted to Christianity – had learned of these things in different ways and in different terms all their lives.
Paul wants to give everyone a common language: be joyful, pray all the time, give thanks: this is God’s will for you and this will lead to holiness.
Until I began to follow Jesus, I understood holiness to be a list of rules; don’t do this and that things that would keep me from disobeying God’s law. But the reality is and Paul says it here again: holiness comes from turning our hearts away from our own circumstances, our own limits, our own understandings and turning to God’s: joyful, praying, thankfully turning our hearts and minds to God and knowing that these things along with loving our neighbor (hear Paul’s instructions in verses 12-15 of chapter 5 in the first letter) He also reminds us not to sit around waiting for Jesus to come back without being actively involved in the world around us, to work for what we need when we are able and to keep doing what is right: the things Paul instructed in the first letter. And in all of this, Paul says, God will sanctify you. God will do the work of changing you from the inside out.
A few weeks ago, before church I was talking to someone who said “I have this desire to be hurtful or to say hurtful things, but I know it is wrong, how can that be Christlike?” and it was wonderful to say, but it is Christlike because Christ told you it was wrong – whereas before in your life, you might not have known! Over time, Jesus will help you keep growing to the point where your first response is a loving one, and that again, is how you know that God is at work.
Jesus has redeemed us. Jesus has offered us a new way, a better way, and Paul tells us that the promise of this is not in the ways we control ourselves for ourselves, but in the ways we control ourselves for everyone else.
Jesus commanded us to love God and love our neighbor. This is holiness: living out that love by controlling what we do that would hurt someone else.
This is what God teaches us, this is how the Holy Spirit works through us, this is how Jesus is seen in us:
2 Thessalonians 2:16 & 17
When I was a girl the hellfire and brimstone preachers would tell us that if we weren’t saved and sanctified, our eternal destination was damnation.
But Jesus told us to live fruitful lives and love our neighbors and stop being fearful. Jesus gave us the power to do that through the Holy Spirit.
Paul reminds us that while we definitely will be with Jesus after our death, that the actual goal of Christian faith and life is to show others a life of joy and thanksgiving – to live for others so completely that our sanctification is actually predicated much more on how we demonstrate that love for neighbor and not at all on whether or not we want to avoid hell.
All of scripture reminds us over and over that our job is to love as God loves and that we cannot do it on our own. The love letter that we have read from God doesn’t just give us some special insight into God’s love for us, but the love letter is for us to put into practice loving others exactly the same way.
Salvation and sanctification and eternal life are not about selfish motives or self-centered behavior that makes me somehow better than others. Instead it is always about how what we do and say changes others. We are not transformed for our own sakes: we are transformed into the living breathing epitome of hope that Jesus has for us so that we can give that hope away, every single day by living lives that are above reproach by the power of the Holy Spirit, not so we can feel better about who we are, but so that others might be able to recognize the need for Jesus in themselves.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Philippians 4
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Maybe you’ve seen it. The black eye tape with an inscription as the athlete, usually a big burly football player, runs through their opponent in the latest competition: “Philippians 4:13”.
Perhaps you’ve heard it. The actress stands on stage with a quivering lip, holding the coveted trophy she’s just won, and bravely says that she can do all things through him who gives her strength, right after she thanks her producer, fellow actors, and her parents.
Sometimes I breathe it as a prayer. “Lord, I have so much to do, but I can do all things through you, right? Please give me your strength”
A facebook post, a wall hanging, a magnet, maybe.
And yet, Paul isn’t saying that he can do ALL THINGS through Christ – instead, listen carefully:
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Paul is SPECIFICALLY describing how Jesus gives him the strength, through the Holy Spirit, to learn to be content whatever the circumstances…
In other words – God doesn’t promise that you can do whatever you want or whatever you’ve committed yourself to: instead God promises through Paul’s words that no matter what circumstance you find yourself in, you can learn to be content.
I’m not saying that God won’t give you strength to do the things you must do. And I’m not saying that God won’t help you in your darkest moments. But I AM saying that if we are cross stitching this scripture on a piece of muslin to hang in our house, we would do well to remember that Paul isn’t talking about achievement or success: he’s talking about joy.
Philippians is a letter, after all, to a church that is experiencing a significant amount of persecution and suffering. Most Christians under Nero were, including Paul: he is after all, writing this letter from a Roman prison, while anticipating his own death sentence to be handed down any minute.
Paul and Silas founded this church in Philippi about 10 years earlier. Philippi is a place that was about half Greek and half Roman citizens by the time Paul arrived. The Roman citizens were primarily retired military and their families, who had been granted a parcel of land in the community after a military victory. The Greek citizens were those who had been there first, who now were primarily poorer and servants to the retired military group. The Christians faced opposition from the Roman citizens who felt a deep gratitude to the Roman empire for what they had and who were incredibly loyal to the Emperor, and they felt that any of the veterans and their families who converted were betraying their heritage and biting the hand that fed them.
Part of the reason for this is that Roman worship was pretty open about many gods – but the civil religion, the one that all Roman citizens were expected to be about – said that Ceasar (the emperor) was also a god. And thus, when the people said “hail Ceasar” it was more than an affirmation of respect, it was worship.
So Christians didn’t do that. Christians believe that Jesus is LORD of everything they do and say. Christians do not bend a knee to any other. Christians live their allegiance out to the God they’ve met and become a follower of – not swayed by political movements or currents of the day. As we have recently said – the law the Christian commits to obey is this: love your neighbor as yourself, no matter who your neighbor is. The Christian has no enemy.
Paul says some of this earlier in this letter too, to encourage the church in Philippi to keep going: Philippians 2 has a beautiful hymn to the Lordship of Jesus and the humility that brought him to us:
Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
These are words that Paul is writing to people familiar with the military, people who know how to obey and how to command, and Paul is telling them to think of the other first and to remember that their worship and allegiance are only to Jesus Christ, the Lord who has been exalted after dying for us.
But what does all of this have to do with joy, you might ask?
Well, the reality is that this letter mentions joy or rejoice no fewer than 16 times! This from a man who is in prison, writing to people who are experiencing persecution! Joy, Paul writes, is mandatory behavior that is made possible through the power of the Lord.
I can do all this through him who gives me strength, Paul says, and he’s talking about being content even though he’s poor. Or rich. Or failing. Or successful.
But the thing that caught my eye as I studied this week was not just the idea of being content, but this:
I have LEARNED to be content…Paul says. It didn’t happen overnight, it is learned behavior. And not only that but this is part of what Christ gives him strength to do: not just the being content part, but the learning part as well. Paul says I can trust God to teach me and give me the ability to learn how to be content whatever happens. And when I am content no matter what my circumstances, I am able to say Rejoice in the Lord Always, again I say Rejoice, even while I am in a Roman prison waiting for the Roman government to execute me.
I want to make sure we clearly see that Paul is not delusional, he is not happy go lucky, singing fa la la while pretending that he is not actually in prison or that his circumstances aren’t dire: Paul knows exactly where he is, what awaits him, and how serious it really is. He can likely hear the roar of the crowd from the coliseum as lions tear apart his brothers and sisters in Christ, or hear the screams of his oil-soaked compatriots as they are set alight in Nero’s gardens. He doesn’t deny this is happening, he doesn’t wish it away, he recognizes it is bad and negative and terrible.
But he also knows there is more. And he also knows that God is teaching him to be ok in the moment he is in, celebrating who God is even as he waits. He lives in prison, but preaches the Gospel by being content and by telling others of the good news of Jesus, the redeemer who sets people free from their bondage and sorrow and teaches them to be content, too.
Joy isn’t laughing as though your heart isn’t breaking when real sorrows and hurts come along. It is grieving those losses and still recognizing that the grief isn’t forever, that the grief is ok, but the feeling and the state of existence are two different things: being satisfied that the Christ who is Lord of all, the Christ who walked through suffering himself and who promises to walk through it with us, that is a joy that doesn’t succumb to the whims of circumstance, but it is a joy that is stronger than job loss, bad health, financial windfalls, and incredible success. It is a joy that stands separate from the feelings we have, but tempers every moment with a reverberating chorus of I will live in this moment with Jesus and it will not break me or wreck me or make me or magnify me. That is a joy worth having, a joy that brings with it peace that passes understanding.
If you don’t have that joy and peace, but you are following Jesus, remember that it is a learning experience. You can have it, but it is not something that just happens. Like any education process, it requires time and persistence and the work of God in your life. Let God work.
And the next time you see that verse on a bumper sticker, the one that says “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” remind yourself that it is not a promise of being able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but something much more thrilling and fulfilling and powerful: it is a promise of joy.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Ephesians 2:1-10 NLT
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
I have a lot of favorite passages in scripture. There are several in Ephesians, but this one is one that reminds us that our good works and efforts are not the catalyst for salvation, rather they are the output that comes from the input of God’s grace.
What we do is because God’s grace by the power of the Holy Spirit has transformed us from what we were, from the ways in which we lived selfishly to something new, a masterpiece that reflects all of who God is in us: each of us individually.
I read about the word “Masterpiece” this week. In the NIV, the translators used the word handiwork, and that is a more literal translation of the Greek, but I think the New Living Translation editors wanted to underscore the idea that everything God crafts intentionally becomes a masterpiece.
As one of the world's premier art museums and home to such famed cultural icons as "Mona Lisa," the Louvre in Paris ought to have nailed the answer to the simple question, "What is a masterpiece?"
But no. When the museum posed that query to a bunch of its curators a few years ago, they were stymied. It wasn't that they had no answer, but that they had too many. Superlative craftsmanship, extraordinary design, great antiquity, rich materials, purity of form, artistic genius, originality, influence on other artists. All those qualities, and more, bubbled into the discussion…
The term "masterpiece" originated in the Middle Ages, when apprentice artisans had to prove their skills by submitting exemplary work for approval by the guild that governed their trade -- carving, metalwork, enameling. If the piece demonstrated mastery of the craft, the apprentice would be promoted to master and authorized to train others.
Later the meaning evolved under the influence of connoisseurs, who might judge art on the distinctiveness of its design, or scholars who often concern themselves with the history and authenticity of a piece…
Long-recognized masterpieces by established talents are the bulk of the show, but even their reputations have had their ups and downs. Johannes Vermeer, the 17th-century Dutch painter whose light-filled portraits of daily life have inspired 20th-century novels and films ("Girl With the Pearl Earring"), was pretty much ignored until 1866, when a French scholar touted the works' profound humanism in an influential essay. Only about 35 Vermeer paintings survive, of which the Louvre has lent "The Astronomer" to the Minneapolis show.
"What I like about that picture is that it not only has the intimacy of Vermeer, but also embodies the scientific curiosity of the 17th century," said Michael Conforti, president of the Association of Art Museum Directors and director of the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass. He added that it was "amazing" that the Louvre would lend the painting, which is "universally considered to be a great masterpiece. In my opinion, one doesn't have to be educated into an appreciation of that object; it has universal appeal."
…And the general public sometimes embraces certain works as "masterpieces" based mostly on their celebrity and fame. As every Louvre visitor knows, Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" is the museum's primo masterpiece, a status the 1503 painting didn't acquire until after it was spectacularly stolen a century ago. Mona's well-armored case will prevent any such caper now, but it also keeps most people from seeing anything but the flash of their cameras against the glass…
"To me, a masterpiece is something that stands the test of time and is viewed as a masterpiece from generation to generation," Reedy said. "Secondly, it must influence generations of artists and change the way that people look at the medium -- be it painting, sculpture, decorative art or whatever. It must be so original that once you've seen it, you're indelibly influenced by its power, and any artist who goes in that direction is accused of studying under or being in the shadow of the original."
…The power of the masters inspires only admiration in Michael Kareken, a professor of painting and drawing at Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
"I'm really interested in traditional painting and art, so to me certain Vermeers or Rembrandts or Gericaults sum up what a masterpiece is," Kareken said. "They crystallize a whole set of artistic and cultural values and are technically brilliant above reproach…I believe in the transformative power of art; I do believe that. And those paintings that move you so much words fail you -- those are the masterpieces."
From the Star Tribune: http://www.startribune.com/what-makes-a-masterpiece/63790887/
God makes us masterpieces by transforming us. And God isn’t interested in making all of us into the same thing, but instead…God builds in us transformation that makes us stand out as beautifully unique and powerfully attractive to those around us: when you are able to move someone around you to the point that they are speechless – that is the wonder of being a masterpiece of God’s design.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Galatians 6:11-18
Let us pray: Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
This morning, I am going to speak to you from the letter Paul wrote to the Galatians. The letter was written after some of the elders Paul appointed in the churches established in Galatia wrote to tell him of a troubling issue – some had come through after Paul (Judaizers) and started to agitate the churches, by claiming that they weren’t really Christian converts, because they hadn’t been circumcised. They asserted that true religion required a code of conduct – the law of Moses, specifically. Without the boundaries of the law, no one could really be saved. In fact, they were teaching that Paul was an unreliable preacher, since he hadn’t told them the whole story. Paul learned everything second hand, but he didn’t really know what he was doing. Paul writes an impassioned letter to refute that teaching. He is angry that the legalists have started to make the Galatian churches desert their faith – and worse, that they are doing it for a very human reason, one that isn’t consistent with the gospel at all. Throughout this letter Paul has defended what he taught, and in the final verses, he takes the pen from the scribe and begins a final warning that summarizes all he has said before: 11 See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand! 12 Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God. 17 Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. I can just see this scene, Paul pacing back and forth, saying what needs to be said, pausing now and again, looking over the scribe’s shoulder to see what has been written, making sure that not only are his words accurate, but true in the larger sense. Finally, as the letter draws to a close, Paul is so excited about the whole thing that he asks the scribe to move aside, and he sits down and writes in his large handwriting, the last of the letter. Aside from the content then being clearly Paul’s throughout, verified by his own hand, there were some big ideas Paul wanted to really hit home in this last passage. Up to this point, he’s been reminding the Galatians that their own experiences are not consistent with the message the Judaizers have brought – and that the burden the Judaizers are trying to put on them is a slavish one, one that they will never be able to live up to. He doesn’t give them carte blanche in the letter to live without moral balance, though, indeed the thrust of the message in the proceeding sections describe a morality that surpasses the law of Moses, because it is the work of the Holy Spirit embedded in the believer that creates the restraint on sin. Now, as Paul charges forward, he lays out, very directly what the true purpose of the Judaizers is: to claim Christianity, but demonstrate complicity with the law, in order to be accepted by the local Jewish leaders, and thus escape persecution. They were likely Jewish Christians, who are trying to show local Jewish leaders that they are devoted to the law by demonstrating that the Gentile Christians are required to follow the law, too. Even worse than their insincerity about forcing Mosaic law on these Gentiles, is the fact that they were likely unsuccessful in these attempts to demonstrate complicity with the Jews. Why does this specific conclusion come to us, 2000 years later? I don’t have to worry about someone asking me to live under the law, to be circumcised, as it were, once I become a Christian. Is this here only to point out why? Or is there another point we can take from this? Actually, I would submit to you that there are several cuts to this passage that are applicable to us today, that can help us be stronger Christians, can build our relationship with Christ. So lets talk about two contrasting ways of addressing the Cross and how they impact our lives. Paul gives us very clear instruction about the two ways of living that the Galatians are faced with – one, avoiding the cross and two, boasting in the cross. Let’s take a look at how the problem confronted them, and then how it matters to us. First, avoiding the cross, which Paul accuses the Judaizers of doing in a very direct way. They are doing everything in their power to live as though the cross was no big deal, as though it has had no direct impact on their own lives. They are trying to live two lives – one in the world, where they dodge persecution, and one in Christ, where they dodge sin. In both cases, they are missing the point – the cross wasn’t a marker that reflects some greater reason to legalize our lives – it was the game changer, the point at which the law became fulfilled. The Mosaic law was the pointer to Christ, it was the direction that led people to try righteousness only to see how they failed – Christ gave the way for righteousness to be actually possible, not by using the right dishes, but by living out the love and grace that were the underlying purpose of the law in the first place. How do we avoid the cross? That’s a challenging question in our current age, because I think most of would say that the cross is even more offensive, more stigmatized, more blatantly divisive today than it was in Paul’s day – to the point that avoiding the cross is sometimes described as the best way to advance its message! The problem is that without the cross, we don’t have a resolution to the problem of sin. From the beginning, it was evident that humans were incapable of being righteous. In Romans, Paul outlines this very clearly: There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit [Romans 8:1-4]. And in Galatians 2:15-21: 15 “We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ 16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. 17 “If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”[a] When we avoid the cross, we are living in sin. Period. Without the cross we have nothing. We cannot live in Christ without the cross. The solution to sin is the cross, and when we ignore it’s power, when we pretend it is not important, we leave behind Christianity. Without the cross there is no resurrection, without the resurrection, there is no hope, and without our hope, what’s the point? If we aren’t willing to embrace the cross and all it stands for, we cannot be Christians. There is no other way. The Judaizers weren’t really interested in boasting in anything other than their own success. Even though their emphasis was “godly living” what they really wanted was to be safe. They wanted to turn the Gentiles into a prize that they could win, not followers of Jesus. They focused on the externals, the things that others could see, rather than the things that truly mattered. That is a real danger for us, too. What are the external things that we focus on, the things that distract us from being focused on Jesus? Do we care too much about how others perceive us? Do we want to keep our lives compartmentalized – our faith in this box, our family in this box, our work in this box – and in so doing, be “good” people, “nice” folks, who don’t rock the boat? Do we want to align ourselves with those in power who claim they are Christ followers but show no fruit in that? Do we want to condemn those in power and align ourselves with those who see nothing as sin? We can be Republicans or Democrats before we are Christians in this day and age, and if so, do we really have faith if it just makes us behave, or vote the “right” way and doesn’t boast in the cross of Christ? Paul says that just being good or having right ideas isn’t sufficient. It happens, because we are living in the Spirit, but it happens without our intentions or abilities. The Holy Spirit guides us to a life that is fruitful, because that’s what happens when we live out our faith. We don’t live good lives to earn salvation, we turn our hearts into repositories for God’s grace and holiness springs from that deposit. So how do we boast in the cross? Paul gives us some very clear direction in this area. First, we must be crucified to the world and the world must be crucified to us. Then, we must live according to the inward manifestation of our faith as a new creation, and finally, we must be willing to bear the persecution that comes from insisting on Christ as the only way to righteousness. First, we must be crucified to the world and the world must be crucified to us. Many have taken that verse to the extreme – monks and nuns, for example, are living a very separatist existence. The Amish, too, live a very different looking life. I used to think it would be much easier to be a Christian in an Amish or cloistered community, after all, the things that we have to avoid living in the world must be much less available. I wonder though, how much those lifestyles are really boasting in the cross? If the externals are so important that they are so strictly proscribed, then perhaps, what looks like a devoted life isn’t just escapism. So then, how do we live so that we are crucified to the world and the world to us? Paul gives us this instruction earlier in Galatians, too. In 6:22-24, he tells us exactly what it means: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. I always thought that when Paul says that there is no law prohibiting the fruit of the Spirit he was saying that we could be assured that men’s laws wouldn’t ever stop us from living them out. But in the greater context of the letter, what he’s really saying here is that the Law of Moses doesn’t prohibit these things – the Law of Christ expects them, and the means for getting to the Law of Christ is being crucified to the sinful nature that drives us to act in contradiction to the fruit of the spirit. Paul didn’t live segregated from the world around him – he lived in it, pointing to the cross at every opportunity, and the expectation he levels here is that every Christian should do the same – pointing to the gospel of Christ at every chance, even as we live among sinners and nonbelievers. That brings us to the second point, which is that we must live as new creations. Paul expands on this in Ephesians, too. In 4:22-23 he says: You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Our new self is in the likeness of God in righteousness and holiness. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul again says: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. In Philippians 3:7-14 7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Here, Paul talks about how he is a work in progress, and how he continues to become more like Christ as he matures in his faith. How is this work contrasted with the points he makes about being justified by faith? In the Holy Spirit, we are being transformed at HIS effort, through HIS work – not because we are trying to be something other than what He has called us, remade us to be. We can’t be new creations without the Holy Spirit. His work is what changes our desires. We wouldn’t even want to be righteous if it weren’t for God’s work on our behalf. That brings me to the last point about boasting in the cross: when the rubber meets the road, we will encounter resistance. Paul says he “bears on his body the marks of Jesus” which is to say that by continuing to preach the cross, he has been persecuted. He has been beaten and left for dead, stoned, chased, imprisoned, and narrowly escaped – and this was only one missionary journey! Paul knows what boasting about the cross costs, because he has borne some of that misery. The Galatians, too, have suffered – Paul mentions it in 3:4 – have you suffered so much for nothing? There is no point at which Paul assumes that Christianity comes without cost. Before Jesus was crucified, he himself indicated that the path behind him would be treacherous, in Luke 9:23-26: Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. When Paul talks about “bearing the mark of Jesus” it’s really a two-fold proclamation – he bears the scars from his persecution, but he also declares himself a slave of Christ. The Romans commonly branded their slaves, and sometimes their soldiers, as a means of keeping track of them – you could identify a slave or soldier and who they belonged to, by the distinctive brand they wore on their forehead. Paul is a known Christian. He wants to be known that way, and whether by bodily scars or other means, he intends to boast only in Christ. Are we so different from Paul? Was he somehow better than us at this? I don’t think so. Christians all carry the requirement to be Christlike, to boast in the cross. As we move through our week, whether returning to school, or going to work, or whatever we do, our responsibilities are no different than Pauls. We are not called to be external Christians who avoid the cross. We are called to boast only in the cross, and to live as though that it is the only thing that matters.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page: What does it mean to say God loves? God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust. God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death. God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers. God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love. God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried. God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus. God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved. God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny. God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement. God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough. For God so loved the world… God loves you. God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it. God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved. God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love. So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved. God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
II Corinthians 12:6-10
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Imagine you started a restaurant here in Momence.
It gets successful enough that you franchise it to someone local and you head off to Indianapolis to start another one.
A few months or even years go by and you hear that there are problems at the restaurant. You send an email to the managers and let them know that they need to focus on the customer.
They sort of listen, but there are still issues.
You pay them a visit. The employees mostly listen, but there are still a few who are annoyed by your presence. They like the celebrity chefs who have come to town and who are telling them to do things that focus on them, not the customers.
They send you an email and ask that the next time you come to visit and start telling people what to do, you bring some letters of recommendation and proof that you know enough to tell them anything, that you are equal to their famous chefs.
This at the restaurant you started.
This is what is happening with Paul and the church at Corinth.
The church he founded in the town has become so enamored with celebrity preachers and the excitement they bring and the amazing preaching and the radical movements they generate, that they ask Paul to send along a letter of recommendation to prove he is as good as these others.
Even though these preachers are looking for money and trying to separate and preaching a different gospel: one that says when you follow Jesus you have all the things you want and you are never poor or persecuted because blessings.
And Paul writes them this letter.
He tells them that THEY are his letter of recommendation.
He’s hurt and a little angry and if you read the entire letter he talks about the fact that following Jesus means you might experience poverty and persecution and that the promise you have is that you never go through anything like that alone: Jesus is with you.
These verses in II Corinthians are Paul saying look, I could tell you all my credentials, but God has asked that instead I reflect Jesus. In fact, since God has been so faithful in showing me Jesus, I have an affliction that plagues me constantly. This “thorn in my flesh” Paul says, is something he has asked for deliverance from: and God has said no, my grace is sufficient for you, in your weakness you see my strength. My power is made perfect, in fact Jesus says, in your weakness.
IN other words: when you are experiencing some infirmity, some weakness (and by the way there is a LOT of speculation as to what Paul’s weakness was – show slide)
This is one idea. Scholars think it may have been residual blindness or weak vision from Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, or Paul references other illnesses along the way, too. It could be any number of things, but the reality is we don’t need to know what it is: we could probably plug in any of our stuff and still find the promise that God made to Paul is true for us, too:
When we are weakest, when we experience the hardest things, when we struggle, when we encounter hardship: God’s power is evident in the presence of Jesus and the grace that carries us through.
When you are struggling to make ends meet, small gifts from others or finding resources you need become the presence of Jesus to you
When you are experiencing illness and a friend visits or a medicine helps, you can see God’s power at work in that moment
When you are hurting and struggling and wondering what to do next:
God shows up and walks alongside you. God’s grace is found in the little things and the big things and when you are at the end of what you can do – God’s power is obviously the only way it is possible.
I think about our situation with this church. In so many moments we have thought we weren’t going to keep going, that we couldn’t possibly, that we were not going to have the resources or the work was beyond us – and then God.
We sold a building and properties that should have taken years in a matter of days.
We found a space that fit our needs for the moment and works for the ministry we need to do
We found a way to feed kids this summer and teach them about God’s love
We found a way to share our resources with those who need them
We have reached out to people in our community, we have continued the work of building the kingdom of God in Momence by stretching out our hands and offering to show grace and hope in places that need to see that somehow
And all of that is not us, is not me, is not the district, is not the denomination: it is the power of God pouring out in places and times and moments when we are weakest, showing up and showing out
And I don’t believe God is done.
I don’t believe we have seen the last of God being God in this place.
Because we still have limits and weaknesses and things we need and we still have Jesus and his grace is enough. His grace is our strength, his presence is our promise, and his power is beautifully evident when we simply cannot do more.
God is here. God is at work. Let’s cooperate.
I’m reminded of a quote by one of my favorite authors, Rachel Held Evans:
“The Holy Trinity does not need our permission to carry on their endlessly resourceful work of making all things new. That we are invited to catch even a glimpse of the splendor [of them at work] is grace. All of it, every breath and every second is grace”
We get to be a part of something bigger than us because we are limited and because God’s power makes it possible. That is a beautiful and wonderful and scary and priceless gift.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
I Corinthians 9:19-27
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
There are people who are always positive. They always see the full glass, they always look for the rainbow in the clouds, they always find the upside to whatever situation they are in – these are people we have a cliché for – they look at the world through rose colored glasses: everything they see has a tinge of beauty to it and they can’t help but believe that the best things are the things worth noticing. The lenses they “wear” color everything in a certain way and no matter what is going on, they see everything with that overlay of something better.
In I Corinthians, Paul is advising a different sort of lens. He advises the church in Corinth on some specific issues he has heard they have: divisions in the church, sexual immorality, legalism, chaos in worship, and doubt about the resurrection. In Acts chapter 18, Luke tells us that Paul founded the church in Corinth and then after several years, moved on to Ephesus. Other preachers and teachers have come to Corinth since, and some have reported back to Paul that the church is having problems.
So he writes them this letter.
In it he addresses each of the problems, one at a time and he offers the same solution, but in a different way: Live out the gospel. Look at the life you live through a gospel lens and live it in these circumstances.
Divisions in the church at Corinth are because fan clubs are forming around the various teachers that have been in Corinth: Paul, Apollos, and Peter. And these fan clubs have become like a rivalry not unlike the Cubs and White Sox – if you follow one and are a fan, you can’t follow the other and be a fan. Also the people who follow the one you don’t are jerks and/or losers and/or not super smart…
So Paul tells them that it makes no sense for followers of JESUS to become divided this way. He says it is ok to like the way one or another taught, but in all cases two things should happen: Jesus is the center of every community of believers and leaders and teachers have to emulate Jesus by being servants. Paul says look at this in light of the Gospel, the Good News is that we can admire certain personalities of various leaders, but we always return to the Christ who saved us as the One Person whose importance and example are critical to our lives and faith.
Next Paul addresses some very serious sex stuff that’s happening in the church. Using the argument that we are all free in Christ, many are having affairs and sleeping around. The reality, Paul says, is that God has given us rules around sexual integrity because a sexual relationship always carries with it responsibilities and the potential for heart ache and ruin. Having sex with anyone and everyone is not the model God has set out, because God cares about how we feel and live and our relationships with each other. Yes, we are free in Christ, but we are not free to do things that hurt us and other people. What you do with your body matters, not because God has made rules to keep you from having sexual fun, but because sexual fun is designed to be between married people to avoid the many risks of anguish and hurt and sorrow that come from having sex outside of marriage, in whatever form that takes. Jesus died to free you from the broken relationship between you and God, not to encourage broken relationships between you and every one else.
Paul addresses legalism, which in Corinth takes the form of whether or not to eat food sacrificed to idols. Paul says that everything you do has to be about turning people to Jesus, so if it hurts someone else to do something, stop it. If it doesn’t and your conscience is clear, go ahead. In our modern times, one of the ways the Church of the Nazarene things about this is in connection with drinking alcohol. When the Church of the Nazarene was first started it was in the days before prohibition, and there were a lot of people who had serious and significant problems with alcohol. So the Church of the Nazarene took the position that in pointing people to Christ, they could be free from the desire and need to drink, and that in solidarity, even those Christians who didn’t have problems with alcohol could come alongside their brothers and sisters who did and love them better by keeping themselves free of the stuff. To this day, that is the primary reason why the Church of the Nazarene’s members commit to being alcohol free – not because alcoholic beverages are bad in and of themselves, but because the consequences of drinking continue to wreak havoc in people’s lives. That is living your life in light of the Gospel – pointing people to Jesus by not doing what could be a problem to someone else, even though it is not a problem to you.
It is much of what Paul means in our key passage today: as Christians, we do whatever we must to draw people to Jesus – we live differently, we forget about what matters to us and worry about what matters to Christ, because we want others to live and love and exist in the freedom, joy, peace and love that we have. If we have an abundant life because of the power of the Gospel, we should want to share that with others and show them what it means. And if, to do that, we need to come alongside them in the places where they are, then Paul says that is what we have to do.
Paul’s whole point in this letter is to point out to the Corinthian church that they need to build one another up and seek to draw others to the Jesus they know and love. They need to love and encourage and strengthen one another. All in all, Paul says, it comes down to the command that Jesus reiterated over and over: love God, love your neighbor.
It is in the Luke passage we read today, the story of the Good Samaritan, that Jesus tells of someone who put aside every difference they had with someone who was not like them and cared for what they were and what they needed. This, Paul says, everywhere in this letter to the Corinthians, is how every Christ-follower must live and in doing so, the church and the Gospel will be victorious over the sin and death that are ever present in every situation in the world around us. This, Paul reminds the Corinthians and each of us, is why Christ died – so that we might be different, so that we might love bigger and better, so that we might shine the light of the Gospel, the GOOD NEWS about who Christ is and what it looks like to follow him to those who are stuck in division, in sexual immorality, in legalistic sorrow: Jesus died but he was resurrected so we would have victory. And when we live life through that lens, everything is different and better and beautiful.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Romans 8:18-39
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
I think it is safe to say that without this letter to the Church in Rome, we would not be here. The two most influential men in our branch of Church history (outside of Jesus and the Holy Spirit themselves!) were very heavily influenced by this book. We would likely still be Christ-followers, but we would probably be Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox instead of Protestant or part of the Wesleyan holiness churches called “Nazarene”. Because this book was instrumental in the Reformation, in the understanding Martin Luther had about how people are saved: spoiler alert, it’s not for sale and it’s not based on works – and then because John Wesley, who was struggling in his faith, wrestling with big doubts, trying to figure out what it meant to be saved, how it changed him, one night heard Martin Luther’s writings on Romans and realized that what he knew to be true was from the Holy Spirit. He said his ‘heart felt strangely warmed’ and from there, he started the Methodist movement in England and we were spawned, as the Church of the Nazarene, from that place a couple hundred years later.
What is it about Romans that captures the hearts of the reader to the extent that it changed the entire course of church history?
More than I can unpack in one sermon, I promise.
These 16 chapters give us an understanding of the Gospel, an understanding of how the Gospel ties to the Old Testament, and an understanding of what the life of a believer looks like. It tells us that our righteousness can never be enough, that the faith we have comes from God, and that everything we know about sins being forgiven and repentance stems from God’s grace.
Many of the verses in this book are used and misused for many things.
For example, we read today that All things work together for good…and lots of people use that to say that God’s plan always means that things work out perfectly for the believer. But the context matters here: Paul says that the suffering and heartache and weakness that are part of the waiting for the redemption, the recreation of the whole earth – and when that happens, we will know the goodness that stems from all of the wrongness of sin. God will turn everything upside down and make all things new – and that will be the final wonder of God making all things good. It’s an echo of the Genesis birth story: God declares all things good there, and it is in the redemption of all of us and all of creation that will ultimately be that all things will be good again.
This is an echo of what Joseph says in Genesis 50, when Joseph tells his brothers that the little thing they did that was bad and horrible and meant suffering for Joseph meant good for the whole family, because God changed the ending.
Paul’s letter to the Romans is a reminder too, that God’s mercy and grace are an extension of God’s love for us. God is on our side, because God loves us. God has given us the power of the Holy Spirit to build in us the ability to live like Christ – to love like God loves. That is no small thing: because how does God love? God loves us enough to make us conquerors of sin and death by the death of Jesus. This connection to the rest of scripture reminds us that the whole book – from Genesis to Revelation – is a reminder, over and over, that God loves us and not only that – but God’s love doesn’t ever send us away. God’s love isn’t something we can shake free of – God never stops telling us about that love, never stops pursuing us so we can enjoy the freedom of that love, God promises us that it is the very core of who God is and not only that, but that we can rest in that love, we can trust it for every good and perfect gift, we can live that promise to everyone around us.
We are more than conquerors, not because we fight battles with the people around us but because we overcome sin and death through Jesus, by loving people who are most unlovable. By giving ourselves away. Listen to how Paul puts it later in this letter: Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice…for by the grace given me I say to every one of you: do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought…honor one another above yourselves…do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good
We have so much mercy that has been given to us. It is our responsibility, in turn to offer mercy to those around us. We cannot triumph with the same weapons that are used against us: hate, deceit, violence. Instead, we stand peacefully where there is violence. We offer generosity and kindness where there is hate. We speak the Truth of the Gospel where there is deceit and we wait, along with the whole of creation for the resurrection that will make all things new, that will complete the transformation not only of us individually, but of the entire creation that holds its breath longing for the good that God has promised will be re-born. It starts with each of us who surrender to Christ and begin the work of redemption as God transforms us and then through us the small spaces of the world where we live and move and breathe and work.
Paul’s words in this letter tie together all of scripture. In Romans 13:8-10, he reminds us that all of scripture is a love letter, all of scripture is a reminder to love our neighbor, all of scripture is the Gospel, the good news, if we remember the deepest meaning of the law:
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
This is why we are here. This is why we live our lives for others. Not because by doing so we can earn our way to Jesus, but because Jesus has shown us the way and given us the love we need to do it. We cannot live this without Jesus. We cannot live this without the power of the Holy Spirit, but if we are not living this we can be changed so that it becomes the very core of who we are.
Paul says it this way in Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
We can do this. Not in our own power. But through the love of God that has been given to us. If you don’t know God’s love for yourself or if you are not sure if you have claimed the Holy Spirit’s power in your life to let you love your neighbor then I ask you to claim or reclaim that today as we celebrate around the table today. Because God’s love is for you. God’s love is for everyone and nothing can ever separate us from that love if we choose to let it fill us and empower us and work in us.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Acts 8:1
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Acts is, by far, my favorite book of the whole of the Bible. Luke is telling the story of the Church – how it came to be, how it spread beyond Jerusalem, how it is that we know and love the same Jesus that Peter, James, and John did in Luke’s gospel.
It is compelling and active and it tells of the Holy Spirit’s work in the people of God. It tells of the Holy Spirit moving and filling and gifting. The book of Acts is sometimes called the Acts of the Apostles, but really it should be called the Activity of the Holy Spirit – the work in this book is not the apostle’s work, instead it is the work of the Holy Spirit in people who have encountered the resurrected Christ and come away from that moment radically, completely, utterly different – transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We start with Peter in this book. Peter who at the trial of Jesus was so ashamed and scared and worried that he refused to admit – to the point of cursing – that he had ever followed the one they were about to crucify. Peter was definitely a loud mouth and a leader of sorts in the gospels – he said the things the others were thinking, he both proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah and tried to shush him when Jesus predicted his own death. He cut off someone’s ear in the garden and swore to Jesus that he would die for him – and then he later swore he never knew this Jesus person and would everyone just shut up and stop asking him about him?
But in Acts, we read of a Peter who stands before the court of Jewish leaders and says he won’t shut up, he won’t stop proclaiming Jesus. They beat him, the scold him, they tell him to stop. And when he returns to the church he leads, they pray with him for even more boldness and even more strength to say what needs to be said.
What changed?
Two things – he met the resurrected Christ and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Both of these did not change his personality – he was still a loud mouth with an uncanny ability to speak out about things, but he was no longer a coward about Jesus to others. And the things he spoke about and the reason he proclaimed them, those changes came from a power he had never known, a power he did not know he needed, but a power that Jesus had given to him and all the others who were part of the church that Jesus talked about and the Holy Spirit birthed at Pentecost. The Church that you and I are still members of today. The Church that gave all of itself for others, the Church that was led by a man who once denied he even knew the one for whom he would ultimately die a martyr’s death. Peter was transformed.
The other person that we read about in Acts, who stands out as a main character, is Saul/Paul. Saul is introduced to us on the day that Stephen dies, a martyr who forgave those who stoned him, who preached an amazing sermon that you can read in Acts 7. Saul was a faithful follower of God. He believed wholeheartedly that God was God and that God was being mocked by these Jesus people. And he could not stand by and let that happen, so after Stephen was martyred, Saul began a campaign against the followers of the Way, as it was called, and although scripture never says that Saul directly killed anyone, he was definitely complicit, as we see in his approval of Stephen’s murder.
But then on the road to Damascus, Saul met the resurrected Jesus. And everything changed.
Saul began the long journey that lead to him changing his name, changing his purpose, changing from a persecutor to a missionary. Changing from the one who denounced fanatically to the one who loved fiercely. The power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit didn’t change all the things about Paul that made him Paul – his personality was still a bit prickly, he was still a complete and total fanatic – but it changed HOW he lived that life and WHY he lived that life.
The apostles were a bit nervous around him, but eventually recognized the wonder that the Holy Spirit had wrought.
Someone who once hated them now called them brothers and sisters.
Someone who would have killed them now fought for them
Someone who denounced them now prayed for them
Someone who thought he knew everything now obeyed their direction and submitted to them
Paul had been changed.
The amazing thing about the book of Acts is that the story it tells isn’t done when we reach chapter 28 verse 31 of the book. Instead, as we read the rest of the Bible we see all of the transformative work of the Holy Spirit in Paul’s letters, in Peter’s letters, in James the brother of Jesus, in John the beloved apostle and his Revelation. But the story also doesn’t stop there – the beautiful transformative power of the Holy Spirit is at work in Martin Luther, in John Wesley, in every person – man, woman, and child who follows the Christ and is transformed as a part of the Church. The Holy Spirit is still in the transformation business – your pastor is a testament to that transforming power: an angry and cynical person becomes one who loves beyond her own understanding by the power of grace and mercy and the love that is the Holy Spirit’s trademark.
And it doesn’t stop there – anyone of you can be transformed, can continue to be transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit. Although we see the Holy Spirit’s immediate work in Acts, we also see the Holy Spirit working progressively, building transformation in people and places as time goes by. Our transformation is both too – instantly, we recognize the beauty of a world that is loved by Jesus and God and we become attuned to the work of the Holy Spirit in us, but over time, we grow deeper and deeper in love with the one who has changed us, who has loved us enough to give us this love letter that not only covers these pages, but that has reached us through the people who follow, the people who now live for Jesus, the ones who continue the story of the Acts of the Holy Spirit in the here and now.
Today, as we celebrate communion together, as we read through our reminder of God’s love together, I would ask that each and every one of us remember the transformative power of the Holy Spirit that worked in Peter and Paul is still at work. Every Christian, every saved and sanctified believer in the one true Christ has the transformative power of the Holy Spirit at work in them - including each and every one of us.
Pray that God will show you the transformation in yourself this week or show you where you might need to continue to be transformed and how that might be done. If you ask, God will show you, and the Holy Spirit will work in you.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgment.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 7:53-8:12 Let us pray: Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
They were in the middle of having sex. Naked and sweaty. He was married to someone else, and she, well, she had been promised that he loved her. He didn’t. None of them ever did. Instead, she found that over and over and over they were users and heart breakers and yet…here she was. They didn’t even knock. They came in like they owned the place and grabbed her – only her, never him. She knew then that this one was the worst kind of user – he had likely been part of a scheme to get her in trouble from the outset. Liars and cheats. All of them. Every last one of them, she thought as they dragged her among them, naked and afraid, trembling in the cool air of the morning. Some of them stopped to pick up stones. They were going to be ready for the ultimate condemnation. Their heavy breathing and grabbing hands were the only things she knew for sure. They arrived at the temple court. There was a man, too. Another one, ready to condemn. To judge. She had heard of this one, wandering about Galilee and the countryside, healing people, preaching. Even feeding people. As she stood there, freezing and alone, she waited to hear what he would have to say to her. “She was caught. In. The. Act. Of Adultery. We are commanded to stone her. What say you?” The leader of the group sneered the words at the teacher. No words about the man who had shared her bed. No words about the fact that they set her up. Was this man like the others? What would he say? Nothing, for a moment. He said nothing. He knelt and picked up a stone, too…oh dear, he would be the first to throw – no, he dropped it and said “any of you who are without sin should be the ones to start” and then he began writing – greed, lust, thievery, lying, scheming – these words in the dust. She scrunched her eyes closed and waited for the pain of the first rock to pelt her sweaty skin. Instead, she heard the soft plunk of dropping rocks. The quiet shuffle of retreating feet. The oldest ones, they must have had the most to account for or recognized their complicity first – they walked away before the younger. The younger ones, too, let loose their grasp of her arms and dropped their stones and left, perhaps too stunned to consider fully what had just happened. Jesus lifted his eyes to her. He smiled a bit. He said in an almost mocking tone “what is no one left to condemn you?” “No sir,” she stumbled out the words, mostly afraid to really understand what was happening. “Then I do not either. Go and sin no more” And she saw that he could have condemned her, he could have thrown a stone in answer to his own challenge, but instead he wiped away the words of deeds and sins that he had scratched in the dirt. He challenged her to be different, he challenged her to do better, but he did not throw a single stone to do it. Instead, as she hustled away, to find clothes and a new morning birthed of second chances, she realized that nothing for her would ever be the same. She would follow this man, this one who was so different and so better and so…words failed her, but the Word made flesh, he did not. I am the light of the world, Jesus said after this scene. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. This scene was calculated and constructed by men who were so certain of their rightness that when they were confronted by actual light, by the one who truly could change how they saw things and make them truly righteous, they were incapable of recognizing it. But it did show them who they really were. It did make them aware of just how much they missed the mark. Still, they were far more concerned with being right, with pointing out the error in the OTHER than they were with their own limits and failures. We too, construct opportunities to be right. To be sure of where we stand, sure of how correct our opinions are – to be fair, sometimes our judgements are true, sometimes our pronouncements on the wrongs of another, just like the teachers of the law in this scene – we are 100% on point and also 100% off base. We tell ourselves that sending children to concentration camps is ok, because their parents didn’t follow the law. We insist that baking a cake for a gay wedding is akin to surrendering our core beliefs. We decry people who kneel, but also people who raise their voices and march. We judge based on what people buy, the curse words, the tattoos, the things that scare us or make us uncomfortable. We stand proud of our resistance to all of the above and judge those who speak out against them. We point to this sin or that sin that we see someone else doing – and we forget that our sins too are worthy of judgement. We forget that Jesus came to give us abundant life, a life where we can be light and salt and peace to others, not by telling them all the things they’ve gotten wrong – but by showing them all the ways that Jesus has made the wrong things right. Showing them the places where the brokenness we have known has been swept away and the scars that remain are reminders of the love that we have been shown by the light of the world. Where there is light, there is no longer any darkness. Where the light shines we not only see ourselves more clearly, but we see the wounds of the other more clearly. Are we asked to wound deeper those who already have wounds? Or are we called to help them heal – even when we disagree? Does Jesus call us away from living in sin? Yes! But as much as he has done that for us, he is also the one who makes a way for us to do it. He doesn’t ask us to condemn our neighbor as they do something we know or believe to be wrong. Instead, he asks us to show our neighbor what it looks like to love Jesus. Today, we celebrated a baptism. As part of that we welcomed a baby to the community of church – the place where we can all disagree about everything else – but we all agree that the Jesus who lived and died and rose again, did so in order to show us a more perfect way, to show us how to be set apart by being more loving and more kind and more light than we could have ever been on our own – without Jesus and without each other. So, what happens when our lives reflect the light of the world instead of trying to point that light accusingly at our fellow humans? It would seem that Jesus was making that very point in this situation – the teachers of the law were ready to destroy another person in order to prove their own perfection. And Jesus simply reflected that same spotlight back on them – showing them, one at a time and all together, how very much they still were missing. Eventually, the teachers of the law would decide that they did not like this turn of events and they would find a way, they thought, to be rid of this Jesus person. Eventually, we all have the same choice to make. We can either choose to live lives that reflect the light of the world or we can do our best to exclude this Jesus person from our lives, because he makes us uncomfortable, makes us think about how we do things, makes us want to do and be better. It is the gift of God that we have the opportunity every day to choose – to decide whether or not we will surrender ourselves to the love and light that is Jesus or allow ourselves to be swayed and driven by our selfishness and darkness. Jesus wants only for us to know we are loved and to live abundant lives of grace and peace and hope and love. We want what our own way more often than not, and when we choose that, we remain in the darkness that would keep us from a relationship with God, that would keep us from being who we were made to be – whole persons living in the light and love of a gracious redeemer.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page: What does it mean to say God loves? God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust. God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death. God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers. God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love. God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried. God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus. God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved. God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny. God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement. God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough. For God so loved the world… God loves you. God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it. God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved. God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love. So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved. God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Luke 6:45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Let us pray: Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
This morning’s message is not deeply theological. It is not political. It is not revolutionary or overly complicated. It is instead a simple thought straight from Jesus – what we are passionate about spills over into what we do and say. Out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. The summer after I graduated from high school, I was not living with my parents so I called them from time to time. I started out that summer dating a particular boy, but by the end of the summer I had become engaged to Tom (my current husband for those of you keeping track at home). When I called my parents to give them the news, my mom said she was not terribly surprised. Since my decision to marry Tom had sort of been a surprise to me, I asked her why…and she said, the last three times you called you stopped mentioning the other boy at all while everything was Tom this and Tom that…I hadn’t even realized that had happened. See, he had become the most important thing in my life, without me even knowing it. My heart overflowed and my mouth spoke. Once we start following Jesus, the same thing should happen in relation to us as Christians – we simply start to be so in love with Christ that we don’t even realize when we speak about him. But Jesus offers a bigger admonition here, too, in that He points out that we have to be intentionally focused on what we bring into our hearts – the good man has stored good things there, the evil man, evil. These don’t just pop in – they’ve been stored there, put away for later pulling out and examining and pouring out all over the people around us. We have all encountered someone who is extremely passionate about some area that is incomprehensible to us. It is sometimes inconceivable that someone could be so completely taken with, say, 17th century English Literature to the point that they can quote extensively from multiple works by Francis Bacon or describe the interplay between Genesis and classical myth in Milton’s Paradise Lost. Sometimes knowing that someone is that deeply buried in a topic means that we avoid them, not because we do not like the person, but because we are not so ready to spend 45 minutes receiving a lecture about the importance of their topic. There are people who are deeply into a particular television show or a particular sport or team, political stance/agenda and it is not long before you can identify the people in your life by the particular passions they pursue, talk about, and live vigorously from day to day. That kind of passion is not accidental – it is the kind of thing that has to be sought out and kept and held on to. It requires effort. If you have ever been involved in sports, you will recognize this phrase – muscle memory. It is when you practice something so often that you no longer have to think about how you react in a certain situation, your body simply moves that way and does what it is supposed to do. As a former bowler and bowling coach, I can tell you that this how you become a consistent bowler – you repeat your best approach over and over until it is simply a matter of allowing your body to do what it knows how to do…it is automatic that you will take the same steps, swinging your arm in the right rhythm, and release the ball exactly where you are supposed to – because you have done the work to make sure your muscles know how to do it. Malcolm Gladwell has said that it requires 10,000 hours of practice at any one thing to be world class at it. At that point your mind is no longer working on the fundamentals anymore, but stretching your physical abilities to a point where they are able to do more than the next competitor. It is like going from being able to frost a cake to being able to design an intricate wedding cake with multiple layers and colors. They both involve the same concept – covering a cake with sugar – but on one hand is the simple use of a spatula and the other requires icing bags and tips and all manner of other things that create roses and floral arrays and whatever else makes a cake magazine picture worthy. Devoting yourself to these tasks are what make you good at them, what makes the simpler parts automatic and what begins to fill your heart beyond the minimum to the point of overflowing. So it is with following Jesus. The more time we spend with him, the more often we pray, the more often we worship, the deeper we get in our relationship with him, the more likely it is that the words we speak about him will be automatic, that our ability to rely on him will become more and more reflex and less and less effort. That is when we get beyond simply frosting the cake and become adept at really making an impact. This leads me to my second point about this simple verse – the reason we do the work. There is a very real and concerted effort to take faith out of the public square, to try to make everything about our religious lives individual. What’s right for you may not be right for me, so keep it to yourself. The awesome thing about what Jesus says in this passage is that not only is our faith deeply personal – we must accumulate the good things that come from good hearts – but it is widely interpersonal – we speak it, not just to ourselves, but to those we come in contact with everyday. I recently read a book called Clear Winter Nights about a young man who is questioning his faith. He is having conversations with his older grandfather and he says that evangelism bothers him, it makes him uncomfortable to do it. The grandfather, a former pastor, replies “People rarely fail to evangelize because of their intellectual questions. Failure to evangelize is almost always a worship problem. It’s not that we don’t know what we ought to be doing. We do. We’re just not doing it. That’s a sign that we’re not overflowing with worship. Whenever you are completely taken with something or someone, you can’t help but talk about it. Love can’t stop talking about the beloved.” Love can’t stop talking about the beloved. Hold onto that for a few minutes. I can think of several saints whom I love to spend time with, primarily because when I am with them I am almost always encouraged. These are people, young and old, whose hearts have become so enraptured with Jesus that they speak often and lovingly about him, sometimes without even realizing that they are doing so…it is so natural to them to live in such a state of worship and passion that without even realizing it they have poured out their hearts, and their hearts are full of Jesus. You know people like this, people other people love to be around, even though they may not be able to point exactly to why. These are people who are so in love with Jesus that they can’t help but talk about him, even when they aren’t even saying his name. Their voices, their actions, their very beings resonate with the light and life of Christ –they are the saltiest salt and the brightest lights. The great news is that it does not have to be “them,” every Christian carries within them the potential to be that enamored with the Redeemer. The more time we spend with him, the more often we will see him in the moments that matter in our lives. Prayer, worship, reading the Word – these are all intentional things we can do to strengthen our relationship with Him. The great news is that it doesn’t have to be the same kind of work that practicing a bowling approach is – primarily because the Holy Spirit works in us to transform our thinking so that our love for him is greater and bolder than we could ever accomplish on our own, and simply by resting in him, seizing the opportunities to trust him, to rely on his work, He begins to fill our hearts to overflowing with His fruit, with His presence, with Him – so that we indeed can say “love can’t stop talking about the beloved”. One more time, I would remind you in the week to come to think about how deeply personal your faith is and yet how widely interpersonal it is as well. Our hearts overflow so that our speech can impact another – we communicate with each other most often and most thoroughly about the ideas and people that mean the most to us. We give away something more than just a shared passion when we speak about Jesus because we can’t help it. We offer a glimpse into the promise of redemption and the sweet hope of an eternal future. Love can’t stop talking about the beloved because there is nothing better to say.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page: What does it mean to say God loves? God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust. God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death. God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers. God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love. God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried. God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus. God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved. God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny. God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement. God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough. For God so loved the world… God loves you. God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it. God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved. God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love. So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved. God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Mark 2:1-12 Let us pray: Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Imagine you are paralyzed in a day when medicine can barely treat most illnesses, where people commonly die from infections that we heal as a matter of course today. You can’t move some muscles, but you may still be in pain. You may have muscle spasms that contort and torture you. You may have had a fishing accident or eaten some bad fish or any number of things that could cause paralysis even today. Then you hear about a guy who was healed from leprosy. You might have a full-time helper, so you send him out to get your old friends, because you have to go see if this healer can help you. Your friends show up. Maybe they take turns carrying you on their backs for the journey, maybe they lay you across the back of a donkey. Even if you only live a few miles from Capernaum, this is a difficult journey, and it is likely the furthest you have been from home in all the time you have been disabled. Your friends are probably getting more and more hopeful for you the closer they get – the buzz is all around, everyone is getting excited – this Jesus guy has been casting out demons, preaching, and stuff, and there is a certain air of expectation. Then, you all arrive at the home where Jesus is teaching. There is such a crowd you can only really see the roof line amid a mass of humanity. Your friends try to push through to the door, but that’s not happening. They try to get you close to a window, ditto. Finally, one says “Hey, I bet we can get through from above” and they start executing a plan to get you to the healer. Meanwhile, in the house, Jesus is teaching. He might have been grinning on the inside, knowing that you and your friends are about to interrupt. He keeps going, even while your friends are mere feet above him, digging through the roof. The roof couldn’t have been very high up, so imagine, too that Jesus is getting dust in his hair, the others around him are being disturbed by the commotion, and then finally, you are presented, your friends having successfully been persistent enough. And Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven.” Wait. Just. A. Minute. You went through all that, and your most obvious desire here is to be able to walk, and Jesus says something so completely unexpected…so off target from what you think SHOULD happen. Although, you are probably not even close to as offended as the teachers of the law. They know that throughout history ONLY GOD can forgive sins. In fact, to assign yourself an attribute only God has is to do the most egregious thing you can – blaspheme. This is scandalous! God is God, and this filthy Galilean (with dust in his hair) cannot possibly mean what he says here. This miracle sets up everything that follows. This is what Jesus came to do – demonstrate his authority over sin. In fact, without this component, he is just a great teacher or cool prophet. What truly sets him apart is the fact that he is God and he is human, both fully. Since he is God – he has authority over sin. Since he is man – he is completely relatable to us. Knowing that the teachers of the law (and probably you) are offended, Jesus turns his attention back to you. He looks you full in the face, and demonstrates that his authority over sin is equal to his authority over the natural and supernatural world. He tells you to get up, and just like that you are completely healed. Do you forget that Jesus forgave your sins, first? Maybe, but I doubt it, because that is a compelling part of the story. You may have been surprised and a little disturbed by that turn of events, but you knew deep in your heart that the first response was the only one that mattered. Ok, you can stop being the paralyzed/forgiven/un-paralyzed man now. This last part is for us right now. We all sin. We cannot do otherwise since the fall. It is the gap between where we need to be (perfect before a holy God) and where we wind up (desperate, shameful, broken people who are deserving of punishment). Jesus came to earth to close the gap. To bring us back into relationship with God. He demonstrates in this miracle his authority to do so, and through his perfect life and ultimate sacrifice, he does what must be done. The crucifixion, the resurrection, and Jesus’ life are less impactful if we don’t recognize that Jesus had the authority over sin. We don’t have to live broken, desperate, shameful lives. Jesus can forgive our sins. You ARE the paralytic. When you come to Jesus, he looks you full in the face, right where you are, and he says your sins are forgiven you. That is a healing that changes everything.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page: What does it mean to say God loves? God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust. God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death. God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers. God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love. God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried. God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus. God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved. God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny. God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement. God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough. For God so loved the world… God loves you. God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it. God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved. God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love. So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved. God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Matthew 5:1-12 Let us pray: Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Welcome to Matthew! As we enter the New Testament portion of the love letter, it seems important to remember that although this is the first time that we are hearing Jesus speak to us directly, it is not as though he has arrived with no notice. God has been pointing us to him all through the Old Testament stories and instructions and prophesies. And Matthew, as the first Gospel in the New Testament is written in such a way as to point out all of the places where the road signs from Israel’s history are now found fully identified and beautifully arrived in the person of Jesus. Reading Matthew can be a little challenging for us, who sit in a modern context and have no frame of reference for some of the things that he writes. Matthew was an apostle – formerly a tax collector, he followed Jesus and because he could write, he did. His book was not the first Gospel written – Mark’s was first, but Matthew’s is first in the canon because what he does really well is say “ok, now that you’ve read what God has promised, let me tell you how that promise looks on two legs”. Even the structure of the book reflects similarity to the first 5 books of the Old Testament: there’s a genealogy, an origin story, a rescue, a wandering, and then, today, we hear Jesus’s words from a mountain. And for those of us who have been following the Epic of Eden Bible study, we recognize right away that the language Jesus uses is covenant language – he gives blessings first and then later, what we didn’t read, are some curses. For those who haven’t been in the Bible study, covenants have blessings and curses as rewards and punishments for those who are signing off on the covenant terms – it is very similar to our contracts today, if you sign a contract you are agreeing to give something to get something and if you break your part or the other person breaks theirs, there are consequences. In this case, the blessings and the cursings are based on what happens when you sign on to being a member of the Kingdom of God. These blessings are the covenant promises to the people of God – the ones who follow Jesus and obey his command (to love God and love their neighbor). But notice something – these promises are not contingent on being most successful, most charismatic, most studious. These promises are not made to those who read their Bible the most, who pray the hardest, or who don’t swear. Instead these promises, these blessings are made to those who are the least. Those who are in the places where we live and breathe and move every day: the poor in spirit: the ones who have something in them that is perhaps depressed or despairing. Those who mourn: those who have lost someone or something precious that has caused them to grieve. The meek: those who have poured out all they have for the sake of someone else. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the ones who love mercy, the ones who are pure in heart, living their lives for God’s desires, the peacemakers – the ones who look for ways to bring order to chaos where ever they are. If any of you watched Game of Thrones (and I have not, although I did read some of the books) then you know that the struggle over a throne that rules seven kingdoms is the center of the story. At various times and in various circumstances different people occupy or long to occupy the throne. Along the way in the kingdoms, people who further the cause of the king or queen are rewarded for their loyalty and fierceness and willingness to fight with positions of authority or riches or land. But in God’s kingdom, the promises Jesus makes are all around living out kindness and goodness to others and allowing ourselves space to be broken and imperfect. This kingdom is backwards and upside down in its assertion that the ones who are pitiful and sad are the ones who are blessed and the ones who give are the ones who are richest and the ones who humble themselves to live as Christ followers are the ones who win the biggest rewards: primarily in the form and presence of Christ himself! Jesus doesn’t tell us to forget about being sad – he tells the mourning they will be comforted. Jesus doesn’t tell us to cheer up or stop thinking about hard things – he says the poor in spirit will have the kingdom. Jesus says the meek will inherit the earth, not that they will become warriors. As we begin the journey through the New Testament, it is this series of promises that remind us what God is doing through Jesus: building a kingdom of Christ followers who surrender their sorrow, their pride, their hunger, their very lives to live differently, to live completely in tune with the very heart of God – to remember Eden and the relationship that was lost when we cost ourselves the garden. The God who walked in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve reminds us that Jesus walked among us 2000 years ago, and has sent the Holy Spirit to walk with us all the time. We are blessed in that our lives can be characterized by the fullness of God’s constant presence. We can and are and should be blessed by the hope of a God who cares enough to bring himself to us when we could no longer get to him. Yesterday, a popular author, Rachel Held Evans was buried. Her funeral was shared online with many who had only known her through her books and her blogs. She was raised in church and when she became an adult, she found that some of the things, if not many of the things she had believed became harder to understand and believe. She was a woman of faith who wrestled with her faith and yet lived it so beautifully that thousands of people who never actually met her were moved by her death and mourned. She was able, sometimes, to put into words the tension some people feel between what they want to believe and what they actually believe and how hard it is to recapture what feels lost forever. The benediction to her service was a recast of these kingdom blessings to remind us that this kingdom is different, this kingdom is not about the most or best, but it is about the less and least. It was written by her friend Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber: Blessed are the agnostics. Blessed are they who doubt. Blessed are those who have nothing to offer. Blessed are the preschoolers who cut in line at communion. Blessed are the poor in spirit. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you. Blessed are those whom no one else notices. The kids who sit alone at middle-school lunch tables. The laundry guys at the hospital. The sex workers and the night-shift street sweepers. The closeted. The teens who have to figure out ways to hide the new cuts on their arms. Blessed are the meek. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you. Blessed are they who have loved enough to know what loss feels like. Blessed are the mothers of the miscarried. Blessed are they who can’t fall apart because they have to keep it together for everyone else. Blessed are those who “still aren’t over it yet.” Blessed are those who mourn. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you. I imagine Jesus standing here blessing us because that is our Lord’s nature. This Jesus cried at his friend’s tomb, turned the other cheek, and forgave those who hung him on a cross. He was God’s Beatitude— God’s blessing to the weak in a world that admires only the strong.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page: What does it mean to say God loves? God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust. God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death. God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers. God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love. God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried. God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus. God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved. God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny. God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement. God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough. For God so loved the world… God loves you. God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it. God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved. God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love. So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved. God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Malachi 2:17-3:18
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Annoying God
A year ago, I started planning this series, wondering what it would look like to talk about God all through scripture – through the story-telling histories and prophecies and law and poetry. This journey through the Old Testament, through the 39 books that comprise the law and the prophets that Jesus and his companions and rivals discuss in depth throughout the New Testament, has been helpful for me, anyway, and I hope that as we have encountered people and places, you have seen the reality of a God whose love is not new or built on something fragile or something that we have to earn or find for ourselves, but it is instead the whole reason of human existence and the answer, in the long run, to all that troubles and haunts and breaks us and the world around us.
That is not to say that we find the fix to the problem of the broken relationship here, although it is known that only God can fix it, the resolution to the challenges of humankind is not found by solely reading these 39 sacred texts: the sacrifices, the rules, the temple itself – none of these are finally effective in righting the relationship the people need and God wants.
In fact, here at the end of the Old Testament, in the book of Malachi, we find the people who have returned from exile, living in Judah. The temple has finally been rebuilt, they have resumed priestly duties and sacrifices and regular worship, but there is a problem: the hearts of the people are not yet right.
Malachi presents this problem to the people in a series of complaints that God has against them: God is annoyed.
God is annoyed because they are complaining about God’s justice but are not willing to be just themselves.
God is annoyed because they tithe, but what they bring in are the last and worst of what they have
God is annoyed because they see following God as a useless endeavor – since the people who aren’t following God are prospering.
Primarily – these are heart problems. The actions of the people make it seem as though they are faithful: they go to church, they throw a buck in the offering, they pray.
But in their hearts, they would rather be anywhere else. They would rather do something else, they would rather not give.
There is a series of Stephen King novels called the Dark Tower series. Stephen King is often a little profane in his works, but one of the things he usually extrapolates is the idea of good vs. evil. In the Dark Tower series, there is a country of very chivalrous people who have knights whose responsibility it is to protect all the people. Of course, knights are still human, so frequently they screw it up, and when they do they wind up in trouble. Because family lineage and pride is a big component of their world, they have a mantra they use when they are about to go into battle: “Remember the face of your father” and then when they have been in trouble, they will be told “You have forgotten the face of your father”. It’s mainly a turn of phrase meant to induce pride and confidence in those who are doing the right things and fighting against evil, and conversely, producing shame and guilt in those who have not lived up to their training. It fits very well with what has happened in Israel that Malachi is addressing – they have forgotten the face of their Father – the God who has given them much, who has provided for them, who has created, and loved, and protected them – who rescued them from Egypt and brought them into their own land, who warned them for hundreds of years before exiling them and then promised to bring them home – that God whose love for them has been evidenced over and over in the covenant providing for their redemption – this God they have forgotten. This God they have turned away from. This God they have continued to worship in name only, but they are not committed, they are not faithful.
So God is annoyed. And he basically says to them “you have forgotten the face of your father” and lists how this is true. They have forgotten justice in pursuit of gain. They have forgotten to give their best in pursuit of keeping what they have. They have forgotten to serve for God’s sake.
God also tells them that Redemption is coming. That the Messiah, the one they have been waiting for, will come.
And the people in this case, at least some of them, respond by writing what Malachi calls “a scroll of remembrance” - a list of the things they needed to pay attention to, things that would keep their hearts in the right place.
God calls the people to faithfully do worship but only if they are intentional and thoughtful about it, and when they do, God promises blessing. When they seek justice, God will bring justice. When they tithe, God promises an abundance. When they serve, God promises they will be a treasured possession. In all these things, God says turn your heart to me and I will reward your faithfulness with mine.
And for 400 years, they do all the right things – they follow the law faithfully as a people, they become very different than they were at the outset, making sure to do all the things – 613 mitzvot or ‘good things to do’ commandments, as they are called. Most of the Jewish people still follow these today. Keeping kosher, following rules about promises, business, criminal laws, etc. And Jesus comes in the midst of them following the rules to the tiniest degree – and some have their hearts right and some do not.
These rules are not bad things, in and of themselves. But Jesus tells the Jewish leaders in his day that while they should absolutely keep following those rules, they need to remember that they do them for the sake of LOVING GOD, not for the sake of being seen doing them. Luke 11:42 says Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
And so we see that Jesus gives us the admonition that when we follow rules, whether set for ourselves or set by God, the priority has to be that our heart is right first. If we are going to church or giving or praying for the sake of doing the right thing but we don’t love God and love others, we miss the mark. We should do all those things, we should worship and give, but we should do it as a way of loving God.
God’s promise is always that loving God is rewarded. I encourage you as you think about how you love God to think about how you could do the things that God has asked better or more fully. How can you show God your love this week?
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Zechariah 9:9-10 Let us pray: Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
King of Peace Zechariah is a book of prophecy. The people of Judah are trying to figure out how to do right things now that some have returned from exile. They have made progress in re-building the temple, they have made progress in re-building their community. But they are not sure what all of this will mean for them – will the promised Messiah come now? Will the King that God has been promising be anointed now? Zechariah never answers the timing question for them – but he gives them this admonition – if you are people who are faithful, God will be faithful. And then he gives them promises of what it will look like when the Messiah finally does come. And one of the promises he makes is that the kingdom will be at peace. So today, let’s look at what that peace looks like – because we know the Messiah has come and is coming again. We can look at this as already having started – we have the ability to live a peace that passes understanding and to dwell in the peace of Christ’s reign according to what Paul has written to us as Christians. But there is more to this promise that hasn’t happened yet for us, too. So with the remnant who has returned from exile, we might ask how long. The answer will be – the answer always is – be faithful and God will be faithful. So we live into what we already know. Here is how God’s promise to them of peace is important for us, both in living a kingdom life now and in anticipating Christ’s return and everlasting peace that is to come: 1. We can be at peace with one another. That means that when we have conflict, we yearn for peace and we do all we can to create peace. Again, Paul gives us this admonition: as far as it depends on you, be at peace with everyone. This means sometimes, like Jesus did, sacrificing something we want or need in order to create peace. If you have never been on Facebook or Twitter, you might think that this is an easy thing to do – but those of us who have ever found someone to disagree with on social media (and by the way, if you are on social media and you agree with everyone that might not be a good thing either) over guns or migrant rights or abortion or the president, then you know that sometimes it is far easier to create disorder and outrage and wreak havoc than it is to create peace. I have needed this reminder from time to time: internet arguments rarely change minds, they just change relationships. So if we are going to create peace, sometimes that means staying away from some people or sacrificing our need to be “right” about something in order to move forward 2. We can be at peace in our circumstances. This is a tough one, and in this crazy world of go, go, go, it can feel like there is no way to experience peace in the midst of chaos. I recently had a moment when I was completely overwhelmed – a visitor was coming unexpectedly and I was not prepared. I began to be anxious about it in an unhealthy way – I had a lot going on, a lot happening and a lot I could not control. But in that moment, I prayed for both the circumstance and my anxiety over it. And ultimately, that prayer was answered positively in both areas. There are moments, too, where someone else is overwhelmed or anxious and you have the ability to bring peace to the situation. Sometimes that is simply by being present in the moment. Sometimes there are words you can say to help (hint: calm down probably doesn’t work!) Sometimes all you can do is pray. But one thing you can find over and over is that when you carry the peace of Christ with you and in you, you are able to find peace in your circumstances and bring peace to other people in the midst of their circumstances as well. You can probably think of times when your life has been crazy and chaotic. You probably know that those times will happen again. In those circumstances, you don’t need to wish away what is happening or pretend it isn’t happening. But you can ask Jesus to help you find peace in the middle of it – and he will. When we read Zechariah’s words to the people “He will proclaim peace to the nations” we can understand that to mean that the kingdom of God is a peace loving and peace making place. 3. We can have peace with God. This is how we become Christians – by agreeing to follow the King of Peace where ever he leads. And the first place he leads is to repentance and forgiveness. And this is reconciliation with God, giving us peace with God. As we live in community with one another, as we lean into what God has for us more and more, as we grow in our faith, we find more and more things that we need to surrender to Christ, that we need to make peace with God over – things that have derailed us and kept us bound to sin and darkness. God will never forcefully take what is not offered in your life. So if you have some sin that is haunting you and taking you captive, God will let you keep that until the time is right for you to give it over. Maybe for you that is a sin of gossip, or maybe it is a sin of greed, or maybe it is the sin of racism or sexism. In all these things, God says I have a better way. I have a way that promotes peace. I have a way that gives YOU peace and makes you have peace with me. And if you are faithful to me, I will be faithful to you and work with you and build the relationship between us to a place where you are at peace with me and with everyone around you and in every circumstance. There are days, still, as a pastor, even, where I find new things that I need to reconcile to God. God is ever patient and ever kind and ever revealing the places that I need more God and less Jennifer in. God wants to do that for you, too. God wants you to know and live and rest and find God in the places where you wouldn’t expect to find God. And as you do that – as you are given greater peace with God, you will find that you are in a place where you are both able to find peace with others and your circumstances more easily, but where you also yearn for the day when God’s peace will overwhelm all that is and Christ’s return will usher in an eternal peace for all the nations, a peace that is not just personal and communal, but a peace that lasts, because the King of Peace is reigning over us all.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page: What does it mean to say God loves? God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust. God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death. God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers. God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love. God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried. God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus. God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved. God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny. God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement. God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough. For God so loved the world… God loves you. God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it. God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved. God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love. So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved. God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Haggai 2:1-9
1 on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 2 “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, 3 ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? 4 But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 5 ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’
6 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. 8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 9 ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”--
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
There is a parable that goes like this: A mother had a son who had an extremely bad temper. He would often do or say some extremely hurtful things, after which he seemed truly repentant. No matter what the mother did, she could not get the child to think before he reacted.
One day while washing dishes, she had a great idea. She called her son into the room with her and handed him a plate. “Throw that plate on the ground” she instructed the young man. After some encouragement, the young man did as he was told. As expected, the plate broke into several pieces.
“Now let’s glue this plate back together” the mother said, so they worked together for quite some time and had the plate looking pretty close to its original state, although a few cracks and chips were still visible. “Now say you’re sorry to this plate,” the mother said. The child looked confused but saw that his mother was serious. So he said his apology. “Now is the plate good as new?” the mother asked. The child shook his head no, because although it was back together, it would never look the same.
The mother went on to explain that is what we do to the hearts of our loved ones when we are angry. Although the pain can be mended and apologies can be given, the relationship will never be able to be put back together the same again.
This parable is true enough – what has been destroyed can’t be put back together again perfectly.
Indeed, the Israelites, that is the remnant in Judah after returning from Babylon to rebuild in Jerusalem, are feeling that right now.
They want to rebuild the temple as they remember it long ago.
But they can’t.
- God restores relationships
- God restores us to God
- God will restore everything
Notice God’s instruction for restoration:
- Be strong
- Work
- Do not fear
God’s restoration may not make our relationships look exactly as they once did – the temple didn’t. But! God will restore.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 20:1-8
Let us pray: Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
This week it was my privilege to welcome my great nephew Orion Lee into the world. My poor niece was in labor for around 30 hours, most of that spent waiting. Yesterday she was just a girl in labor; today she is a single mom with a beautiful baby boy. Yesterday she had only herself to worry about and care for. Today she will never spend another moment of her life where she does not worry about her precious son and what he’s doing and where he is and all the million other things that plague parents as long as they have breath. This is also what happened with the resurrection: Saturday the disciples and all who followed Jesus were bereft, overcome with grief. The messiah had died. He was in the ground. He was gone. But then Sunday morning happened AND EVERYTHING CHANGED Forever The resurrection changes everything about everything! If you follow Jesus and you don’t know that or haven’t heard that or can’t see that – let me tell you some ways in which the resurrection changes everything for you: First, if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead, you wouldn’t be here. Not in this space, not a Christ follower at all: why follow someone whose basic claims seem crazy and ridiculous at face value? We probably wouldn’t ever have even heard of him – why learn about yet another rebel in ancient Rome who didn’t even have the ability to pull together an interesting insurrection? Jesus becomes just another criminal, shamefully crucified by an empire that specialized in squashing insurrection. But THANKS BE TO GOD! He is risen (wait for it) And because he is risen indeed, we know of him. And we know he is really and truly risen for a number of reasons. Because of what he has done in us for sure – but also because the idea of the resurrection as a lie doesn’t work. The disciples truly had nothing to gain – they may be famous now, but they certainly had no following at the beginning. The resurrection is only known to us because it is true. Listen, Chuck Colson, who was famously part of the Nixon Watergate scandal, became a Christian in prison for the reason that he had just been part of a conspiracy that fell apart and he said: “I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks. You're telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
Second, because of the resurrection who we are is different: we follow a King whose whole purpose was to show us a kingdom that is different – a kingdom of servants whose sole purpose is to love and proclaim and forgive. Not sure about this one? Not only did Jesus preach it, he lived it. On the cross, among his last words: Forgive them, Father. To those who put him on a cross, both the religious leaders and the politically complicit To the one who betrayed him – he offers the bread and wine and washed his feet To the one who denied him – he offers the hand of friendship and kindness Jesus coming back from the dead is what redefines Lordship and Kingship to resemble humility, servanthood, selfless love. No one who lives today witnessed the resurrection or personally saw the Christ after: but oh, that they would see Jesus in you and I! Oh that our following the Christ who died and yet lives would result in the transformation that pours out and overwhelms with love and joy and peace and hope and self-control! Jesus tells us before he dies that the way people will recognize us for who we are is because of our love for one another – we are transformed by following and if we are not – are we really following?
Third, and this follows closely on the second – the marginalized, the other, these are to be treated differently because of the resurrection, too. You can see this immediately in who knows of the resurrection first: it is the women – the first preachers were women ordained by the living Christ on Resurrection Sunday – women who cannot testify in court, who are protected only under the auspices of men in that day, who are essentially considered the property of these men, who are set aside if they cannot bear children or aren’t married. The resurrection says that women and men are equally redeemed, equally transformed, equally valued, fully loved. We cannot see it so clearly because of our cultural lens that sees all of that somewhat differently (although in many ways we have not moved too far) but the fact that Jesus gave his message of resurrection to the women was a move to transforming how his followers should see and value the marginalized and oppressed of the world. We are not at liberty as Christ followers to devalue anyone – Jesus has proclaimed loudly as the stone rolled from an empty tomb that the worth of a person is not in their gender or what society says, but in the blood that dripped from a cross and the unwrapped linens from an undead body. The marginalized are welcome at the table, welcome in the company of all followers, welcome every where in every situation – skin color, gender, race, national identity – all of these no longer are to be used to oppress another, instead as our differences are celebrated, our beauty as ONE body of Christ under the banner of the resurrection to be delighted in!
Finally, and this is the whole point – the resurrection redeems the garden. We no longer look to Eden as the garden of our origin, but instead to Gethsemane and the burial garden. Jesus cried out “It is finished!” as he breathed his last, and we know that this means that the victory of the cross is the burial only of our sin. But the victory of the empty tomb is bigger – it is the victory of life over death, of hope over despair, of love over her enemies. Death where is your victory? Death where is your sting? Paul asks and we answer: defeated under the heel of the risen Christ – we have no fear, we do not dread the end of our earthly life – because praise the Risen King – we believe in the resurrection of the dead, and because of the resurrection, we too, will be raised. In fact, our first resurrection comes as we begin the journey of following Christ: we are raised from the death of a sinful life to the life of abundance that is only found in Jesus and the hope he brings us all. John says at the end of his gospel that all the things that Jesus did are too numerous to tell. If we were to describe all the ways the resurrection changes things, we would be here for a long time. Brandon called sermons this morning stories, and yes this resurrection story is the best story and one that never gets old, because we cannot tell it all: what of hopelessness becoming hope or miracles becoming routine or joy in the face of suffering or more and more and more… Every sermon in every church on every Sunday is a recap of the resurrection promise: the Christ who died now lives and that changes everything for everyone for all time. May you follow the Christ of the cross so completely that you, too, are changed by his life, death, and resurrection!
For:
He has risen! He has risen indeed!
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Luke 19:28-40
--
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Last year, Shelby and I went to Scotland and London with a group from Olivet. It was an incredible experience and a beautiful trip. Neither of us had ever been big royal family fans, but we enjoyed learning about the history of the kings in England and Scotland. And in London, as we toured the Tower of London, we got to watch a clip from the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, the longest reigning monarch in British history. When I got home, I watched more of the coronation ceremony, intrigued by the religious and secular aspects of it and how they are intertwined in the ceremony.
The pageantry and beauty and ritual in Queen Elizabeth’s coronation were spectacular and gorgeous. And for royalty, it is expected that things will be perfectly ordered and precise, because the king or queen command the highest honor and receive only the best. They will have significant authority and responsibility, they are leaders of the highest order who will serve for a lifetime and their children and grandchildren and so on will continue the lineage of monarchial rule.
And today we read of the coronation, of sorts, of King Jesus. It is at least the first recognition, aside from the angels at his birth, that he is indeed a king. We won’t do a point by point comparison of the Queen’s coronation to Jesus’s, but suffice it to say Queen Elizabeth did not process to her coronation on a borrowed donkey colt covered in other people’s coats. In fact, we could compare Jesus’s coronation even to ones of his day: Caesars who were crowned emperor in Rome most assuredly had all the pomp and circumstance that was possible in that time and day. It is almost as if Jesus is making a point about what his kingdom will look like…
It is still startling to the Pharisees and teachers of the law when they hear the people shout about Jesus being King:
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.
Those are dangerous words.
Israel is not her own nation. Israel is not free to have her own king that is not appointed by Caesar.
We don’t live in a monarchy, so it’s a little odd for us to think of the consequences of this little parade in a Podunk town (even as a capital city in the empire) as being more than a blip on the radar for the emperor of Rome, but the local leaders were trained to squash minor insurrections quickly and efficiently because what was small one day could become a full scale rebellion and Rome was Rome because she did not allow any rebelliousness to foment out in the open.
This is about power.
Who has it. Who keeps it. And what happens when you live in an oppressive regime and you express the possibility that you might have some, too.
The pharisees have a small amount of power and they are not liking the way this Jesus fellow keeps calling them out for it. They know, too, that the best way for them to remain in that position of power is to continue fighting against those who would undermine or diminish it. They do this by aligning closely with the empire: garnering favor with those who have more power so they can keep theirs.
Contrast this with Jesus.
As king, his first responsibility is to die.
That isn’t powerful at all.
In fact, it looks as though everyone BUT Jesus and his followers is getting what they want: fake peace with Rome (and continuation of the status quo). Later, Christ followers would avoid all appearances of bowing to Caesar – because they did not follow him, they followed a different King.
Meanwhile, Jesus keeps moving toward his responsibility. Keeps doing what must be done to save us. Keeps going forward knowing that what follows the worship of today is desertion, defeat, agony, and death.
He rides the colt today, but he will be betrayed.
He is praised today, but he will be mocked.
He is hailed as King, but those who shout Hosanna today will shout Crucify Him on Friday.
He still goes.
Philippians 2:5-11, which Amy read this morning, tells us that Jesus is king, but not the kind of king we are used to: he gives up his royal status on our account. He lays all of himself on the line for us in a way we could never expect him to. He gives over all of who he is to serve us – and he does it even though he has all the rights in the world to be called king of kings.
Jesus calls us to the same level of pouring ourselves out: the first part of that passage says “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:” and then it tells us what that mindset is. This King doesn’t want his subjects to seek power. This King doesn’t want us to be pointing out an us vs. them, like the pharisees did, like we still do when we talk about sins we are passionate about: do we talk about abortion as though the women who might have one are evil, as though those choices are not difficult and painful? Do we demonize gay people or Muslim people or others who are different than us? Do we talk about our political enemies as though they are not people? “All democrats lie” or “all republicans are haters”? Do we believe that following Jesus gives us the ability to denounce others while we proclaim Christ as though we were Jesus ourselves?
Jesus comes not to hold power the way the world understands having power. It is not ruthless and vindictive, this kingdom. Rather it is the upside down politics of loving others, of giving first, of serving before being served. It is always the kingdom where the King himself gave EVERYTHING for the subjects he would embrace and he asks us for nothing but delights when in return, our love moves us to do the same.
Luke’s account of Jesus’s coronation as King is one that should give us pause. His followers were all there that day, walking behind him, waving palm branches, shouting Hosanna.
On Thursday, they would all leave him alone.
Peter would deny him.
Judas would betray him.
And the wonder of it is that Jesus dies for them.
As you sing Hosanna this morning, as you think about what following Jesus looks like, what it looks like to claim him as your King, I ask you to consider the wonder of a King who looks like Jesus. The wonder of a King who forgives his enemies, who dies to make us live.
And consider with me the places and times where your life may not look like it is part of that Kingdom. Where you have denied him. Or betrayed him.
This week we remember the suffering of Jesus. The heartbreak and sorrow and pain. The death. We have the benefit of looking ahead and knowing that Easter is coming. But we would do well to remember that Easter does not come without Good Friday and that Good Friday was hard. Palm Sunday was joyful, but the rest of that week was a series of disappointments for the disciples.
Whatever it is that may put you in the category of Kingdom outsider, I pray that today you will examine your heart and as we move to receive our commemoration of that suffering, commit to Jesus once again your very self. Ask forgiveness for where you have missed. Ask guidance and strength to live out your faith. And remember that no matter what you have done, Jesus gave everything he has and is to be your King and he wants you in the kingdom.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Habakkuk 1:2-5, 3:17-19 -- Let us pray: Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen Scripture is unflinching in its descriptions and tellings of people: People have questioned, yelled at God, misunderstood God and disobeyed God and all of those things are laid out…for us to know that they happen, that God is not afraid of our questions or fist-shaking – but instead stands ready to remind us that we are not forsaken. Some of these have abandoned God completely. God tells those stories, reminding us that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” really knows God’s love, but also showing time and time again that hearts whose intention is to turn to God are able to do so, because God stands ready and willing with forgiveness and welcome. I think of Peter Habakkuk’s prophetic book is a good one because there are several things happening in here that show us what a relationship with God looks like: First, Habakkuk is lamenting the lack of justice in Judah (where he lives). Judah’s leaders have wandered far from God and things are not right. He stands up and looks around and sees people being mistreated and abused and he hates it. He has a complaint. It is not about him, specifically, but it is about what is happening in the world around him. And we know about this complaint because Habakkuk takes it right to the very throne of God and says: Hey – What the heck God? How long are you going to let this keep happening? Why aren’t you listening? What exactly ARE you doing? Habakkuk lays out his complaint before God. And he does not hold back anymore than he would if he was making this complaint to his neighbor or his friends. Second, God answers him. It’s not an entirely satisfactory answer – but God doesn’t hesitate to give him some information about how the wicked will be brought to justice – again, by virtue of other wicked peoples (in this case the Babylonians). Judah will be overrun by the Babylonians, and this will end the current oppression. Remember that God always hears and God is big enough to handle any of our doubts, our fears, our challenges. God doesn’t berate Habakkuk for asking – instead God provides an answer that says the evil hasn’t gone unnoticed and that God is working. Third, Habakkuk doesn’t stop there. He continues his complaining. We didn’t read it this morning as part of our text, but he basically asks why God will let the Babylonians prosper – they are wicked, too! Habakkuk says he’s heard lots of great things about who God is and about what God has done, but he cannot figure out why God is not just fixing ALL the evil right now and right away in a way that will end it once and for all. It’s a difficult problem. It’s one that everyone who thinks very long about faith in God wrestles with and the reality is that understanding who God IS helps us understand what God DOES – when we know that God operates from a place of perfect love and gives us the opportunity to choose that love over evil, then we know that the evil that happens in the world is permitted only to the extent that God allows each person to make their own choices – and those who choose other than love and kindness or selfishness over selflessness – those choices will ALWAYS look like evil. But God has FINALLY abolished evil and death (which is usually the end result of all evil acts) in the person of Jesus and in the act of the resurrection. God has moved to act against evil. God has poured out the Spirit and made it possible for those who follow Jesus to do differently, to live differently, to love completely – but even as we live in the time where we can make peace and live graciously, we, too, struggle with what we see and what we hear and what we know about what is happening around us. And that’s where our final connection to Habakkuk can come in – he has heard God tell him to wait it out, that the new thing he is going to do is going to be amazing and miraculous, and that even the Babylonians will not finally be permanent – in fact, evil does not ever prevail forever. And Habakkuk, even in his questions, proclaims that he will never stop praising God – no matter what happens, because God has proven faithful. Listen again to Habakkuk’s words in chapter 3: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, thought there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength,” Habakkuk recognizes that God has not left them alone. That even if starvation seems imminent, even if it looks as though all is lost, God is trustworthy and faithful and he can be joyful, resting in God’s strength, even as his own is failing. By the way, please note that Habakkuk does not anticipate that God will fix his problem – rather, because God has answered him and promised ultimately that the evil around him will be addressed, Habakkuk knows that God is paying attention and sees what is happening. God is working, Habakkuk just can’t always see it and in the meantime, he can know that God’s hand will prevail. We, too, live in a place where we can’t always see God’s action in the ways and times we would like. Still – we can rest in God’s faithfulness. We know that God is at work and that God is paying attention. We know that death has been overcome. We know that Jesus is alive. We know that Jesus is the person whose life and death proclaim over and over that sin and evil and bad are not going to win. Jesus taught us that WE are part of the fight against them – when we live lives that reflect what Christ taught – when we love our neighbor, when we treat others kindly, when we give instead of take, when we do not seek revenge, when we pray, when we feed, when we clothe, when we ACT – we are agents of good who are far more effective than any DC or Marvel superhero ever concocted by a comic book writer. We have the power, in Christ, to actually impact the people around us for the good. That’s the new thing that God has done, part of what God promised Habakkuk, part of what Habakkuk and all of the Old Testament witnesses were waiting for: the promise of the living Christ working and moving in each of us to love the world and conquer evil where ever we find it in our world today. Did you know you were a superhero in cognito? Well, you are. Love your neighbor today and use your power.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page: What does it mean to say God loves? God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust. God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death. God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers. God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love. God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried. God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus. God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved. God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny. God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement. God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough. For God so loved the world… God loves you. God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it. God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved. God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love. So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved. God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Nahum 1
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Do any of you remember Carnac the Magnificent? I don’t remember him, per se, but I have heard of him. Johnny Carson would dress up in a crazy costume and make fun of psychics. Psychics make a living by predicting the future. Usually the really good ones will be able to stand in a room of 50 or 60 people and do what my husband has taught me is called “a cold read” meaning, they can get you to tell them enough about themselves to give you back that information in a way that makes it seem like they know it, when what they are really doing is guessing and you are telling them they guessed correctly. “Anyone here have an Aunt? I’m hearing from Aunt Jane, no Jessie, no Julie…” they might say and then someone will gasp because they have an Aunt Julie and the “psychic” will go and guess more things about Aunt Julie.
Today as we read about Nahum, I started getting that picture in my mind of a psychic telling you something that is based on intuition and a reading of the circumstances, but it makes you feel better if you want it to. Nahum isn’t guessing about what is going to happen to Ninevah and Assyria, he’s getting his oracles and the prophecies in them from God, BUT their intention is not so much a warning for the ones it is about (because they’ll never hear it) as much as a comfort to the ones that are hearing it: God doesn’t care for injustice, especially when it is coming from the hands of an entire nation.
And eventually, those nations will no longer be powerful and mighty, but instead will be destroyed by others. It is only a matter of time. In this case, God has sent prophets to Ninevah before – remember the story of Jonah? But that was 200 years ago, and now Ninevah (the capital of Assyria) has essentially dispersed the Northern Kingdom of Israel into oblivion. The remaining Southern Kingdom of Judah is quaking in fear over the possibility that the Assyrians will come for them, too. They will, of course, eventually be destroyed and captured and held in Babylon, but they will ultimately return (those are some of the stories we’ve talked about already in this series: remember Ezra and Nehemiah and Daniel) but God wants them to know that it is not ok for a nation to be oppressive and abusive and horrible to everyone around them – eventually a nation like that will come to a not so great end.
It might seem like a prophesy such as this has no bearing on us, but although we are not a great nation, it ties in quite a bit to our message last week: Act justly is one of the commands God has for us. And why? Because it is in God’s very character to demand justice. God’s justice requires righteousness. God’s justice insists that the poor and the widow and the orphan are to be cared for – no matter what. God’s justice asks us to wait on God for retribution – we don’t have to punish our enemies, in God’s time they will see the results of their actions. Instead, God’s justice says be kind to those who are against you, love those whom you would fear and stand firm, because GOD will fight for you.
God has promised to Judah that the good news of God’s justice is coming for them and they do not have to wait long to see it develop in Ninevah. God is already watching the world powers of the day align to make the prophetic true in their time and God is already protecting the people of Judah.
God’s justice also has something to say about how we treat others. About how we judge others. In Matthew, chapter 7, part of the sermon on the mount, Jesus tells us exactly how God feels about US meting out justice:
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
In other words: let God deliver judgement. God is pretty good at this justice thing – it’s part of who God is. And we know that God’s judgement always comes with this caveat: if you repent, if you believe, if you turn from what you were doing – mercy triumphs over judgement: God will forgive, God will offer grace.
It is because God loves the whole world that judgement is reserved for him. God’s ability to see into the hearts and minds, to see the whole of circumstance, to know all of the parts and pieces to every person’s actions: that is why God reserves justice for himself. God is the only one who can be just. God is the only one who knows the truth of every situation and circumstance.
So God gives us pretty clear instructions that our justice is not to be God’s justice – rather our justice comes when we are fair and reasonable and kind and thoughtful: not just to those we care most about, but to everyone we encounter. We should try to put ourselves in another’s shoes and think compassionately even about those we do not agree with. Acting justly for us is going to most often look like standing with those who are treated un-justly, rather than enacting any kind of specific justice for them.
So, maybe you have a friend who has been laid off from work, so your just act might be buying them groceries.
Maybe someone has been mistreated at school or work. You can stand with them against those who are bullying or mean.
Maybe someone is struggling with depression. You can walk with them to fight the darkness that threatens to overpower them.
Maybe someone is sick. You can walk with them to fight their illness or disease.
Sometimes there is real injustice in the world – false accusations, false imprisonments, mistreatment by governments and authorities – sometimes there is racism that needs to be confronted from a systemic perspective. Sometimes there are places where we can see cruelty and hardship that needs a strong voice to rise against.
Recently, in New Zealand, armed gunmen shot up a mosque and killed many people.
Christian justice demands that we not stay quiet about these things. In some places, churches have written letters or offered protection to their local Muslim neighbors. In some places, Christians have gathered around their Muslim neighbors to protect them while they pray.
God asks us to be just in a world that is often unjust. God asks us to discount injustices done to us in this world, because our Kingdom responsibilities offer us the opportunity to be just even when the other is not. God is a just God and he asks that we respond justly in every circumstance and every moment. Because God loves the
This is not an easy thing. This is not a thing done without great discipline. We don’t always get it right. We don’t always follow through, but if we have trusted Jesus with our lives, we can trust Jesus to build in us not only the desire for justice, but the ability to create it and live it and offer it where ever we can.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Micah 6:6-8
With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Jonah 3:3-3:10 -- Let us pray: Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen Some of you may remember the Paul Harvey radio broadcast piece called “The Rest of the Story”. If you don’t, Paul Harvey would tell stories about people and leave their identity unrevealed in its entirety until the end – telling the trivial information that made celebrities or historical figures seem much more human and less extraordinary. For example, the young man Al who was so terrible at household finance that his wife managed their budget with much chagrin and hand wringing, was the first treasury secretary of the United States, Alexander Hamilton. Or the vicar of Epworth whose son was saved from a burning house just in the nick of time was Sam Wesley – the father of John Wesley, who was saved from the fire. These rest of the stories give us a glimpse into the persons and in many ways for some of us, the story of Jonah is the kind of story that we need to know the rest of in order to make sense of it. Most of us have heard the story of the guy who was told to go to Ninevah and instead got on a boat. We know that the boat was hit by a big storm and we know that the sailors asked everyone what was happening or who was the cause of the storm, except Jonah, who was sound asleep! Eventually they woke him and he admitted that he was responsible for the storm because of his disobedience. He advised them to throw him overboard to stop the storm. They reluctantly did so, and the seas calmed, and all was well – except Jonah was swallowed by a big fish (you may have heard whale, but scripture never really says and we just tend to make generic terms specific over time) Jonah was inside the big fish for 3 days. He prayed a prayer of repentance and remorse and the fist vomited him out. Then Jonah does what he was told and goes to Ninevah. There, usually, ends the children’s version of the story of Jonah – because we focus on the disobedience and repentance. Those are the easy parts of the story to focus on, because they are obvious. And definitely, we should remember that, as one commentary I read this week said, “Everyone is either headed to Tarshish (the disobedient way) or Ninevah (the obedient way) because God has called everyone to follow and proclaim the gospel” But the rest of the story of Jonah is pretty interesting too, and one of the key things that we can take away from it is that God’s love is for everyone and God’s mercy is always available. The verses we read from chapter 3 make it apparent that God sent Jonah at just the right time, with just the right words to the people of Ninevah. Jonah turns out to be the most effective and efficient preacher ever. He walks one day into a city that takes three days to walk through and preaches the shortest message ever “Forty more days and Ninevah will be overturned” and everyone responds with repentance – from the king to the peasant. And God relented. Jonah should have been thrilled. God used him, God redeemed those around him, and God worked in the lives of an entire city. But Jonah was not excited. Jonah was not happy. Jonah was TICKED! Jonah had some reasons for not going to Ninevah in the first place. He came from a country that feared the Assyrians as a constant threat to them (Ninevah was the capital of Assyria) so having God wipe them out would have worked out just fine in Jonah’s opinion. So when he refused to go, he was trying to save his home. And when he went and the city repented, he was annoyed, because he expected God to exact retribution on them, not grant them mercy. To Jonah’s mind, allowing Ninevah the chance to repent was probably something like allowing Sadaam Hussein to repent or Osama Bin Laden to receive mercy. Ninevah was pretty good at being horrific to those they defeated – they would wear body parts of the leaders of countries they had overthrown and spike heads of conquered kings to their city gates. They were cruel and mean and God spared them because they repented in the face of Jonah’s prophesy. And Jonah was angry. God still looked on these cruel and harsh people and loved them. And Jonah could not understand that kind of love. Jonah could not understand why God would want to give them even the chance at repentance, let alone actually stay the execution. So Jonah storms off and pouts. And we learn once again that God has a great love for even the most heinous among us. Even the most hateful are given opportunity to gain mercy. Jonah’s book and Jonah’s proclamation about who God is are one and the same – we read it in Jonah 4:2: He prayed to the LORD, “Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. The entire book of Jonah is about a God who loves and is gracious and compassionate. This God cares deeply about those who are not even in covenant relationship with him, those who have so many marks leveled against them. The people of Ninevah have no expectations of mercy, they have certainly never given it. But God offers it and they accept it. And Jonah is angry because he doesn’t like that God is willing to love even these. But we are fortunate that God is a God of slow anger and long compassion. Because we too, even as Jonah did, have received the benefit of God’s grace. We too, have sinned and turned and been granted a reprieve from the devastation of a sinful heart. We have heard Jesus cry “repent” and have turned away from what we once were to become what God has called us to. We have received mercy we didn’t deserve in times when we have been reluctant to give it. We have scoffed at God’s mercy to others – and wished for a different outcome. And still, God calls us to love. God calls us to live in right relationship with God and with each other. God asks us to let go of the things that have held us back from loving one another and others around us. We can find ourselves in this story as Jonah – unwilling to recognize the depth of God’s mercy and its extension to those who seem most unworthy. Or we can find ourselves in this story as the Ninevahites – recognizing the very depths of our own mistakes and sins and longing for the better news, the good news, of redemption. Either way – here’s the rest of the story – God is slow to anger, gracious and compassionate, abounding in love. And in every instance, you can find that God waiting with open arms for you.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page: What does it mean to say God loves? God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust. God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death. God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers. God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love. God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried. God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus. God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved. God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny. God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement. God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough. For God so loved the world… God loves you. God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it. God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved. God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love. So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved. God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Obadiah -- Let us pray: Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen It felt like she had been pregnant forever. The constant movement of the babies in her womb felt like her own body was at war within her. God had even told her that they were two nations! But the pains finally had come and her water broke and now the midwife was on her way. The children were coming. Perhaps the war was nearly at an end… It was not. The boys, Esau and Jacob were born to Rebekah that day, but only with more fighting – Esau was born first, but Jacob was holding his brother’s heel. The brothers were very different – Esau was hairy and a hunter. He was an outdoorsman. Jacob was a homebody. Esau was Isaac’s favorite and Jacob was Rebekah’s. Esau gave up his birthright to Jacob for a pot of stew. Jacob tricked his father into giving him Esau’s blessing. Esau became Edom. Jacob became Israel. These nations (as they eventually grew to be) were not generally at war, they were neighboring countries, but neither was large enough to protect or attack the other – so they were mostly indifferent. The Edomites were well But when the Babylonians came and defeated the Israelites, and sacked Jerusalem – the Edomites gloated and boasted and rejoiced over their demise. We don’t know the exact date and time that Obadiah wrote this oracle, but it is essentially God’s denouncement of Edom’s actions, God’s pronouncement of judgement on the nation, and the promise from God (as always) of redemption and salvation for all nations. That is the whole story of Obadiah’s oracle – Esau’s descendants not only don’t help Jacob’s descendants – they essentially dance on the grave of Israel. Eventually running in and looting whatever bits and pieces the Babylonians had left behind and God holds them accountable for this and tells them that they will pay. Obadiah is not usually a book that preachers spend a bunch of time on. As we talk about minor prophets (which is a classification that is based on the length of the book, not what the prophets have to say) Obadiah would be the minorest. It’s a little tough to take an application from a book that is so specifically directed at a specific nation for a specific set of circumstances and that doesn’t really have a lot of other ideas in it. But there are two things that we can look at in Obadiah: God is not a fan of those who are prideful and actions have consequences. God’s love still extends to those who mess up – if you were to look back through the story of Jacob/Israel and Esau/Edom you would think that the wrong guy was the recipient of the blessing – he was a cheater and a trickster. And he did experience the consequences of his actions. But God’s plan always includes the idea of redemption: when we repent, we are offered a way out. We’ll talk about this more next week as we move on to Jonah, but one of the key takeaways for us from this Obadiah text is that even though our actions have consequences – and by the way, salvation doesn’t necessarily remove them – God is always waiting for us to return to him and move away from what we used to be to what God has called us to be. This week, we will begin a season of fasting and reflection called Lent. It covers the 45 days prior to Easter and throughout, it is an opportunity for us to explore the places where we need to repent. Many people fast during lent – finding ways to realign their hearts and spirits with the work that God is doing in their lives. Remember that God has called us away from a life of rebellion to a life of renewal and transformation: Be transformed by the renewing of your minds, Paul writes in Romans. We need this season every year to help us identify new places God is at work in ourselves. The kick off for this season of reflection is Ash Wednesday. We will celebrate it this year, as I announced earlier. I encourage you to come. As we prepare our hearts for Lent, we have a devotional on the back table that each family is encouraged to take and use for this period. I would also ask everyone to get a post-it note and a pen from the back. In one of our songs today, Come Thou Fount, there is a line that says “Here I raise my Ebenezer” it is a symbol that Samuel used to remind the people of the work of God in their lives. In our lives sometimes we need symbolism to remind us of the work of God in our lives, too – and today we will do that by writing on our post-it note the one area we need to pray about and ask God to be at work in our lives – this could be a sin that you need to repent of, a life issue that is a burden, or anything at all. I’m going to ask everyone to pray about it for a moment and then write it down. Once you have it written, we have this red jar here on the altar. Please come forward and put your note in it. Once everyone has put their notes in (don’t worry we won’t be reading them!) I am going to take them outside and burn them. The ashes will be used with some olive oil and spices on Ash Wednesday here for further symbolism – to remind us of our need for repentance and redemption and our hope that has created in us the beauty of lifelong transformation as Christ works in us and through us. As we work through this, we will also speak together our weekly confirmation of God’s love for us…
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page: What does it mean to say God loves? God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust. God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death. God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers. God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love. God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried. God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus. God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved. God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny. God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement. God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough. For God so loved the world… God loves you. God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it. God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved. God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love. So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved. God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Amos 5:7-15, 21-24
There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.
8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the Lord is his name. 9 With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin.
10 There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. 11 You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. 12 For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. 13 Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. 14 Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. 15 Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. 21 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
A nation established, firmly and completely, by God. A nation with actual divine rights whose words and wisdoms were gifts from God specifically for them…a nation that watched dishonest people gain, that watched the oppressed become more oppressed. A nation that waited in their self-righteous white washed castles and denounced the devastation while doing nothing about it – a nation that knew God was going to come and punish the bad ones and give the good ones blessing and they couldn’t WAIT because they were sure it would be them blessed and everyone they didn’t like, didn’t accept – they would see.
God has nothing but harsh words for this attitude. These are people who refused to see that God did not love them exclusively and did not love them to the point of desiring evil to their neighbors or others. Instead, these are people who are in for a rude awakening as to just how much they have missed the point about who God is and what God expects. Amos writes it out pretty clearly – God is not interested in your religious festivals and whatnot. GOD is interested in your sincere efforts to bring justice now, to promote righteousness now, to hate evil, love good, and maintain justice.
Let justice roll on like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream – these are the beautiful sounds in God’s kingdom.
God has asked us to stop being self-righteous, sure of our positions and our rightness. God tells the Israelites here and all of us today – are you sure you are in a Godly nation? Are you SURE? Because what I see is the continued evil of those who hate justice. Because what I see is the oppression of the poor who can’t eat because you tax them. You say you are righteous but you take every opportunity to get yours from those who have less.
God does not approve of this behavior.
God does not like it when babies are separated from their mamas at the border.
God does not like it when families are ripped apart because we’re afraid.
God does not like it when people are treated poorly because of the color of their skin, the country they come from, or the language they speak. God expects and demands that our love for God become love for those around us who look different, who didn’t come here the way we insist they come here, who don’t have the privilege we do.
You might say “Pastor, I don’t have any privilege. I’m poor myself” and you are right you don’t have the same privilege as someone who is wealthy, but you do have privilege – even if you can’t see it. If you were born with a different color skin, sometimes you get mistaken for a thief even if you aren’t one, just because you walk into a store. If you don’t worry about being arrested or accused of some crime every time you leave your house – you do have privilege – the privilege of not having to worry about something you can’t control changing how other people react to you. I understand this isn’t always a popular opinion, and I get that we may not agree, but the reality is that when one group of people is treated differently for the color of their skin or their language or where they come from or even their religion, it doesn’t matter what we think about it – it matters how we behave. It matters how we speak and act on someone else’s behalf simply because we see them being mistreated or treated differently.
The bottom line is this: if we don’t stand up for those who are being oppressed, we are no different than these children of Israel all those years ago, who let justice slide because they were convinced that they had the right of it with God’s blessing.
Because at the end of the day, God had called the children of Israel to live differently so they could show others God’s love. And they missed the mark over and over. In this case, they were so certain they were righteous, they were actually making it seem that God’s love was not a positive to be sought after, but a detriment to kindness and grace.
And when Jesus came and showed us all how to live lives of kindness and grace and generosity and mercy, we still divided the world into categories of us vs. them and spent a lot of time congratulating ourselves on being the usses who were on the good side and not the thems who were on the bad side. And meanwhile Jesus keeps saying “hey, love them. Love them. Love everyone.” Because God loves. Because Jesus loves.
Listen to Jesus again, as we read in Luke today, as he tells us how to love:
Luke 6:27-38 New International Version (NIV) “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
I heard an old Brad Paisley song yesterday called bigger fish to fry. In it he talks about us vs. them, too (there is other bad theology in the lyrics, but today I read them just to point out this ONE theological error):
I said a bad word when I was a kid Mama said that I'd be sorry for the sin that I did My daddy whooped me and the preacher said shame And I tried like hell to change
I cuss, I smoke I laugh at dirty jokes Minor vices man I know 'em well I've closed down bars And I've lusted in my heart My exes think I oughta burn in hell But the devil, he won't notice when I die Don't you figure He's got bigger fish to fry Oh yeah
Politicians taking corporate bribes Crooked CEOs are getting off with no time Christmas eve burglars stealin' good children's toys (Can't say Christmas) Holiday burglars stealin' good children's toys
I cuss, I smoke I laugh at dirty jokes The minor vices, man I know I'm well I've closed down bars I've lusted in my heart My exes…
I’m not as bad as the REALLY bad people, so obviously they are the ones who need to be worried.
But the reality is that God has said we are all sinners. We all need the grace and mercy of Jesus. We all need the redemption and freedom offered. And we all need to stop thinking the other guy is worse and recognize that our own mistakes and errors and sins are compounded by the fact that we know better and ought to be more easily convinced to love first, because we have been loved. It is our repeated mantra – God loved us enough, so we can love others. It is the simplest way to frame the gospel and it is GOOD news – we don’t have to wallow in an us vs them mindset and keep trying to build bigger walls to keep everyone else out. Instead we can welcome everyone to the table, loving them no matter what they’ve done or how much we’re different, because the very same God who loved us enough loves THEM enough too.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Joel 2:12-2:32
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
These next 11 weeks, we will be walking through the last of the Old Testament on our way to the arrival of Jesus. As we do, we are exploring what are called the “minor prophets”. These are minor, not because what they have to say is not as important, or because they are somehow less than other prophets, but because they do not have as many prophecies to share. Their books give us insight still into who God is, and how much he loves.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Hosea 1:2-2:1
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
She only knew how to do one thing to earn money. It is the world’s oldest profession. The one that involves the desire for another that can parade as love, but is really lust. She knew nothing else and was able to tell herself that it was empowering.
He came and took her from that. He loved her, despite what she had once done.
She went back to it.
He came and got her.
She went back to it.
He came and got her.
And in the end, she realized that his love was not about what she did, but about who she was to him.
And she stopped running.
It sounds like a nice Hollywood story. But it is more aligned with this story of prophetic action, moments in Scripture when God asks a prophet to speak truth to power in the midst of doing something unexpected.
Hosea is asked to marry a woman who is, in the words of the Bible, ‘promiscuous’.
It is meant to be a picture of who we are before we accept the love God has for us and turn our backs on the sin that chains us to our own desires.
We live for ourselves.
And then God says, “I love you. You are my beloved. Come away from those chains. Leave that hurt. Surrender that pain. Give it to me.”
We think we leave it.
And then we go back to it, because we cannot believe that the God who made us can love us enough to actually forgive our past. We cling to our shame and our guilt as though they were badges of honor, ready to clip our arms back in the shackles that hold us captive to distress and despair.
We live for ourselves, staying in the mud that God would have us leave.
And then God says, “I love you. You are my beloved.”
This is what the Israelites did over and over
This is what every person in the world does, over and over.
Many times we convince ourselves that we are better off in the mud, that what we do when we live for ourselves makes us free. Keeps us uninhibited. Turns us loose from some wrath being who would strike us dead with the slightest misstep.
And God says “I AM. I love. I love you. You are my beloved. I came for you. I run after you. I will not stop.”
And we think we don’t we deserve the kind of abundant life God wants to offer. We think that following Jesus ties us to rules and don’ts that hold us captive. We think we are missing something others have when we surrender to God.
And then God says “You don’t deserve it, but I offer it anyway. It’s called grace. It’s called love. It is what I have for you – boundless love. You are my beloved.”
And when the day comes, when we finally relinquish our chains and follow Jesus, we find that the freedom we thought we had was simply slavery to desires we had no control over. And the wrath-filled being who would end us doesn’t exist, is in fact an imaginary being made from the expectations of who God is, but it is NOT in fact, who God is. We find freedom in the ability to forgive our enemies, to love our neighbors, to pray for those who persecute us. To be kind and gentle and peaceable and patient. There is freedom in knowing that nothing is bigger than the God who loves.
Over and over God says “I am love. I love you. You are my beloved” And when we finally believe it, when we finally embrace it, we find that the truth of what that love looks like, not only from God’s side but from our experiences and opportunities to give it away is even bigger and more magnificent that we could have expected.
We can read Hosea and the stories of the children of Israel and all the wanderings and unfaithfulness and shake our heads and cluck our tongues, but the truth is we are all just as prone to wander, just as likely to be unfaithful – it is only in our obedience, in our following that we can see our own foolish similarity to those who wandered so far. When we do, when we recognize our own limitations, when we let go of our need to be in control and our need to do our own thing, to rule ourselves then we stop running. We stop going back to the faithlessness. Instead, we cling to the One who gave himself for us, and finally we can hear God speak, can hear God say “welcome home, you are my beloved”
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Daniel 3:17-18
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Babylon.
It is not what they wanted. It was not where they thought they were going to be. But they knew God had promised to be faithful.
Daniel 1
Refusing to eat the food.
Daniel 3
Believing God hates idols.
Daniel 6
Praying anyway.
How does this apply to us:
We might feel like we live in a place that is against us. Looking at things like laws that increase abortion or that hurts children by keeping them from their parents or any number of things that are anti-God, anti-compassion, anti-Christian. They don’t have to be laws, sometimes it is just the attitudes of people around us, or the sense that there is a lot of animosity generally toward us as believers in the One who rescues. After all, this world is NOT our final destination. We do live here now, and we do have the opportunity to help see it become more like the Kingdom we belong to, because following Jesus makes the Kingdom come to life where ever we are.
But we can look at Daniel and his friends and notice some things about how they respond in the face of adversity:
-
They are respectful. They don’t storm off or stomp their feet. They listen to what the Babylonians want and they simply say no. They say no to eating defiled foods, they say no to bowing to an idol, they say no to ending prayer and ultimately, they are respected for it.
-
They are not offended – they are simply true to what they believe. They don’t denounce the other, they don’t create an us vs. them scenario, they don’t condemn anyone else – they simply stand firm for what they believe and do otherwise. They don’t call for an end to all food offered to idols for everyone, they don’t embarrass any other Israelites in exile who did bow to the Nebuchadnezzar statue, they don’t call out the ones who told them couldn’t pray – they just stick to what they believe and firmly refuse to do anything else. I was reminded just last night how important this is. Sometimes when we get outraged, it looks like we hate those who are against us. That may not be what we intend, but if we look closely at what these exiles living in a strange land did, we can remember the less angry way to stand firm and know that our outrage, our anger, our insistence that everyone believes the way we do only hurts our witness.
We don’t have to prove we’re right to be right.
- They trust God for the outcome. They know that things could go wrong in each of these instances: but they trust that God has got their backs and will be faithful no matter what they face
We can learn a lot from how they handle themselves. We can stop being disrespectful to those who oppose us. We can stop being offended or outraged about other people’s behavior – just stay in your lane and do what you are accountable for: Stand firm, but don’t whup and holler about, just do it.
And we can trust God for the outcome. Sometimes we might have to say with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
It’s not likely we will face a literal furnace. But we might have to walk through job loss, financial devastation, family derision, all kinds of things. And even if God doesn’t rescue us from those things specifically, we can absolutely trust that EVEN IF he does not, you can trust him to be faithful, to be who God is, and to walk through it with you, no matter what your battle looks like.
In Babylon, our best witness is us being true to God and letting God be faithful, no matter the opposition. We may live here, but we don’t have to serve the god of this place; we 100% know better.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Ezekiel 37:1-14
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Rhetorical questions. Geico does a pretty good job of using them in their commercials. Here is a small sample
Geico has made the rhetorical question a significant part of it’s advertising campaign because they have a tendency to make us think and get to a place where we can understand much better.
Today in our scripture, God asks Ezekiel a rhetorical question.
Ezekiel is a prophet whose visions and tasks have sometimes been a little, well, odd. He has eaten an actual scroll, laid on one side of his body for 300 days and the other side for 20 days, he has built a town in the middle of the group of people he is traveling with, and he has cut his hair in a weird way. He does all of these things to bring to life the information God has for his people - they may be in exile but God has not forgotten them and he will redeem them.
God takes Ezekiel to a valley in a vision. He gets there and the valley is covered in bones, old, long dead, dry bones. I think the dry bones is mentioned multiple times for two reasons – to make sure we know that these bones aren’t just a little dead, they are all the way there, and maybe just a little so we can hear the rattle…
This isn’t exactly the same, but it certainly comes close. The rattling as Ezekiel walked back and forth while dry bones clicked and moved and were definitely not alive.
Can these bones live? God asks.
Think about that for a moment. The answer should 100% be no, because dead things do not come back to life – especially old bones that have been dead for a long time.
But it’s GOD asking.
So, maybe?
Ezekiel knows God well enough to know that the best answer is really no answer at all – he puts it right back in God’s court – Only you know, God.
And God says – you’re right. In fact – I am going to use you to bring them back to life – Tell them they can live.
I’m going to pause here and say what now?
These bones that Ezekiel is walking through, they are dead. Dead like these shells – there’s no life in them, there’s no way that Ezekiel can just speak to them and they will come to life – but that’s exactly what is happening.
At Ezekiel’s command, at God’s direction, the bones begin to grow tendons and blood vessels and muscles and then, finally skin. They become, no longer dry bones, but instead people. Of a sort.
Just as in Genesis 2:7, God sends breath and then the people are actually alive again.
This is a prophecy and message for Ezekiel to give the people of Israel who are now in exile: even as you cry out that your hope is gone, God has promised to put his Spirit in you and you will live.
This past week, in preparing this message, it seemed so relevant to where we are as a church family and to the community we serve. So many times people have said “we have no hope” or our town is hopeless.
But oh, they are wrong.
God says to us “Can these bones live?” and it’s a rhetorical question for us because we know that God has ALREADY made our bones live. We know that the crushing weight of hopelessness we felt before we began following Jesus is no longer the truth of who we are – instead we DO have hope. A hope for a living fruitful, abundant lives as followers of Jesus, a hope for our futures, a hope for LIFE.
Can these bones live? is answered over and over in the life of a Christian with a loud Yes and then it should be, it must be followed up with shouts to those around us – Come, Live! You do not have to be hopeless – the God who made you, loves you, and wants you to LIVE. He will pick you up and then he will fill you with his spirit and then you WILL LIVE. Can these bones live?
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes – in Momence we are the ones crying out “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord” We are the ones speaking the truth God wants known and believed and carried throughout the world – you can know Jesus, you can follow him, you can be filled with the spirit of the living God and when that happens – when that becomes true for you – everything else changes! You are no longer hopeless, you are full of hope. You are no longer living as though you were dried up, dead bones, rattling only when someone else moved you – instead you become alive in a way you never thought possible – you become alive enough to know peace and joy and love in ways you never thought possible. You have hope. You can live.
Can these bones live? Is the rhetorical question of a loving, living God who longs to see everyone live in relationship with him. It is because of the yes to this question that each of us can say together the statements that follow this message – God loved us enough to ask “Can these bones live?” and we know the answer is yes.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Lamentations 3:17-25
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
It was about 6:30am on April 18, 2013. The phone rang and the voicemail picked up and the message said “Lisle Schools are closed because of flooding”. Immediately aware that something very new was happening, I raced to the front porch and there, confirming all I was most terrified of, was 3 feet of water in the front yard.
We lived in a flood plain, it wasn’t unprecedented for us to flood, but it had never before looked like this: water continued to rise. Tom was recovering from a surgery that left him unable to walk and I knew it was going to get really bad for us pretty quickly.
I had my daughter move our van up as close to the garage as possible: that was the highest ground and least likely, from past experience, to flood. I called the fire department next. They arrived not too long after and had as little preparation as any of us for what was going to transpire that day.
There was no evacuation plan, they said. I told them that this was definitely the worst I had ever seen it and we were all leaving. But of course, that my husband would need some other method of leaving than walking. I gathered bits and pieces of things from around the house, threw them in a suitcase and a laundry basket and along with my dog, my daughter, and a firefighter, I left my house for the last time as a resident.
The water was now waist deep and it was extremely cold. We walked about ½ a block to dry ground, and neighbors whose home had not flooded at all took us in to dry off and warm up. But I was anxious about Tom, and so I did not stay in the house. I also had managed to leave my cell phone in my pants pocket when I left the house, so my phone was dead. As I watched my block of neighbors and friends become homeless, and as I realized that we had most certainly lost our home permanently, a strange peace fell over me.
I was comforting my neighbor Fran, who was waiting for her disabled son to be rescued as well. Our other neighbor had been pumping water out of their basement so well that the water pressure collapsed a wall in their basement. Once that happened the firefighters became concerned about a gas leak, and now they too were frantic to get us out.
And these words came to me:
His mercies are new every morning.
Great is thy faithfulness.
And I knew in that moment, that no matter what happened that day, God was still God and God was still faithful.
There were certainly, in the days and weeks to come, lots of moments when I lost sight of God’s faithfulness, especially as I dealt with insurance companies and FEMA and claims adjusters.
But I watched my church and pastor be Jesus to me and my family by providing some of our immediate needs, including housing for a week.
I watched as my daughter’s softball coach got her cleats and a bat and the things she would need to participate in the coming softball tournament.
I watched as God showed up, over and over. Not just with the things we needed, not just in that space of several weeks of homelessness, but in every single day since.
And I realized – God is always faithful. It doesn’t matter what my circumstances look like, it doesn’t matter what I’m going through – God. Is. Always. Faithful.
Eventually, as all of you know, Tom was rescued from our house in a little paddleboat. And we did lose everything, pretty much, in that house. But some of that loss made it possible for us to be here. I’m not saying that we had to lose everything to gain anything, but I am saying that even through that – the God who works all things for good to those who are called according to his purpose – that God, worked the evil of a flood to the good of those who are hearing this message today.
Jeremiah, the probable author of Lamentations had a lot of reasons to doubt and mistrust God. Listen to the way he describes himself in this chapter:
I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Jeremiah is despondent. He is living out what God told him would happen at his call – he is despised by the people he has been called to preach to. He has been mocked and tortured and at some point (as you will recall I mentioned last week) he has been thrown in a pit and left to die…
BUT he doesn’t stay in his pity party – oh yes, he is having one and well he might, things are not easy and sunshiny and joyful where Jeremiah lives. His city is under siege, people are starving and dying all around him. His words are thrown back in his face and everyone pretty much despises him – but his next words are beautiful reminders of WHO God is:
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
He has hope. He has nothing else. But he has hope.
Why?
Because he knows that God loves him.
He knows it. The same way he knows that the sun rises in the east, Jeremiah tells us that he knows that every single morning his God will pour out new mercy because God’s love never fails.
Great is thy faithfulness.
It is a beautiful expression of what God will do and what God can do and who God is.
Jeremiah knows it isn’t happening immediately, he knows it isn’t necessarily going to happen as soon as he would like, but he says to himself – God is enough. I will wait on God and God is good to those who hope in him.
You see, Jeremiah knew that if he waited on God, God would take the evil and use it in a positive way. That doesn’t mean everything will turn to sunshine and roses for Jeremiah – it does mean that Jeremiah’s work is not in vain…even though Jeremiah himself may not see the results of his efforts in preaching and writing down his prophetic words and even sitting in the lovely muck of a cistern – Jeremiah can trust that God’s work will be accomplished and God’s love will be visible to him and to others because that is who God is.
Every time.
I know one thing – Jeremiah’s words in lamentations have meant much to many people because of a hymn written by Thomas Chisholm. It is one we sang this morning – and I would ask us to remember the chorus together now:
Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided, great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me.
Thomas didn’t write the hymn because his life was in turmoil either – he had had some health issues, but truthfully, nothing was terrible – he would later tell people that the hymn was not written with any kind of dramatic story, it was just written and then he sent it to a friend who wrote the music for it.
But that’s the even better part – we don’t have to have flood stories to know that God is faithful. We can have every day my tire is flat, my kids are not behaving, my boss is a jerk, my washing machine went out, my spouse is great, the weather is beautiful, today is payday – whatever kind of days and still KNOW that God is faithful and that tomorrow, God’s mercy and love will pour out on us anew.
We serve and love a faithful God who loves us and who is working all things for our good – no matter what those things look like. It is a wonderful thing to be loved by God and I for one am ever grateful that God works faithfully whether our lives are good or bad or boring or exciting – God is faithful. Always. Forever.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Jeremiah 1:4-10
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Jeremiah
Called
Loves the people
None listen
None follow
Still proclaims
Still obeys
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
Good morning. It is my privilege to be with you this morning on the fourth Sunday of Advent. I’m excited to preach because it is what I love to do – what God has called me to – and especially so during my favorite season – Christmastime. I love decorating the tree, I love giving gifts, I love everything about the season, but I especially get a huge kick out of Christmas music. I get excited in September and October when Christian artists begin dropping their Christmas albums – but I have to be sneaky to listen to it then, because there are other people in my home who believe that Christmas music belongs at Christmas – not in the fall. However, today, we have the historical precedent for Christmas music – and it happens 9 months before the big day! Please stand with me as I read Mary’s Song from Luke 1:46-55:
And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
Let us pray
Shepherd of Israel, you gently support the one who is with child and call forth the Lamb who dances in the womb, Stir our hearts to recognize Christ's coming, as Elizabeth recognized his presence in Mary's radiant obedience to your desire, and open our souls to receive the one who came to love your flock. Amen.
You may be seated.
How many times, do you think, have you heard the Christmas story or parts of it in your lifetime? I actually thought this through a bit and I would hazard a soft estimate of 3-4 times per Christmas season lived if you are a church going person, and at least once if you are not. For me, that means by the time I turned 18 and pretty much skipped the church scene as best as possible for the next 20 years, I had already heard the Christmas story 72 times. Add the 20 for the years I didn’t attend and you have 92. Now go back to the 3-4 for the last 6 Christmases and that puts me right at 100. 100 times of hearing the story of the incarnation. 100 times in my lifetime of being privy to the most wondrous mystery – God becoming man and intimately researching and ultimately knowing well the depths of the human experience.
That’s a lot of re-runs.
If you came to church this morning expecting to hear something new about Christmas, some crazy new idea about what happened back in Bethlehem, I have bad news – this is just another re-run. Don’t get me wrong – the Christmas story is always a compelling re-run, and it’s one worth paying attention to, but it is not a new story. I do believe it is certainly one that is worth re-telling.
This part of the story, Mary’s trip to Elizabeth’s house and her exclamation of praise may get less attention year after year, but it is definitely worth a look. Mary, who would ultimately birth a baby far from home, who would entertain shepherds in the hours after her labor, who would hear stories of a ‘heavenly host’ of angels singing praise, who would hear prophesy and praise and ponder the moments, this Mary was so taken aback by what God was doing before all the really amazing things started happening that she worshiped God using words and phrases and ideas she had heard all her life.
Think of Mary further back, in the moment of the announcement. Think of her as a peasant girl, poor, a Jewish girl living under Roman occupation. Perhaps mostly a normal life, but one lived with a sense of both the desperation of current circumstances and the hope of a promise yet fulfilled. Jews today still live in that sense of anticipated hope – waiting for the promised Messiah. Jewish girls then and now wondered if their child would be the One.
So, despite the awful weight of the angel’s message – an unwed mother was not a proud circumstance! There was also a sense of awesome responsibility. Mary on hearing the news of her unexpected pregnancy, goes to visit a relative who has also had unexpected news of pending motherhood. Think about this for one moment – God chose two pretty unremarkable people to advance his plan of redemption. Mary and Elizabeth were both poor. Mary was from Nazareth (remember Nathanael’s snide remark in John 1:46 – Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?) and Elizabeth lived in a remote enough place that it isn’t even named. They were both women, and Mary was worse – an unmarried woman. Elizabeth was old and barren. Mary was young and a virgin. They had little to offer their society as a whole and were the unlikeliest of choices for any kind of work of God.
And yet. Here they were. Obedient. Willing servants waiting on God.
Elizabeth’s recognition of Mary is prompted by the Holy Spirit. She shouts a greeting to Mary that echoes the angel’s earlier pronouncement: Mary you are so blessed! You have trusted God and he will accomplish much through you.
And Mary breathes out and speaks of the wonder and majesty of a God whose holiness and power and justice and goodness and faithfulness are known and expected. Hear her words again:
"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
It is a Christmas hymn before there were Christmas hymns.
Mary tells us why she said yes when the angel told her the impossible was going to happen: she already knew and loved and trusted the God he represented.
Mary’s song isn’t about Jesus in the sense that it could not have occurred to her that it was about the babe she would carry – he has not yet been born and she cannot possibly understand all that he will be. Mary’s song is about God. The God she already knows and has heard about and trusts.
That’s what the song is about, what the song brings to us - a New Testament psalm of praise, carrying forward the themes and ideas of God into this period that is the advent of Christ. For 400 years in the life of the Jewish people, God has held off new revelation. He has still been their God. He has still been present. He has just been silent.
And so it is as he prepares to finalize his revelation, as he prepares to offer the salvation he promised from the fall on – the words of praise his people offer – Mary, then Zechariah after John’s birth, and finally Simeon as he blesses the newborn Jesus – all echo the praises of the past. The story of God’s salvation in times past for Israel is the story of his hand in the present: knowing who God is and how he has moved prepares us for who he will be and how he will move.
God uses the praises of his people to shine a spotlight on who he is and what he has done and to prompt us to trust him.
Mary’s song is a revelation. It is a revelation of Mary’s understanding. It is a revelation of Mary’s expectation. And it is a revelation of Mary’s delight and wonder at being the one chosen to birth the promise that will save the world.
I think that the wonder Mary felt and that she conveyed here in these words, was part of what brought the whole story to us. I imagine Mary whispering these words under her breath as she and Joseph make their way first to Bethlehem and then to Egypt. I imagine her singing these words to her other children as a lullaby when they were little. I imagine her telling her children and grandchildren all about how Jesus was born all through her lifetime. I imagine Luke sitting with Mary and asking her to tell the familiar tale; perhaps he had previously overheard her telling children or others the story. I imagine Mary taking in a breath and with her eyes full of all that had happened telling once again of the angel’s visit, of her trip to Elizabeth, and then these words of praise, echoing a hundred psalms and prophesies.
Of course her story continued from there – John’s birth, her trip to Bethlehem, the stable, the shepherds – all of it. But it starts with a song. It starts with remembering God’s faithfulness and so knowing that since he has kept those promises, he will keep this one.
What better way to kick off Christmas week than with that same remembrance? Our modern lives can be so hurried and full of busy. It is easy to miss or at least skim over the incredible depth of all that Christmas commemorates. Of course we enjoy the parts and pieces – the decorations, the gifts, the programs, the celebrations, the family time, and of course, the music. But for today at least, let’s take a moment and think about what it is Mary was so full of joy and wonder about and how her song is beautiful picture of who God is. Mary’s song starts with a general praise to God from her deepest self, moves to wonder at his remembrance of her, recounts his holiness and mercy, generally, and then gives details of his work in the world, finally delighting in the fulfillment of his promises to Israel.
Mary’s song forms a template for worship that we would do well to remember not only at Christmas, but throughout the year.
First, we begin with general praise that emanates from the depths of us to the heights of God. He is our redeemer, our savior. It starts with God wrapped in flesh in Mary’s arms and continues as Jesus transforms lives over and over today. It is his remembrance of us – as low and unremarkable as we are – that precipitates his willingness to not only be born but to offer us a second birth. It is God’s love for us that spans time immemorial and travels from a garden, to a desert, to a manger, to a cross, to an empty grave, to the willing heart today. This praise transcends the reality of our circumstances to the understanding of God’s very real willingness to offer us rescue from the sin that keeps us bound.
Second, we understand that he is holy and he is merciful. His holiness is thorough enough to be expressed in the mere mention of his name. This is an expression of praise, too, an affirmation from Mary that she understands that God is God. Yet he remains merciful to those who recognize this – his grace moves from age to age, expressed in his kindness to those who worship him. John says that Jesus is another grace given: John 1:16-17 says Out of his fullness we have all received one grace after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” In other words, the babe that Mary will birth is yet another demonstration of God’s ageless mercy.
Next, we know of all that God has done in the world. In some respects, we have a better picture than Mary ever could – we not only have a longer historical record of God’s work, but we have seen and known his work in our own present lives. Just today, I was reading a friend’s testimony of God’s hand in her life, and surely each of us could tell of his work in ours. Mary recounts God’s work of deliverance in the history of mankind – his mighty deeds. Not only does God work in the lives of the faithful, but he knows those who would work against him. He challenges the status quo and upsets the power structures of the world by giving the humble a victory the self-sufficient can’t understand. If you have ever been able to sing in the face of daunting circumstances – because you know your redeemer lives – then you understand what I mean. It is not that you do not deal with those things in reality, but it is that you are confident in the one who walks alongside you as you deal with them. Do not misunderstand – many times the things you encounter, endure, and walk through in life are downright awful. Mary herself was about to face some of these things – Joseph wasn’t sure what to do with her news until an angel changed his mind. I’m sure she didn’t anticipate that God’s provision for the Messiah would include a stable, a flight to Egypt, or a trip to the cross. The song of promise must have seemed a long way off in many of those circumstances. But Mary knew that God was working.
Fourth, we know of God’s promises. Mary knew of those to Israel, but we have the promises of Jesus: he will never leave us or forsake us, he has sent the Holy Spirit, he has overcome the world, the grave, and death – and he lives! I mean, friends, what better promise than this – that the one who has overcome the world lives in us and works through us! Our hope is bigger and better than Mary’s because her hope was a little smaller and less glorious than what God actually had in mind. Mary hoped for deliverance from the Roman empire – God was planning deliverance from the very clutches of sin! Mary hoped for freedom to worship at the temple – God was planning to accept worship in spirit and in truth. Mary hoped for longevity of the kingdom of Israel – God was planning a forever Kingdom of his own that Mary had no context for understanding.
Sometimes our expectation of God’s work in a particular situation limits our trust in him. We know how God will best work things out. Mary’s trust was bigger than that. How do we know? Because she was in the stable, on the trip to Egypt, and at the foot of the cross. She may not have understood – but she trusted. We too can learn that lesson. We may not understand what God is doing, but we can certainly trust him anyway.
The song of praise that Mary sings may have been the first Christmas carol. But it was certainly not the last. One researcher estimates there are nearly a million Christmas songs. The most commonly recorded, according to the research is “Silent Night.” But really, any song that extols the merits of our God and King is a Christmas song. Worship songs are Christmas songs – because we worship the one who made Christmas possible. We worship God because that Christmas gave us Jesus. And Jesus is our hope. Jesus is our redeemer. Jesus saves.
Mary may not have understood the method, but she understood the purpose. She knew salvation was at hand. She anticipated and celebrated it. We have an obligation to do the same. Every year, whether you start in October or with the first Sunday of advent – anticipate what God did, recognize the wonder of it, the miracle of it, the grace of it, and then celebrate the fulfillment of it. God promised and then he did it. Because of his filled promises, we can trust him with what’s next.
I would ask each of you to think about the ways in which you perhaps do not always trust him. Perhaps you are sure you know exactly how something is going to turn out. Perhaps you have an understanding about what will happen next. Take a moment and offer that circumstance, that challenge, that area to him. Praise him for who he is, remember his holiness and grace, remember his past work, and trust him to be true to his promises. In that act of trust, may you find renewed peace in the midst of trouble, and greater joy in the moment of trial, as you lean in to the faithfulness of a God whose word never fails.
That is the hope Christmas gives us and the truth that Mary’s song reminds us.
- Let us pray
- O God of Elizabeth and Mary, you visited your servants with news of the world's redemption in the coming of the Savior. Make our hearts leap with joy, and fill our mouths with songs of praise, that we may announce glad tidings of peace, and welcome the Christ in our midst. Amen.
Third Sunday of Advent DECEMBER 16, 2018
The Generosity of HOPE
Sunday Scripture Reading: Luke 3:7–18
Introduction
People sometimes introduce themselves to me as a third- or fourth-generation Nazarene. This happens because there is pride in such a heritage of faith. That pride transcends denomination, though, because I have heard the same said about deep Catholic roots, or the heritage of being Dutch Reformed, or Methodist. The faith we inherit from our families runs deep. There is beauty in it, but it is not this heritage that saves us. It seems that the Jews during the days of John the Baptist did the same. They were proud of their Jewish heritage, but they also treated it as salvific. They boasted about being “children of Abraham” and assumed that being part of this family tree gave them a pathway straight to the heart of God. John makes clear, in not so subtle terms, that their assumption is inaccurate. Heritage and family trees do not qualify the Jews (or anyone, for that matter) for automatic entrance into the kingdom of God. The children of Israel must live lives of repentance and not rely on their ancestry to save them if they mess up. Being “children of Abraham” isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card because, even though God promised Abraham that his descendants would be numerous, God can make descendants for Abraham out of stones if God needs to. Heritage is not our salvation either, and something new is about to happen. Just like a fruit tree that doesn’t bear fruit will be cut down, our family trees are also meaningless without fruit. Faith is not merely an identity; it is a way of living, and this way of living must bear fruit. They then ask a question of John the Baptist that we might ask as well: “What should we do then?” If the things we have depended on for so long are not what will bring us into the kingdom of God, what will? The answer is a simple one: John tells them to share. It is a lesson that is taught to three- and fouryear-olds in preschools and Sunday school classes all over the world. Don’t be selfish; don’t take advantage of people; share. These are not complicated issues, but it seems that this easy lesson in generosity is not as easy to live as it is to say.
Body 1. Economic inequality existed at the time.
a. Wealthy Romans lived comfortably, whereas those who weren’t wealthy, or weren’t citizens of the Roman Empire, struggled.
There are stories of people abandoning their infants on the sides of city roads in the hope that someone would take them in to serve as a slave (later on there are stories of the early church rescuing these children); these types of choices show that, while some lived in seeming luxury, others lived in difficult poverty. Slaves and servants were part of what it meant to build the empire at the time. Ultimately, in order to have the wealth that existed, others had to go without.
b. John the Baptist is redefining “kingdom” for them.
The kingdom of Rome said do what it takes to live a wealthy life—even if that means owning slaves, disregarding your neighbor, etc. The kingdom of God is saying, “Look out for your neighbor. If you have more than you need, share with those who are going without.”
c. It isn’t a stretch to see how difficult these thoughts of generosity can be because we also live in a world of economic disparity.
There are numerous examples of places and of people who go without while others live luxuriously.
One example is the sweatshop industry. It is uncomfortable to talk about, but it is easy to disregard the poverty and mistreatment of someone else in order to get a good price on a product that makes your life easier.
Another example is looking at places with high levels of tourism. Many of these places have become havens for luxury vacations, but the natives who live and work in these resorts often struggle to get by. The hotels and resorts raise the cost of living while depending on cheap labor, creating the need for families to move in together and live far below the poverty line.
- Sharing might not be as easy as we thought. a. In the Roman Empire, it would have been easy to covet luxury—which might be why the examples John uses are so specific to those asking the questions.
He says to share a coat if you have two. He’s not asking anyone to go without but to give out of their excess to those in need. This principle might seem obvious to us today, but it wouldn’t have been either obvious or easy in a culture that proclaimed that excess was good and right. He tells the tax collectors not to cheat people.
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It was no secret that tax collectors often overcharged citizens so that they could skim a bit off the top.
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When there is a desire to get ahead, it is tempting to do whatever it takes to get more—especially if everyone else is doing it too.
He tells the soldiers to do their job.
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Extorting people for money is easy for those in positions of power and authority, especially when there’s no accountability.
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There is a power dynamic at play here, and it can be difficult not to give in to the pressure to use that power for profit—especially for those who might have been on the wrong side of that power dynamic for most of their lives.
For us today, it is easy to want more, to hoard, to find shortcuts to wealth, and to use power to get ahead.
We’ve all heard of people who lie on their tax forms in order to get a little more money.
While we personally might not cheat or use power to get ahead, we probably have many coats in our closets (or other items we have more of than we need), and we often think of our personal wealth as what we “deserve” for the work we’ve done.
We also live in a culture of social media envy, which has gotten even worse than keeping up with the Joneses. We often neglect the needs of our other neighbors in order to keep up with looking like we have it all together on social media.
- Advent can expose our need for a kingdom that pushes us into the hope of generosity.
a. The people around John the Baptist need to hope in something besides material comforts.
They need to be free from the external desire to hoard, in order to love their neighbors well.
Justice is not about getting ahead but about making things right. Making things right never comes at the expense of others, though it might come at the expense of excess for ourselves.
The kingdom of God rewrites the rules and gives hope of a future where we can be united in love for God and neighbor.
b. We are reminded during Advent that we also need more than material comforts.
We often talk about the joy of giving during this season, but we often lose that joy in our need to be better. Maybe we need to rethink how Christmas is celebrated in order to share with others. Instead of having two toys, maybe one needs to be given away.
It doesn’t take long to discover that people feel overwhelmed and less happy with more stuff. The push for minimalism is a direct response to realizing that having more things can drain people of joy. On the other end, people who are generous tend to have more joy and compassion.
When we learn to live with open-handed generosity toward others, we learn to be more dependent on God. We also learn that everything we have is God’s and that living in God’s kingdom redefines what generosity looks like.
Conclusion The obsession to get ahead, to have more, to keep up with the Joneses, is not a new one. While sharing might be a lesson we learn as children, it is much more difficult to live out as we grow. The kingdom of God is one of level ground, where we love and care for one another. It isn’t enough to say we belong to a family of faith; we must be people of faith, which means living lives of generosity toward those around us, illustrating our love for God and others and demonstrating our faith that
God loves and cares for all of us. Out of our generosity, the world might see and know a generous God who left the riches of heaven so that we might be free of sin.
Second Sunday of Advent DECEMBER 9, 2018 The Way of HOPE Sunday Scripture Reading: Luke 3:1–6 Introduction If you have ever driven a rocky, one-lane mountain road, you can understand the desire for straight paths. On your right is a sharp dropoff and on your left sheer rock. If another car comes around the bend at the last second, one of you must creatively and meticulously pull halfway over onto the tiny shoulder. If you don’t see each other in time, disaster could strike. This kind of road is especially fear-inducing for people who are only familiar with straight paths. If you grew up in an area of the country that is flat, or in a well-lit city, imagine the fear that a dark, winding path could inspire. In the context of Scripture, there weren’t any cars driving up winding mountain roads, but not being able to see could still put you in harm’s way. Thieves or wildlife could be around a bend, with the potential to cause you physical harm or leave you without resources. Mountains make walking more difficult. Have you ever climbed up a mountain or gone hiking in the hills? The change in elevation can make make anyone’s journey tough, not to mention the difficulty of keeping your footing on a rough, rocky trail. The danger and difficulty of craggy, curvy mountain paths are something the listeners to the words in Isaiah would have related to, but this text isn’t talking about literal mountains and valleys; it’s talking about preparing the way for the Lord so that people might see, hear, and know the way of hope that the Lord offers to all who believe. Body 1. Prophets speak truth to power, and John is a prophet. a. Luke starts out this chapter with a listing of the rulers of the day. He lists both the political leaders of Rome, the ruling empire, and the religious leaders of the Jewish people. i. This list alludes first to the original context of the Isaiah passage being quoted, which was spoken to a people in exile. And it was spoken that they might have hope that the Messiah would one day come to free them; that they would know that, though they were in a different land, God still heard their cries. ii. Though the New Testament Jews are not in exile, they are an oppressed people. They are still in a wilderness place, crying out for God to save them from their oppressors. They are in need of saving. Copyright © 2018 The Foundry Publishing 5 iii. These political and religious rulers are listed seemingly as a contrast to the coming of the true King, the Messiah who will reorder things. Jesus does not come in through the vein of politics or religious celebrity; rather, he comes to the world as a humble servant, declaring life and salvation for all. b. John is speaking a truth that counters the systems of the day. i. He is not declaring Caesar as Lord. This is significant during Roman rule, when people are commanded to declare Caesar not only as the ruler of Rome but also as a god. ii. John is not speaking of following religious law, making sacrifices and following rules the way they have done in the past. iii. John is declaring baptism and repentance; a reordering of what they have known. This is completely different from the current systems. It is a radical and countercultural call that urges people to think differently. c. This baptizing and call for repentance is preparing the way of the Lord, preparing hearts to hear the good news of Jesus, the Christ. 2. During Advent, we also need to make straight paths for the way of the Lord. a. We can list the rulers of our day—both political and religious—who often take up too much space in our hearts. i. The systems of the world are often in direct opposition to the kingdom of God. ii. The Messiah wants to reorder these systems in our hearts and lives. b. The call to live counterculturally hasn’t changed. i. The political leaders in our world are not Lord either. We must be careful about declaring them such, whether by our words or our actions. 1. While we don’t have a caesar who will throw us to the lions, our traps can be even more insidious because they seem good. 2. It’s easy to place our hope in political systems or politicians, and while they can do good, and we can hope and work for good, it is important to recognize that our hope is not in them. 3. The kingdom we serve is not of this world. It is the kingdom of God. A kingdom where all is made right. It is our hope and desire to long for this already/not-yet kingdom. ii. We aren’t called to religious legalism. Legalism can often become easier and more attractive than repentance and grace, but we are called to the messy work of love and grace. 1. Setting up more rules for ourselves and others to follow in order to please God misses the intent of Scripture. Instead of drawing us closer into relationship with Jesus, this practice can induce shame at our inability to achieve impossible standards. 2. While the Jews were looking for the rebuilding of the temple to be their hope, we often look for the best church with the perfect pastor or just the right music, missing that maybe there is more to being in relationship with God and others than that. 3. The work of Christ is the pouring out of oneself and the loving of others. Turning away from the way things have always been done and looking at the world with a new lens of love, grace, and hope. iii. We too are called to repent and to think differently. Copyright © 2018 The Foundry Publishing 6
First Sunday of Advent DECEMBER 2, 2018 The Anticipation of HOPE Sunday Scripture Reading: Luke 21:25–36 Introduction I have heard it said that February is the longest month, despite having the fewest days. By the end of February, winter has lost its charm. The holidays have come and gone. The hills have been sledded. The plants have been barren for months. The snow has become dingy and dirty. The skies are still gray, and it feels like the world might never be warm or green again. Then the first signs of spring break forth. A robin lands in your yard, or a crocus breaks through the snow-covered ground. A tree starts to bud, or the sun comes out after days of cloudy skies. Suddenly, your perspective changes from bleak to hopeful anticipation. You know that spring is coming and that summer will arrive soon after. Plans shift from shoveling snow and heating bills to thoughts of warm breezes and gardens. The fig tree is used as such an illustration in this text. Summer is coming when the fig tree begins to sprout leaves. Summer is near, and the barrenness of winter, the concerns that the stores laid up for the winter, will be depleted before the next crop grows and begins to fade. This is good news to a people dependent on growing their own food. This is good news in a place of poverty and in a land of oppression. This is good news at a time when furnaces do not exist and in a place where desert nights get very cold. Summer is coming. But the text is not about a fig tree or the hopeful anticipation of summer’s warm rays; it is about something even greater: the coming of the Lord. There will be signs of the coming of the Lord too. When it feels like your stores are depleted, when it feels like you can’t make it anymore, there is good news: the Messiah is coming. And as we sit in this season of Advent, we are reminded again that the trees are beginning to bud and that the Messiah is indeed coming. A Thrill of HOPE Sermon Outlines Copyright © 2018 The Foundry Publishing 2 Body 1. The signs of the times herald justice and redemption. a. The signs of the times are often discussed with fear. This text also alludes a bit to that. Jesus is pointing to common language from the Old Testament about the day of the Lord. i. The scriptures Joel 2:1–2, Amos 5:18–20, Zechariah 1:14–15 all reference impending doom, natural disasters, and war—all as signs of the coming of the day of the Lord. ii. The day of the Lord is alluded to as being a day when the enemies of God will be punished, a day of judgment for those who stand in opposition to the ways of God. b. However, the day of the Lord is also referenced with the language of mercy and blessing toward the people of God. i. Isaiah 4:2–6, Joel 3:9–21, Amos 9:11–15, Zechariah 14:6–9 are just a few of the texts that reference the blessings that will be bestowed upon the children of God when the day of the Lord comes. ii. The day of the Lord, then, is not a day that those who are just and righteous should fear; rather, it is a day that should be embraced. c. Justice is only scary for those who have acted in unjust ways, and the themes of these Old Testament texts seem to be about justice. d. We often approach these texts—with their language of seeming natural disasters—an an attitude of fear, but fear is not meant to be the way of existence for the people of God. 2. Redemption is about hope, not fear. a. Jesus’s words are about redemption, not condemnation. i. There are myriad stories about people fearing the return of Christ. This idea that the world will be ruled by terror and destruction, while having some connection with texts like these, misses the heart of this text being about redemption. The signs are not those of destruction but of restoration and renewal. ii. Verse 28 focuses on this in particular: “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” This verse is not about cowering, hiding, or dreading the coming of the Messiah. Rather, it is about standing tall and lifting up your head—because this is good news! Redemption is coming! b. Advent and the coming of Christ are about the hope of redemption of the past and for our future. i. The Jews longed for a Messiah to bring the day of the Lord, both for the justice that would be brought on their oppressors and also for the freedom it would bring to them. ii. The coming of the Messiah in Jesus brought redemption in a way they didn’t expect. The day of the Lord didn’t come destroying empires in political ways; instead, it sought to build the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven—through love and mercy. iii. When we long for the return of Christ, we often look and hope for the destruction of those who perpetrate injustice, but maybe we should be looking for the ways God wants to bring justice and redemption—in the sense of making things right—to the world. 1. Justice doesn’t mean annihilation or revenge. 2. Justice means making things right. Copyright © 2018 The Foundry Publishing 3 3. We hope not for revenge or destruction but for even the worst things to be made right. 3. It’s easy to miss the Messiah in our midst. a. Earlier in Luke 21 the disciples point out the grandeur of the temple while seemingly missing that the presence of God—Jesus—is in their midst. All this talk of the day of the Lord being at hand, and he is present among them! b. While we wait in hopeful expectation of Christ’s return, we cannot overlook the places where Christ is at work already. The kingdom is now; it came with Jesus to earth, but it has yet to be fulfilled. We cannot miss the signs of the nowness of God’s presence for the sake of the signs of the future. i. There is something to the signs Jesus mentions. 1. The sun and stars doing interesting things has been happening for all of recorded history. 2. Storms have also been happening for all of recorded history. 3. Fear and terror for what is to come have also been happening for all of recorded history. ii. These signs can be found both now and in the past. There is a commonness to these signs that seems intentional. We do not know when the Lord’s return will be; it could be any second. iii. Redemption is also happening now. It’s in our presence. We just have to have the eyes to see. iv. Justice and redemption in their fullness will come too. We just have to look forward with hopeful anticipation. Conclusion Summer is coming. It might seem like a long ways off on a dreary December Sunday. It might feel even more far off on a dreary February day, but when you look for glimpses, you see them. There is promise in the calendar and in the ways the trees change in late summer. There is promise in the sound of birds and in warmer breezes. But if we aren’t looking, we can miss them already happening in our midst. Jesus is coming too. We remember his first coming with joy, but we also look again to his second coming hopeful anticipation. A day that will be filled with justice and redemption. And we wait with heads held high, confident in Christ’s mercy and grace. We look ahead for the signs of that coming too, in the ways redemption is happening now. We look in hope at how lives are being restored, how lives are being made new, and the work that Christ is doing in our own hearts, and we know that the trees are budding around us and the day of the Lord has come and is still to come in beautiful and life-giving ways. We move forward in hope for all to be made new, even as things are already being made new.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Song of Songs 8:6-7
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
I remember well the first time I realized just how much I loved my then friend, soon to be husband: we were standing outside his house, and as he played with his young sisters, I was overwhelmed with the realization that I loved him. It was not long after that that we were married and our love for each other has grown. I’ll never forget though, the way my mom responded when I told her I was marrying Tom. I had expected her to be surprised, since I had been dating another boy. She wasn’t. I expected her to be dismissive. She wasn’t. In fact, she said that it was about time I recognized what the rest of the family had figured out some time earlier: Tom mattered more to me than the other boy. How? Because Tom was all I talked about.
The Song of Songs – this book in our Bible that gives us a love poem from ancient history – is a picture of the love God has for us and it tells us a few different things about how we can understand God’s love for us. It reminds us first that God’s love for us is best seen in the picture of a couple in love. As people fall in love and wrap their stories around each other, this love – when perfectly expressed – is the love that God has for us. God’s love is unconditional, it takes us as we are, and it enjoys the beauty of who each of us is.
One of the unique things about scripture over all is how often intimate relationships are used to explain our relationship with God – when we walk away it is shown as infidelity or adultery. When we stay close and walk in harmony with God, it is shown as a picture of beautiful marriage.
Nothing rips through a family so starkly and harshly as infidelity can. When one person has been unfaithful in a marriage, it hurts and ruins and rips apart what was intended. This isn’t always infidelity of a sexual nature either – it can be disinterest, dismissiveness, argumentativeness – there any number of ways someone can be unfaithful to the person they have married – and usually sexual infidelity is the last symptom of a long-time disease of hurt and betrayal that has been infecting a marriage in subtle and less obvious ways.
But when marriage partners are faithful to one another – it looks like a couple in Iowa who were married for some 80 years and died within hours of each other, holding hands as they did.
It looks like a couple who parents together, cleans house together, loves each other even as appearances change as responsibilities evolve as priorities and jobs and challenges appear and disappear and reorder themselves – these are two who committed to tackling these things as one and who continue to do so day in and day out. The message of Song of Songs is one that says that God’s love for us is like a beautiful marriage – one that lasts and one that partners and one that none of us probably actually know except in love poems and romantic comedy movies. But it is the picture of love that wraps itself in the wonder of the other and longs to hold them, draw them close.
This Song of Songs talks about bodies and loves the body of the one they sing about. We often have a broken view of bodies – we tend to objectify bodies, to turn women’s bodies into something to be ogled at and men’s bodies into something to be drooled over, all the while disconnecting the woman and the man from the physical attributes: cute butt, nice pecs, gorgeous face, lovely muscles – and all of those may be true but it removes the humanity of the person from the skin and bone of their flesh.
God said from the beginning that what was created was good – including the bodies of dust made for us to wear. We are definitely body and spirit, but neither is better or worse than the other – they are created together as components to our whole selves. God has promised that after death, although our physical body is no longer, at the resurrection, we will receive new ones – perfect ones. So then, it is not acceptable for us to wrap our bodies in shame or distress either – we cover ourselves to keep our bodies safe and warm and we don’t necessarily have to expose all of us to everyone we meet – but our bodies shouldn’t be viewed as shameful or sinful either – they are part of God’s good creation. It was the fall that made us think they were sinful, and as those who have been redeemed and who know that God delights in wholeness for us as new creations in Christ – our bodies are GOOD again, good for us and good to us. Not many years after Christ died and was resurrected, some tried to re-shame and re-sin the body, to turn it into the nasty part we have to inhabit by saying Jesus wasn’t really fleshly, that instead he was spirit that we couldn’t understand.
But that isn’t what Jesus said. In fact, our weekly reminder of God’s love is a weekly taking in of what Jesus said about himself – that his BODY was broken for us and his BLOOD was shed for us. Not his special spirit self, but his actual body. Bodies are not bad things, bodies are our physical mark in the world and they are beautiful no matter what they look like, what color they are, what imperfections they have – God declared our bodies good from the start and God redeemed us through the body of Jesus. God loves our bodies, and it is time we loved our bodies for the wonderful creation they are.
We are crafted by God to be beautiful and to love each other. Sometimes that love looks like romantic love and sometimes that love looks like kindness and warmth and sometimes that love looks like discipline. In scripture, we see love defined for us in many ways in various texts. Song of Songs reminds us that God loves us for who we are, for what we look like, and that our love together is like a marriage of faithfulness and intimacy. Human marriages are known to be fraught with imperfection so they are just a snippet of what it looks like to be loved by God. And the pictures in Song of Songs are given us so we can see the love picture more completely, whether we are married or not. Love yearns for the other. Love stands strong. Love protects. Love invites and encourages close touches and weathers the storms together. Love is present. Love is here.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Ecclesiastes 3:1-14
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Ecclesiastes is a book of contrasts, almost like quick thoughts jotted down throughout one person’s lifetime. They are doubts and hopes and observations that come to one conclusion. The same one Proverbs says is the only way: the fear of the Lord is the meaning of life.
These verses in chapter 3 were compelling enough to form a song, one probably most people have heard in their lifetimes – one that reflects on the ebb and flow of life. The Byrds added a ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’ lyric to reflect the cyclical nature of time and life – everything happens as though a wheel of time spins in the heavens and as it go along, things happen in their seasons.
It’s a sweet perspective, with a large appeal – based on the popularity of the song. However, the reality is that while things have some measure of cyclical nature, the only way to actually make sense of all the things under heaven, the only way to understand all that happens – is to have a God’s eye view of the universe – the one thing we long to have (God sets eternity in the hearts of men) and yet which we cannot. It is only reserved for God to know and see and understand all that is and was and is to come. God has a handle on the nature of activity in our world and if it isn’t all mapped out to the nth degree, God at least sees the myriad directions it can ebb and flow. We have these verses to remind us that our own understanding will always wind up having to fall back to the main idea of Proverbs: Fearing God is the beginning of wisdom, and it is the only way to make sense of all that happens in our world - good, bad, and neutral.
This past week, there are wildfires burning out of control in California, another shooting at a bar in California, and incidental, smaller things have happened to each of us – maybe one has lost their job, one has failed a test, one has started a new job, one has gotten a bad report from the doctor.
The only way to understand – or at least make room for – any of these things bad or good is to reflect on the nature of God and rest in the knowledge that God is watching, God is preparing us, God is preparing the world for the return of Jesus – and while we wait, when we fear God we can know that no matter what our circumstance, God is there.
God didn’t resolve every fear and tear and sorrow and breaking thing. God didn’t suspend time and the reciprocal nature of our world. Instead, God’s resolution for the brokenness of sin and the challenging circumstances that have been part of our lives since the Fall in the garden – God’s resolution was to put on our vulnerable flesh and walk among us.
We don’t fear a distant God, we don’t fear a God who has no investment in us and our lives – rather, we fear a God whose entire mission has been to provide rescue for us, and that has been done not by a God who throws thunderbolts and lightning strikes, but by a God who reveals himself to us as a babe in a manger, who becomes one of us to save all of us.
Recently, Eugene Peterson, the one who paraphrased scripture in the Message version, passed away, and one of his sons eulogized him this way:
"My dad's message was that good news always plays out best in relationships. The writer of Genesis tells us that at the end of each day of creation, God looked around the world that He had done, and saw that it was good," Leif Peterson said.
"I think my dad did that a lot. He was always looking around at the mountains, at the flowers, at the birds, at the relationships forming and playing all around him, and you could tell from that signature twinkle in his eyes, what he was thinking 'oh man that's good, that's really good.'"
Leif Peterson revealed that he used to joke with his father and tell him that he "only had one sermon, one message" despite decades of creativity in sharing the Bible with people in new ways, something which he believes to be fairly accurate.
"It's almost laughable how you fooled them, how for 30 years every week you made them think you were saying something new," he said as part of a poem addressed to his father.
"They thought you were a magician in your long black robe hiding so much in your ample sleeves, always pulling something fresh and making them think it was just for them," he continued.
"They didn't know how simple it all was. They were blind to your secret."
Leif Peterson said that he knew his father's secret, however, as he had been telling him for 50 years.
"For 50 years you steal into my room at night and whispered softly to my sleeping head. It's the same message over and over:
'God loves you. He's on your side. He's coming after you. He's relentless.'"
In Ecclesiastes, we see a revelation that our doubts do not confound God, nor do they surprise him. Rather, our doubts are normal and the longer we explore and investigate and learn, the more we recognize that our doubt is the beginning of understanding the Truth – that the God who created us, loves us enough to let us doubt everything about who he is and what he does, but still draws us near. Draws us close. And whispers love in our hearts.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Psalm 1, 13, 150
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Music connects us to moments. Couples in love select a song that matters to them. They play it at their wedding. Daughters and daddies dance at that same wedding, playing music that remind them of their relationship. We sing lullabies to our babies, dance in our cars to the radio as it plays songs. We commemorate those who have gone on, big moments in our collective memory, and even decades of time are recalled quickly and swiftly in just a few notes. We write our emotions in remembered time with the sounds of song.
These books on the pulpit this morning are hymnals – most Nazarene, although 1 Methodist – and there are songs in here that connect me to my childhood. There’s a song that we’ve sung here that transports me back to a church of my youth – one with black and white pews and Sunday night pick-a-songs. It is ‘And the trees of the field will clap their hands, the trees of the field will clap their hands, the trees of the field will clap their hands as we go out with joy’. Music is a way for us to time travel, to remember how we felt, to remember what we did – it takes us to that moment when we connected to our surroundings through the template of the perfect song.
Since the God who created us sang over us at the dawn of time, it should come as no surprise that the largest book of the Bible, in terms of number of chapters, is the one that brings with it music – or at least lyrics.
Psalm lives as a testament to our connection to God – the book is scripture passages that connect us emotionally with God. And that is the spirit of worship – we are connected to God through every part of who we are – including our emotions.
There are many types of psalms preserved for us. We will only talk about 3 – wisdom, lament, and praise. Wisdom is typified in Psalm 1 – I’ll read it for you again. Psalm 1:
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Wisdom psalms give us instruction in living a blessed life. These are poems that express for us in word pictures what it means to follow God, to live according to God’s purposes.
Lament is sometimes the hardest for us, because we lean toward joy – we do not want to rest in sorrow, we swerve away from drinking from lament – but the reality is we do lament – we do live in sadness. We do ask questions of God – we do not always understand God’s purpose, and just like Job last week, we wonder why we have to suffer. Lament psalms express that – listen to Psalm 13 again:
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.
Notice how even in lament, the psalmist turns to praise and reminds us that even in the hardest place, where he feels forgotten by God, he trusts God’s love, God’s unfailing love – and sings praise for past goodness. Even as the psalmist feels abandoned and alone, and even anxious, he remembers the goodness of God and rejoices.
The last type of psalm is praise – and it is exemplified in many, many psalms. 150 is the one we are looking at today:
Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
The beauty of the psalms is the way in which they both resonate with us today and help us see who God is and connect us to God.
The psalms are a beautiful gift of scripture that allow us to speak to God in the language of the ancients, and reminding us that music and prayer are intertwined. All of the words in the psalms can be prayers or songs or poems, but all of them give us a picture of God’s everlasting-ness. If a psalmist can write words that still draw me closer to God, or draws the church closer to God, then just as with any music, we find ourselves able to remember the moment of God’s presence that is found in that psalm.
Our worship is a weekly drawing us to that place, drawing us closer to God, building our worship memory to build our connection to God and each other.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Nehemiah 1:1-11
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
When I was eight years old, I attempted to write in a diary every day. I got the diary for Christmas, in my stocking. I LOVED it. And for the first two weeks, every day I wrote something – Dear Diary, today was great! Love, Jennifer. And then one day, I got busy and I stopped writing. To this day, every time I have tried to journal, I can only do it for a season and then I stop.
The reason I have always wanted to journal faithfully is because when I read the Diary of Anne Frank in 3rd grade, I wanted to do what she did – leave what I was thinking and feeling for those who might want to understand my experience later.
The book of Nehemiah is an example of that kind of writing in scripture. The book is essentially his journal of being in exile, finding out that his home country was in shambles and needed help, and then going, by God’s help to take care of those things.
In Nehemiah’s journal we see over and over the same thing that we read here in the first chapter – everything that occurs happens in this same sequence: a situation, Nehemiah prays, Nehemiah acts.
Here he fasts and prays, next the king notices him and before he speaks to the king, he prays. Then he travels to Jerusalem and prays before he talks to the people there. He faces opposition – he prays. He gets offers of support – he prays. People are in need – Nehemiah prays. Throughout Nehemiah’s journal, what we call the book of Nehemiah, the same order – something happens, Nehemiah prays about it, and then Nehemiah acts.
The reactions that Nehemiah has throughout the book are set up through this very first moment – when Nehemiah hears of Jerusalem’s issues, he weeps, then he mourns, fasts, and prays. He is seeking God’s face before he does anything else. He is waiting to hear from heaven before he moves forward. He starts by fasting – taking attention from his very needs to turn everything he has to God. Then he prays, and if we take the prayer he has written in his journal as a template, his order of praying is pretty helpful, even to us:
He starts with praise. I was at a conference this past week for several days and the host lead every morning with a devotional. His premise was gratitude. He talked about finding ways, every single day, to be grateful to God for something. Even when things look bad. Even when things are hard. Even when it seems as though nothing can or will work out the way it needs to or should. Nehemiah is heartbroken and sees no way to fix the situation – but he praises God for who God is and for God’s faithfulness:
Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments
What if we expressed gratitude even in the hardest moments? What if we remembered God’s faithfulness even when it seemed as though God wasn’t being faithful? When we express our gratitude even in our misery, it changes us. We begin to see even a little bit of hope, because we can find all of God in grateful expression.
Next, Nehemiah moves to confession. Nehemiah recognizes that the gulf between what is happening and what he would like to see happen has opened because of the faithlessness of the follower. The sins of the people have made it impossible for them to hear God’s voice, to follow God’s way, and to be faithful to the covenant that God set up to protect them. Nehemiah confesses that to God and admits that whatever sins they have done, have all been sins against God first and foremost. Nehemiah seems like a pretty good guy. He’s committed to God. He’s faithful in prayer. But he recognizes his own limitations and weaknesses and calls them out to God as a confession of his own human vulnerability.
God asks us to recognize our sinfulness in the same way. We are asked to confess and repent when we miss the mark that God has set up for us. We are blessed, as Christians, to have the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us recognize our sinfulness and to desire more than to live in our sins. But every week as part of our prayer for communion, we confess our inability to do what God has called us to and our lapses in that place. We confess that we do not love God enough or our neighbors enough. It is when we confess that we become vulnerable. That we recognize our limits and God’s limitlessness and the ways in which we cannot measure up – short of the grace of God that pours out on us through confession and repentance. God’s grace is made perfect in our weaknesses, the scripture tells us. And it is through our confession that we recognize God’s perfect grace as the power we need.
The last thing Nehemiah does in his prayer is petition. He asks God to give him favor in the presence of the king he serves. He recognizes God’s power in the situation and even though he is not sure what God will do – he asks God to give him success and favor. Nehemiah is the cupbearer to the king, so he is in the king’s presence on a regular basis, but he is not at liberty to simply speak his mind or ask for things from the king of Persia. (quick aside: we too would not be able to simply ask for things from God if God hadn’t made a way for us to approach the throne through Jesus. We still approach the throne of God with awe and humility, but we also go with boldness because Jesus made that possible for us) God acts on Nehemiah’s behalf and the king notices Nehemiah’s disposition. Nehemiah breathes a quick prayer when the king notices him and then tells the king what he wants.
And in the rest of Nehemiah’s journal we read how God answered Nehemiah’s prayers over and over. He gave Nehemiah wisdom, he gave him strength, he gave him helpers – God worked in the hearts and minds of those around Nehemiah over and over. God didn’t just set it up so Nehemiah’s petition to the king was granted, God worked through that request and Nehemiah’s faithfulness to finalize the work Nehemiah had wanted to do.
Much of what Nehemiah experienced and wrote about seems so far from what we need today: temples are no longer a central part of our worship; we don’t build walls around our towns. But we DO face opposition from those around us sometimes. We DO face challenges in doing the work of the Kingdom. We DO face challenges in our families and homes and hearts. And we, like, Nehemiah can put those things before God and trust God’s faithfulness to be at work. God expects us to ask for these things, even though God knows them and sees them. God wants us to seek him as Nehemiah did: with gratitude and confession BEFORE our petition – our hearts and minds and attitudes need to be in the right place so that what we are asking is no longer about what we WANT but what we NEED. So often we confuse wants and needs, but when we put ourselves in the posture of gratitude and confession, things begin to be clearer and we see what God can do to address our need, but not necessarily in our want.
God may move you when you want to stay somewhere, because you need to move. God may keep you somewhere when you want to move, because you need to stay. God may expect you to act where you want to be still or God may expect you to be still where you want to act.
In all of those things, if we are obedient to God’s work on us and in us, God will move. God will be faithful. God will build the Kingdom, God will walk with us through challenge and heart ache and hardships.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Ezra 9:4-9, 15-10:1
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Here’s what’s happened:
The best people, royalty and wealthy and strong families were captured by Babylon.
Persia conquered Babylon.
Things mostly stayed the same, but God was working. And the king of Persia made it so Some of The children of Israel who were in captivity in Babylon have returned to Jerusalem. Ezra and Nehemiah capstone the history of Israel as written in Scripture. After this, we read of events that happened during that history- the historical record is necessary to understand all that happens in the rest of scripture: from the prophets to Jesus, knowing who the children of Israel have been and who God has been to them sets the stage for all of what we read in the rest of scripture.
The remnant who have returned from Babylon to Jerusalem after the exile realize it was and is their sin that have caused them to lose sight of God. The temple has been and is a representation of their relationship with God and as they are rebuilding that – more on that next week in Nehemiah – they also begin to seek God’s favor by repenting of their sin.
Ezra has returned as a priest who will stand between the people and God, convincing them of their sin and pleading on their behalf to God. This is how it would be until Jesus cried It is finished and the curtain that separated us from God was permanently ripped apart. God invited us to see our sin for ourselves and to be reconciled to God, redeemed no longer through animal sacrifice but by the very blood of Christ. In the view we have of God working through Ezra to call the people to repentance is a view that points us to Christ today.
Repentance looks to regain the standing the sinner needs with God. It is a renewal and refreshing of the covenant that God made with them, as children of Israel and it is initiated by a recognition of their own part in breaking the covenant in the first place. These people are asking for God’s grace to move them forward as a people dedicated to God.
They recognize their need for repentance, but also they recognize all the ways God has been gracious to them along the way – even in captivity/exile, they have seen God’s hand. In fact, the whole reason they are in this place at all is because of the way God’s grace moved on their behalf while in exile.
This, too, we can find in our own hearts: what are the ways you have separated from God? What do you need to do to seek repentance?
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
How the temple Solomon built became the central representation of God's relationship with his people.
No transcript available
When God says no to David's big dream, but promises him something else, David responds with humility, obedience, and worship with just 3 little words: Who Am I?
No Transcript available
God's faithfulness is evident in how Elijah is cared for even while it appears that Ahab is prospering in a drought.
No transcript available for the message.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
David's response to being called out for his sin makes a Kingdom of difference. See how David's response compares to Saul's response.
No transcript available.
Carry God's blessing with you by praying always, asking for what you need, and being thankful.
Philippians 4:4-8
::No Transcript Available::
Partial Transcript:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
I Samuel 15:12-23
Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt.Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. Then he said to the Kenites, “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.
Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur,near the eastern border of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.
Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”
When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”
But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
“Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Saul replied.
Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”
“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lordassigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lordyour God at Gilgal.”
But Samuel replied:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”
Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”
But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejectedthe word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!”
As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”
Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.”
Agag came to him in chains. And he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
But Samuel said,
“As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.”
And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.
Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
--
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
As we have learned about the children of Israel in these weeks of messages, we have repeatedly seen that God will tell them to do something and they will find ways to work around it. I Samuel is the first half of what was once a larger book (II Samuel is the second half), and it essentially tells the story of the last judge in Israel, who becomes a prophet and his dealings with the first and second Kings in Israel.
Because Samuel is judge for most of his adult life, but Israel begs for a King. Samuel reminds them that they have a King – God – but Israel wants a King that they can see and touch and talk to in person. God tells Samuel that they have not rejected him, but God and God will appoint a King for them. Samuel is to anoint him. Samuel warns the people that a king will demand things of them that they don’t want – and will likely try to take the honor that should be God’s for himself. But they demand a king anyway, and Samuel seeks God’s choice for the first king of Israel
Saul is chosen, although at the anointing ceremony, he hides behind luggage to avoid being in charge. The passage of scripture we have read this morning tells us that after a humble start, Saul quickly decided he was good enough and smart enough and fierce enough to be king without direction from God – and this is actually the 2nd time Saul has gotten in pretty big trouble.
The problem Saul has is a heart problem. It looks like an obedience problem, and it is, but the reason Saul has an obedience problem is because of his heart issue.
Saul has decided that he somehow has the wherewithal to be king under his own power and has set himself up as king of his own heart.
God has already given the command that God should be God and the only one worshiped – but Saul has figured that he deserves not only his own praise but also the praise of the people he governs and leads.
And therein lies the problem – Saul has done what the Israelites were warned about – he has become enamored with the results that God has blessed him with and determined they are of his own making. And he demands the people’s praise.
There’s a story in the Gospels that tell of a rich man who comes to Jesus and asks about eternal life. Jesus tells him to sell all he has and give it to the poor. The man walks away sad because he has been given so much.
Then Jesus says that it is harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
That admonishment doesn’t mean no one who has means can get to God; it means that one who has means doesn’t think they NEED God. And that is Saul’s predicament as well.
Saul thinks he no longer needs the very one who chose him and put him in power and awarded him victory after victory. Saul thinks he is king enough and man enough to be victorious on his own. Samuel tries to warn him the first time he disobeys – in that moment, Saul actually set up an altar after a battle and did the sacrifice to God on his own, even though he was told to wait for Samuel. He did it because he wanted his subjects, who were getting restless waiting for Samuel after a battle, to see how much power and impressive skill he had – not a desire to worship God. Saul TELLS himself he wants to worship, but really he wants everyone to see how amazing he is.
And Samuel warns him of his folly.
But Saul doesn’t see.
And so this time, when Saul disobeys, God strips him of the anointing presence of the Holy Spirit which has been the blessing of Saul’s kingdom up to this point, and suddenly, Saul is no longer the king he once was.
God quickly anoints David, who at this point is a very young boy, serving as a shepherd in Bethlehem. David will come and serve under Saul, and then Saul will become jealous of David after he defeats Goliath and Saul is determined to kill David.
Because he sees how David has what he once did and recognizes that if he doesn’t kill David, David will become king in his place.
The rest of I Samuel is the telling of Saul’s pursuit of David and the ways God protected David. Saul ultimately takes his own life after a defeat in battle. II Samuel tells much of David’s story, and next week we’ll learn of the mistake that David made and how the result was somewhat different – because David’s heart was different.
But for today, I’d ask you to think about what things God might be asking you to give over for the sake of the Kingdom? What area do you feel as though you are “king” over in your life? What place do you need to ask God to work with you on, because you’ve said “thanks God, I’ve got this”?
We all find places to evict God as King of our lives – sometimes it’s in parenting, sometimes it’s in our jobs, sometimes it’s how we spend our money, sometimes it’s how we handle hard times. God shows us over and over that when God is given control or kingship over an area that we wanted to keep – God shows us that God’s way, God’s leadership, God’s direction is always covered with blessing. Sometimes that blessing is in resolution of our circumstance or in a better job, a better financial situation, better health. But sometimes God’s blessing is just the knowledge that God is working and God is not only at work in the situation, but that God is with us in it.
Because we don’t always get the promotion, even when God is king over our work life.
Because we don’t always get healed the way we want to, even when God is king over our health.
Because we don’t always get financial freedom, even when God is king over our money.
But we do get GOD. And God as King means that even if our lives are a mess from the world’s standards, our lives can be blessed by the Kingdom standard – because blessing, the best blessing, isn’t #blessed on a happy day of life, but it is God’s continual working presence in our lives and our hearts, so that everything we do is done with the focus of God’s kingdom, not our own.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – and abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
NOTE - the message from Judges had significant technical difficulties. I will re-record at another date
Transcript for this week's message: Ruth
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Ruth 1
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilionalso died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-lawprepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”
Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
--
Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
There is a prayer that is cited to St. Francis of Assissi, although it may well have been an anonymous prayer:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring love. Where there is offense, let me bring pardon. Where there is discord, let me bring union. Where there is error, let me bring truth. Where there is doubt, let me bring faith. Where there is despair, let me bring hope. Where there is darkness, let me bring your light. Where there is sadness, let me bring joy. O Master, let me not seek as much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that one receives, it is in self-forgetting that one finds, it is in pardoning that one is pardoned, it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.
And in many ways, this is the best summary of the book of Ruth there is. I have read to you the first chapter, which is the devastating story of loss, but coupled with it, we see Ruth’s commitment to being an instrument of God’s love to her mother-in-law, although it costs her much.
Ruth is leaving her homeland behind, going to the land of her enemies, and believing that all Naomi has told her of God. We see desperation and loss and tragic circumstances, and we hear Naomi say that she is bitter and sad. Yet, Ruth comes alongside her and walks with her.
This book is different from the ones that come before it. It speaks of God in a new way – not as an active interventionist – although God is certainly still active, but as One who works through those who believe.
God does not speak in this book as in prior books, to judges or prophets or through bushes or directly to those who would do things – rather, God speaks through others who move and do what God would have them do, not because they get a divine message, but because they are living out their faith in response to the circumstances around them.
Naomi and Ruth are not supernatural characters. They don’t have some sort of underlying power that we don’t know about – they are simply women who love each other and loved the same people and are grieving and leaning in to what God has for them – even though God doesn’t directly tell them anything. God doesn’t do wonders and signs in this account, but this is God’s work through the ordinary people who need each other.
Listen to how this account of Ruth and Naomi’s life together closes out:
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Ruth is better to Naomi than seven sons – she has loved well and given everything over for her mother-in-law and she has been rewarded with God’s blessing: not only is she the great-grandmother of a boy who would be King of her nation, but she is now in the lineage of the King of Kings – King Jesus, who would redeem us all. Ruth’s love for Naomi opened up blessing to Naomi, too, and made it possible for Naomi to shed the bitterness she once knew and exchange it for the kind of joy that only comes from being loved well.
The Hebrew text uses a word: hesed to reflect this beautiful version of God’s love. It is the work of God’s loving kindness through the hands and feet of the people who believe in God.
Hesed is what we are called to be to one another, through Christ. It is HESED that brought Jesus to us as a man and God. It is HESED that should be our life of holiness in every place and movement as we live Christlike lives.
We should be praying St. Francis’s prayer as our plea for God’s infusion of HESED in us that will give us the power and possibility to live out what God has called us to.
Ruth’s story is proof that God can and will use us if we are willing to be used.
This week, I urge you to think of the person who is in greatest need of seeing God at work in their lives, the person you know and work with or live near – someone who needs help to exchange their difficulty and hard attitude with the joy and peace that only comes from being loved as Jesus does. Give yourself away to them. Find one thing you can do, one thing you can say, one way you can love them. One way you can hesed:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring love. Where there is offense, let me bring pardon. Where there is discord, let me bring union. Where there is error, let me bring truth. Where there is doubt, let me bring faith. Where there is despair, let me bring hope. Where there is darkness, let me bring your light. Where there is sadness, let me bring joy. O Master, let me not seek as much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that one receives, it is in self-forgetting that one finds, it is in pardoning that one is pardoned, it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – and abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Joshua 1:1-9
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Let us pray
Hide me behind your cross, Lord. May my words be your heart in my voice to your people. You have told us you love us, help us to know your love and live it every day of our lives. Amen
In the Old Testament, who besides Adam and Eve has no parents?
Joshua, son of Nun
That’s a preacher joke. They are kind of like dad jokes, but even funnier.
In all seriousness, we now find ourselves at the book of Joshua. And Joshua tells us the story of the conquering nation of Israel as they move into the land that was promised to them. Joshua will lead them. But Joshua is pretty new at being the only leader – his mentor and friend, Moses has just died. And so God comes to Joshua and gives him this pep talk. It is a pretty compelling pep talk – but it is a reminder that whatever else moving into the promised land might be, easy is not going to be one of the terms used to describe it.
Listen as God tells Joshua some important things about his next steps:
Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
You will lead. You need to obey. And I will be with you.
IN those things, Joshua is urged, be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or discouraged. You will do what I have called you to.
You will lead; they will inherit.
You need to obey; you will be successful in what you do.
You need to be brave and encouraged: I will be with you.
And then the whole book of Joshua is an exercise in exactly that:
God helps them cross a flooded river Jordan on dry land
God helps them investigate Jericho, the first city they must fight against
God gives them Jericho by leading them in a strange battle practice and defeating their enemies for them
God helps them save Rahab, the woman who protected their spies and includes her in the lineage of Jesus
God helps them conquer city after city and people after people throughout the Promised Land.
Until they are finally able to rest.
Each tribe is awarded their inheritance, and each prepares to inhabit the land God has given them.
And at the end of Joshua, Joshua’s last proclamation to them, includes this admonition for them to decide always to follow God (Joshua 24:15):
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
The people agree to serve the LORD who has rescued them and established them in the promised land.
Because God’s promises have all been true: God was with them in this task. God was with Joshua in this task. God gave them strength and courage when they lacked it, and God gave them all that had been promised from the beginning.
And for a long time – the rest of that generation and a few more, the people were obedient to God.
What does the story of Joshua and the fulfillment of those promises say to us? How can we see God’s love for us in the ways God worked in this place and this time?
The story of Joshua and his leadership that you read in scripture is a reminder that when God calls us to do something, God is faithful to what has been promised. All of these stories from Genesis to Joshua (and the rest of scripture, too, of course) are a picture of God’s faithfulness. If God commands us or calls us or promises us: God will do it.
So – when we are obedient to God’s call on our lives (which is to be followers of Christ and ambassadors of our hope in him) we can accept the same promises that God makes to Joshua at the very beginning of this book:
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. God will be with you wherever you go.
We can stand tall in the face of adversity. We can fight through challenges and hardships. We can live out our faith and we can do it with strength and courage, because we know God is faithful. Because we know God has promised that God will be with us – wherever we go.
Our commitment to following Jesus means we do not stay where we are. We do not remain stagnant in our faith. We do not live the same as everyone else – instead we love others even when its hard. We live our faith by standing up for those who can’t speak. We live our faith by being strong and courageous for those who don’t have strength and courage.
We cannot stay on this side of the Jordan river and wait for the battle to come to us, either.
We need to be moving and setting out and walking further into the call to be active followers.
You can’t follow if you aren’t moving.
So where can we go? We go by taking food to those who need it. We go by giving sacrificially. We go by doing projects around the church. We go by standing up for someone who is being bullied. We go by showing others we love them when they look most unlovable. NO matter what it looks like, we GO because we have been called and we GO knowing that we can Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. God will be with you wherever you go.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – and abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
Transcript:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Deuteronomy 5:6-21
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
“Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Let us pray
Hide me behind your cross, Lord. May my words be your heart. You have told us you love us, help us to know your love and live it every day of our lives. Amen
Just a quick recap of where we have been so far. And it’s appropriate to do it today, because that’s exactly what Deuteronomy is – a speech, wrapped in a little context, that is given just before the children of Israel cross over Jordan to take on the daunting and yet do-able task of conquering the land. The land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs of this incredible homeless for now nation in the desert between Egypt and Canaan.
In Genesis, we were created and we fell, but God promised this land to Abraham along with descendants for him and his barren wife that would number more than they could count. God continued that promise through Isaac, and then Jacob, also known as Israel.
Jacob’s son Joseph wound up in Egypt by nefarious things – his brothers sold him out of jealousy. Joseph eventually, after false accusations and prison, reunited with his brothers and rescued them from famine, by bringing them all to Egypt.
In Exodus, 400 years later, Moses was born into a nation that had become pretty large and was enslaved to the Egyptians. Moses had some missteps of his own, but he ultimately lead the children of Israel out of Egypt – across the Red Sea on dry land – and then to the foot of Mount Sinai.
There, the people received the law.
There, the people rebelled for the first time by forming a golden calf.
In Leviticus, we read the full text of the law and it’s purpose for setting apart the children of Israel as holy people who love God and neighbor.
Eventually, as we read in Numbers, the people arrived at the Jordan the first time.
They sent spies.
The spies (save 2) said that while the land was plentiful, it was also dangerous.
The majority won the argument.
God withheld the promise for them for 40 years.
And that is where we find the children of Israel now – 40 years after the first spies were sent in, they have arrived back at the edge of the Jordan. This is Deuteronomy’s purpose: to remind the people of where they have been, since all of those here now were young children when their parents screwed it up the first time.
Moses, who was originally going to be part of this, also had disobeyed God and been refused entry to the promised land. He’s gone up on a mountain, and though 120 years old at this point, he has seen the land that was promised.
Moses needs to remind the people of all that has happened and what they can expect if they disobey going forward – because that is the crux of the promises of God – obedience to God’s law draws them closer to God and puts them in the seat of blessing. The closer they live to what God has called them to do and be, the more God blesses their nation as a whole by drawing closer to them.
But disobedience and rebellion – these will cause God to turn away from them, God will still love them, but when their hearts are not tuned to God’s, things will be devastating and harsh for them.
God always gives us choices.
God always lets us make the wrong one and God always has grace enough to welcome us back if we choose God again.
This morning, driving in to church, I messed up. I turned earlier off Georgetown road than I intended, and was going way faster than the posted 30 mph speed limit, because I forgot where I was.
I should have gotten a ticket.
I was entitled to a ticket.
But I got a warning.
That’s grace.
And that’s what God does over and over for the Israelites as they make their way across the Jordan and into the promised land.
We’ll learn more about that as we move into the rest of the Old Testament, but the reason God gave them this whole speech in the book of Deuteronomy, was to remind them of their promise at Mt. Sinai, and to give them another opportunity to hear the whole thing, as a people. And to warn them.
This morning’s warning wasn’t the first one I’ve gotten in recent months.
A few weeks ago, I was speeding on 2nd street in front of the school.
I got a warning from the Momence police then.
But this morning, I messed up again. I will try harder not to do it going forward, but I forget to think about speed when I’m driving. Or I think “I won’t get caught…” But the truth is, at some point, I’m going to get the ticket I deserve. And I won’t have any excuses about why I got it – I will have deserved it. I’ve gotten plenty of warnings, that’s for sure.
The children of Israel are the same – they are getting this warning. They will get others, but still they were going to mess it up and they were going to get it wrong. EVEN with the warnings, they were going to rebel.
You see, many people look at the 10 commandments, which we read this morning, as a cage – a restriction to doing all the fun things.
But the reality is – they are a guard rail. They keep you from going off the edge. Because God’s judgement for us isn’t just about being committed to God – it is about avoiding the consequences for all the bad choices.
When I speed, I risk an accident. Thus the rules about not speeding.
When we violate God’s law, we risk all kinds of negative consequences. Thus the rules about putting God first, worshiping God appropriately, and not hurting others.
God knew the Israelites were going into a land where the idol worship was devastating and horrible – children were sacrificed, worship involved rituals that defiled bodies and ruined hearts and minds.
And God knew that these practices were not just disrespectful to God, but that they held the power to ruin the children of Israel as a nation of people who stood apart from the rest of the world and lived in a way that was kinder and gentler than those around them.
Hear the rules again:
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.
“Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
When we talked about the law in Leviticus, we talked about how God’s law is always vertical first, and horizontal second – God’s law turns our attention to him first and then to others – God’s protection for us against consequences includes caring about what happens to other people, because of our relationship with God.
All of scripture reminds us, over and over, that when we are in right relationship with God, everything we do reflects that.
And that is what God is reminding the Israelites of in Deuteronomy, by recapping everything they’ve been through to this point and restating the law for them.
But God knows they won’t make it.
And God knows WE can’t make it.
That is why we have the key verse, the verse that our series hangs on – God’s love for us, his desire that we DO make it, that we DO get there in obedience and love, was revealed to us in Jesus Christ, and set out for us in the shape of a cross. We love because God loved us. When we surrender to Jesus, when we live in the shadow of that cross, when we celebrate the gift of Jesus, we are embracing the law that God gave to give us life. The commandments that turn us toward God and then, align us with God’s heart, by turning us toward each other.
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – and abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
TRANSCRIPT:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Numbers 13:26 – 33
They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anakcome from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Let us pray
Hide me behind your cross, Lord. May my words be your heart. You have told us you love us, help us to know your love and live it every day of our lives. Amen
In the 1990s, there was a craze that I never understood. Called the Magic Eye, it had to do with these pictures that looked like prisms of color oddly put together. Supposedly, if you squinted just right at these images, you could see a 3D picture that was completely unrelated to the blotches. The reason I say supposedly is that I never saw these pictures. Even as I prepared to preach this week and I visited the Magic Eye website and even tried their special “this is how you do it picture” that is supposed to make it easy to do. Even when I knew what the underlying image was supposed to look like – For me, it does not work. I could not see these special graphics, no matter how hard I tried. The thing is, though, that the pictures are there. Just because I cannot see them does not mean they aren’t real. The 3D picture, in fact, is the foundation of the 2 dimensional pattern that is readily apparent. According to mentalfloss.com, the process works like this:
“A Magic Eye image starts with a programmer creating the hidden image…as a grayscale, smooth gradient depth map where dark points that should be furthest away are darker and closer points are in lighter shades. Then, they create a 2D pattern to camouflage that image. Finally, a computer program using a Magic Eye-patented algorithm takes the image model and the pattern and orients repeating patterns to the intended depth of the hidden image. When someone looks at a Magic Eye, the repeating pattern feeds the brain the depth information encoded into it, and the brain perceives the hidden picture” For whatever reason, I am incapable of seeing the hidden picture. The repeating patterns are all I can see. What is right in front of me in the image is the limit of my ability to view the picture.
Here's what’s happening in Numbers so far:
The people were counted as they continued to learn at Mt. Sinai all of God’s commands for them and their worship.
When they finally left Mt. Sinai, they began marching across the desert, headed for the promised land, the land of Canaan that God had promised throughout time to this point to them.
Along the way, they had some challenges. They had no food, so God provided manna. They had no water, so God provided water.
They complained about only eating manna, so God provided meat.
Moses became overwhelmed with the responsibility for the whole camp, so God provided 70 elders who ALSO had the gift of the Holy Spirit and could share the burden.
When they arrived at the edge of the promised land, God told Moses to send 12 spies into the land. They were leaders of their tribes. They went in and looked around, they brought back fruit and spent 40 days exploring the land.
The rest of Numbers hangs on the decision the Israelites make here. If they go forward, we’ll read of their conquest and their disbursement of the land. If they refuse…we’ll read of God’s displeasure with them. Here’s what happened:
When they got back, 10 men were afflicted with the same kind of blindness I have – they couldn’t see through the pattern on top to the real picture underneath.
Oh, they saw the abundance – the land flowing with milk and honey. And the incredible fruit that could be harvested. BUT they also saw all the obstacles as insurmountable – the fortified cities, the giants, the strength of those they would have to oppose to move in.
Only Caleb (and Joshua) saw it differently.
They recognized the presence of the obstacles. But they knew that the God who fed them and gave them water and delivered them from Egypt could defeat these enemies, too.
Caleb said “we should go, we can do it” and the other 10 argued against him. The people were persuaded by the 10 and refused to go. And God was not happy – “How long will these people continue to treat me with contempt?” Moses pleaded for their lives, and God forgave them – but he denied access to the promised land for the people for 40 years – one year for every day the spies were gone.
God did this to allow the adults, the ones who made the decision to die off and then the children would go in and do what their parents refused to do.
Caleb and Joshua were the only exceptions. The rest of Numbers is the story of a people who kept rebelling and kept being forgiven. There is a great story about a man named Balaam and his donkey in Numbers – Balaam was hired to curse the Israelites by the Moabite king, and God wouldn’t let him curse them. At one point the donkey talks to Balaam about this.
In the end, the defeat the Israelites believed they would suffer, because they couldn’t see past the obstacles, they did suffer because they couldn’t be obedient to the God who had provided and protected them all along.
But Caleb and Joshua, two who believed in the God they followed. Two who understood the reality of God – who could see more than what was in front of them, who could see that the God of rescue could do what he said.
In the next book, Deuteronomy, we will see all the details of the journey through the wilderness for 40 years and what happens along the way is more of God’s provision, more of God’s protection. More of God being God.
The great thing is that we have even more examples of God being God than the Israelites did. So when we can’t see past the obstacles in front of us, we ought to be able to say with Caleb, “let’s go”. Because we ought to be able to see the faithfulness of God in our lives and the lives of those around us – over and over.
We have seen a lot of obstacles for our church here in Momence: lack of money, lack of resources, lack of interest.
But when we look around at all God has brought us through, we should be able to see past some of those and wonder what it is that God will do next. Because God keeps working, even when we can’t see what he’s doing. God keeps moving, even when we can’t see where he’s going. And God asks us to say with Caleb, where ever God wants us, what ever God wants us to do:
“Let’s go”
As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – and abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
TRANSCRIPT with timestamp:
00.00 - 00.02
So we continue today our .
00.03 - 00.15
Series called love letter from God . Today we are talking about . Leviticus . And it is our .
00.16 - 00.21
Fourth message in the series . We started with a message on John 3:16 .
00.22 - 00.27
And then we have moved from Genesis to Exodus and now we find ourselves in Leviticus .
00.28 - 00.35
As always we start with our Key verse for the entire series which is John 3:16 .
00.35 - 00.51
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life . And then I'll ask you to stand as we read the verses for today's message . They’re .
00.52 - 01.11
From Leviticus. Chapter 19 verses 1 and 2 and then Leviticus Chapter 19 Verse 18 . The Lord said to Moses speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them be holy because the Lord your God and holy .
01.13 - 01.22
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people but love your neighbor as yourself . I am .
01.22 - 01.23
The Lord .
01.24 - 01.41
Let us pray . Hide me behind your cross Lord . May my words be your heart . You have told us You love us . Help us to know your love and live it every day of our lives . Amen . You may be seated .
01.47 - 01.49
I presently have three animals at home .
01.49 - 02.17
Two guinea pigs and a dog named Bear . I know that some of you have more . Some of you might have less. My dog Bear is an older dog . He is about 13 and when we got him he was already 5 . So he came to us with some very bad habits . Some of which we have been able to help him out of and some of which we have not . He was a rescue .
02.18 - 02.27
And at first when we first got him he was very afraid of us . He was particularly afraid of my husband but he was very afraid of us generally .
02.28 - 02.51
We had to teach him that we wouldn't hurt him and that everything that we did was actually for his benefit . We taught him that. And even though we taught him that, and he is much better now sometimes he still gets afraid or worried and he came with a cage .
02.52 - 03.22
And when he gets like that he'll put himself in there and sometimes he'll stay there for a couple of days and he only come out at night and get food but then he'll go back to his cage . We never know why we made him mad . Or what we did . Maybe to frighten him but . He he does that every now and again . And . He puts himself back in that cage because that's where he's most comfortable and in many ways teaching our dog to trust us .
03.22 - 03.45
Is very similar to what God is trying to do here for the Israelites . Reading Leviticus is not an easy task . I know of many people who have said they started trying to read through the whole bible they are going to do the whole Bible in an entire year and they start reading Leviticus and they say . What . Happened? .
03.46 - 04.25
This is hard . Genesis is great . It has lots of story we talked about Genesis stuff happening every single page . Even exodus . There's all kinds of really good stuff in there too right . We read of God's rescue of the Israelites from Egypt . We read of everything that's happening in there . There's so much stuff happening and then we get to Leviticus – I almost want a screeching brakes sound . Because . We get there and it's . Rules. And odd rules very difficult rules rules that we don't understand .
04.25 - 04.39
Because they're not really meant for us . But what's happening here if you understand it can make Leviticus .
04.41 - 04.59
Lively . It may still be really tough to read but what's happening here is God is teaching people who live their whole lives in captivity . How to live as free people .
05.01 - 05.07
In a place that doesn't have any rules in a place that didn't have any ruler .
05.09 - 05.23
God is teaching them something they have no context for . They don't know how to do it They’ve lived their entire lives from the time they were born until the time they get old under the rule of others .
05.24 - 05.37
Pharoah and Egyptian masters . Who told them what they can do what work they can do when they can do it .
05.38 - 05.41
And what materials they could use to do it with .
05.42 - 06.02
So here they are . They've been rescued . They're hanging out at the base of Mount Sinai right now . Moses has been up to the top of the mountain . He's come down with the Ten Commandments which they promptly broke . He's gone back up to the top of the mountain . And . He's come down .
06.02 - 06.19
And he has words to say to them that are who God is and really the summary of Leviticus is found in these two little passages that I read this morning . I am the Lord your God
06.21 - 06.26
Be holy as I am holy .
06.26 - 06.28
Love your neighbor as yourself .
06.32 - 06.54
There's a whole lot of detail in between those things and all over the book of Leviticus and you find pieces of evidence of how God is and what God means . God expects them to live differently from the nations they're going to encounter .
06.55 - 07.03
From the nations they are going to live among when they reach the promised land . And he's giving them those instructions right now .
07.04 - 07.21
And as part of those instructions there are a lot of things that we don't understand and don't make any sense to us . But they were in place for them because they were very different from the way the world worked for them right then . And it is when we get to the Gospels that we hear Jesus say Look .
07.22 - 08.09
You missed the point when God gave you those rules . The point is love God . Love your neighbor as yourself . Those are really the two big commandments . All the rest of it you won’t do when you do those two . But you have to see what it looks like and the Israelites didn't have . The convenience of an entire book that told them what guards would look like . We do . Well this is a book that shows us . This . Dynamic . That God intends for all of us now .
08.11 - 08.35
God says when you love me when you love me you will love your neighbor It’ll happen . It's a vertical . Love God . And a horizontal . Love others . Because . Beloved! .
08.39 - 09.03
When each of us knows we are loved . We can love others . We can give ourselves away . Because the cost to us is not so great when we can see the love we have . The love that's been given to us . It's not so hard to give it back away .
09.05 - 09.10
Do you remember my dog right, Bear . Just talked about him two minutes ago .
09.11 - 09.43
When we first got him he would often Barkin snap and growl at people he didn't know . He still does that on occasion because he learned that people could be mean . And most of the time nowadays he still just barks at them but if they bend down and they start to pet him . He will stop . Because he has learned that when someone is kind to him when someone pats him . He can stop being afraid .
09.46 - 10.18
That's what God is telling us in the book of Leviticus . If you trust me . If you can learn to love me then the rest of these rules will be simple enough . Because you will begin to give away what you've received . You will start to love others because you know you are loved . If you just read Leviticus as a book of do's and don'ts that are somehow a prerequisite or necessary for God to love you .
10.20 - 10.41
You're not going to get very far . When you read them the other way . When you read them . As an extension of God's love . Meant to show the worst things that we can do to each other . Aren’t the things God wants for us .
10.43 - 10.51
Aren’t the things God wants from us . Then reading Leviticus takes a different .
10.52 - 10.52
Turn .
10.57 - 11.07
When we read Leviticus through the lens of saying be holy like I am holy love your neighbor as yourself .
11.07 - 11.20
We see a whole different picture . And I know I've preached on this a little bit before . But I want to make sure that we don't forget that little . Last phrase .
11.21 - 11.42
In that verse . Love your neighbor as yourself . I think that we forget that the . Prerequisite . For loving others . Is . Loving ourselves .
11.43 - 11.55
Usually doesn't mean much if we say love your neighbor as yourself . And you don't love yourself . That means some things like Sabbath, which God sets up are
11.57 - 12.05
important . Like Rest. Important. Honoring your Parents
12.07 - 12.14
Not stealing not lying . All of those things are ways that you .
12.15 - 12.16
Love yourself .
12.18 - 12.30
You love God . And then from that you love others . But in case you're wondering sometimes we do forget this .
12.32 - 12.39
The Israelites certainly did many times we’re going to talk about that a lot . As we continue through our series in the next few weeks .
12.40 - 12.57
Yeah pretty much the rest of the Old Testament . We're going to talk about how the Israelites did not get this . But that's okay . We don't always get it either and we have the benefits of Jesus and the Holy Spirit filling us and empowering us to do its .
13.02 - 13.33
This week . I had an opportunity to mess that up myself . I got really annoyed at somebody . In a parking lot . And I didn't just let it go . Or spend a minute maybe calming down . I was mad . It was hot . And I got out of my car and I was yelling across the parking lot .
13.33 - 13.50
Now the whole time I was in the store is like what is wrong with you . Hello . I felt really bad pretty quickly . But . There are days and moments .
13.51 - 14.35
When our love for our neighbor our love for ourselves and our love for God falls short . That's why we actively confess that . In our communion . Prayer . Every week . We say Holy God we come before you in humility for we do not live as we ought . We do not love you with our whole heart and mind and strength . We do not love our neighbor as ourselves . So we pray in all humility that you will change our hearts and minds that you will show us again how to love others the way you love us that you will put power and courage in our hearts to do your will .
14.35 - 15.01
This is a prayer that reminds us that even as Holiness people even as people who believe that Sanctification is possible that the Holy Spirit can work in our rise and change our hearts and move us forward . We know we get it wrong sometimes . And our loving God says that when we get it wrong . When we mess it up .
15.02 - 15.04
There is grace for us .
15.04 - 15.19
We should do better . We can do better . Because we have the power of the Holy Spirit in us . So we confess to it's . We ask forgiveness for it . And we accept the grace that is offered in exchange for it.
15.21 - 15.30
And we don't leave here today believing that we have to sin . We do not every day say Oh, God! i know i have sinned .
15.33 - 15.36
Because we didn't have to live that way . We are free .
15.42 - 15.57
We know that that freedom that we have in Christ allows us to live better to choose otherwise . But . We leave here knowing that IF We do . If we screw up .
15.58 - 16.02
We don't have to leave in fear .
16.02 - 16.13
We don't have to be defeated . We can question the grace of a God . Who has a way for us to be holy as God is holy .
16.15 - 16.26
Love our neighbors as ourselves . As we've been doing every week in the series . I will now Remind you .
16.27 - 17.02
Of what it looks like to say that the love of God is in every page of scripture . What does it mean to say God loves . God loves us enough to create us to form us from the dust . God loved us enough to let us fail to let us choose our own way over Goods to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat in heartbreak and sorrow and death. God loved us enough to provide a rescue . A way back .
17.04 - 17.33
Through Wanderer's murderers adulterers defaulters promise breakers foreigners strangers and lovers . God loved us enough . To show us mothers and judges and Kings and Prophets who loved and spoke for God . And kept reminding us of the promise of redemption . God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up .
17.33 - 17.39
And how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing .
17.39 - 17.50
God loved us enough to send us Jesus . The only begotten Son of God to preach and live peace Grace hope joy and love .
17.52 - 18.04
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected to see him die to see him buried . God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead .
18.04 - 18.21
And send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him . God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirits redeemed free loved .
18.23 - 18.26
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny .
18.28 - 18.38
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever of resurrection from the dead and judgment . God loved us enough .
18.39 - 18.51
God loves us enough . God will always love us enough . For God so loved the world . God .
18.51 - 19.00
Loves you . God loves you . God loves you . God loves . You .
19.01 - 19.13
God loves you . God wants you to know that . God wants you to live in it . God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved .
19.15 - 19.35
And God's love is expressed to us every week . Most tangibly as we gather at this table . The Son who died and yet lives . Gave everything . So we could know the depths of God's love . So come . Drink the wine .
19.36 - 19.50
Eat the bread . Know you are loved . God loves you . Go . Love the world with him .
Partial Transcript:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Exodus 14:10-14
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Let us pray
Hide me behind your cross, Lord. May my words be your heart. You have told us you love us, help us to know your love and live it every day of our lives. Amen
Americans are really fond of a ‘pull yourself up by the bootstraps’ philosophy. We love stories of the poor child who becomes a mogul through hard work and perseverance. All the better if they never went to college, but learned all they needed to know by the school of experience. We have even created “Bible Verses” in our minds to underscore it: The Lord helps those who help themselves, we say, as though that is in the Bible. Or God won’t give us more than we can handle, when the real truth is: our lives are OFTEN, if not ALWAYS more than WE can handle.
Scripture is actually pretty clear that we are pretty hopeless and hapless and helpless on our own. The Israelites were certainly not in any position to help themselves. This part of the story is the moment right before they cross the Red Sea, which happens miraculously and as a further testament to the fact that they, in fact, did NOT rescue themselves. They couldn’t. God helped them anyway – God did what they could not even start to plan. But let’s recap how they got here:
Exodus summary:
400 years have gone by since Joseph, and the new rulers don’t care about some centuries old famine some foreigner saved them from. The new ruler is, in fact, pretty glad that because of whatever happened back in the day, Egypt has some free labor.
But man oh man are there a lot of them.
So, pharaoh starts killing off the Hebrew boys. I’m not sure how that would have made for a sturdy future workforce of manual labor, but it didn’t work anyway – the midwives wouldn’t obey and moms were hiding their babies and finally, Moses was born. His mom put him in the Nile when she couldn’t hide him any longer and he is found by an Egyptian princess. Moses grew up in the palace and was well taken care of, educated, and protected. When he’s 40, he sees first hand the oppression of his people and he takes matters into his own hands: he kills an Egyptian. Everyone knows he did it, too. So he flees. He had somewhat hoped to rescue his people. But he couldn’t do it on his own terms. He’s gone for 40 years. He gets married, becomes a shepherd, the old days of being a great Egyptian adoptee long forgotten in a shameful past.
Then one day, God shows up. God reveals himself as the “I AM” – one of the most profound and incredible revelations of God’s self in all of scripture: I am is not ever in the past tense. I am is not in the future tense. I am is here and now and always IS. It is one of the statements Jesus uses about himself in John that gets him in trouble, and it is one of the most powerful 2 word descriptions of any deity anywhere: I AM. The one who goes before and behind and is with us everywhere IS the I AM. And what God does – boy, howdy!
God had always intended to use Moses for rescuing the Hebrews – but God’s plan was a little more awe-inspiring than a simple revolution. God shows up as a burning/not burning bush in the middle of a wilderness to reclaim and rescue his people.
And he does it through the most reluctant of heroes.
Moses has learned his lesson. He’s not interested in saving anybody anymore. He just wants to work for his father-in-law and die in piece.
And God says nope.
Moses is now EIGHTY years old, folks. I know people who no longer want to walk a dog, let alone rescue a million people from captivity at that age! In fact, I know folks who CAN’T do anything more…but I digress
Moses finally agrees, but his older brother has to speak for him.
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – and abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
Partial Transcript:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Genesis 12:1-7a
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him;
Let us pray
Hide me behind your cross, Lord. May my words be your heart. You have told us you love us, help us to know your love and live it every day of our lives. Amen
I love to read. I went on strike in Kindergarten because we weren’t learning to read there, so my mom promised to teach me to read over the summer. By the time I went back to first grade I was reading at a fifth grade level; by the time I went to third, I was reading at a college level. I tell you all of this to let you know that when it comes to books, I am a fan. I love horror stories and love stories and adventure stories. Dystopian novels are fun, but I also love histories and biographies. If you print it on a page, I probably would love to read it. All good books start well. The Bible is no exception. Genesis is one of my favorite books in the Bible. It tells us about the beginnings of the world and the way God was at work from the start. God created, God was disappointed, God promised: and then God set a plan in motion that is still at work today: a redemptive covenant that would restore the relationship we need and had with God. We were loved from the first page and we are loved to this day, by a God who started out planning redemption with an old man named Abram.
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – and abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
Transcript for the Hearing Impaired:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
I John 4:7-8
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Let us pray
Hide me behind your cross, Lord. May my words be your heart. You have told us you love us, help us to know your love and live it every day of our lives. Amen
Henry Moorhouse was a wild young man who, by age sixteen, was a gambler, gang-leader, and thief. But during the Revival of 1859, Henry gave his life to Jesus. While D.L. Moody was in Great Britain, he met this man, and Moorhouse said to Moody, “I am thinking of going to America.” “Well,” said Moody, “if you should ever be in Chicago, come down to my place and I will give you a chance to preach.”
Now Mr. Moody was not two-faced, he was merely trying to be polite, but mentally he was saying, “I hope he won’t come.” There are so many people, you know, who want to preach, even though God never meant them to, and Mr. Moody was not quite sure of Mr. Moorhouse.
Mr. Moody was rather taken back one day when, just before leaving for a series of meetings, he received a telegram from Moorhouse which stated that he had just arrived in New York and that he would be in Chicago on Sunday. “And now I’m going away,” Moody thought, “and I told him he could preach here.” So he told his wife and his committee that a young Englishman was coming and to allow him to preach once. “If the people enjoy him,” Moody added, “then put him on again.”
When Moody returned he asked his wife, “Well, what about that young preacher?” “Oh, he is a better preacher than you are.” “Why?” said Moody. “He is telling sinners that God loves them. He is wrong! God doesn’t love sinners!” “Well, go and hear him.” replied his wife. “Why? Is he still preaching?” asked Mr. Moody. “Yes, he has been preaching all week and has taken only one text, John 3:16.”
That evening he went to hear Moorhouse preach. The young man stood up in the pulpit and said, “If you will turn to the third chapter of John and the sixteenth verse,” said the young man, “you will find my text.” Moody later recalled, “He preached a most extraordinary sermon from that verse…. I never knew up to that time that God loved us so much. This heart of mine began to thaw out, and I could not keep back the tears. It was like news from a far country. I just drank it in.”
Night after night, Moorhouse preached from John 3:16, and it had a life-changing effect on D. L. Moody. “I have never forgotten those nights,” Moody said later. “I have preached a different Gospel since, and I have had more power with God and man since then.”
Later, when Moorhouse fell ill and was on his deathbed, he looked up and told his friends, “If it were the Lord’s will to raise me again, I should like to preach from the text, ‘God so loved the world.’”
Those five words serve as the catalyst for the sermon series we begin today. God so loved the world. It is the underscore of everything – God loves us. God loved us. But what does love mean here? What kind of love does God have for us? Does God love us like our parents love us? Does God love us like our friends love us? Does God love us like a boyfriend or girlfriend? What does the love of God look like? How is it possible that God’s love could be so compelling and so provocative and so immense that it could be proclaimed over and over and have impact? What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like him.
God loved us enough to want us to live like Jesus – and abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loved us enough to still let us choose our destiny.
God loved us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God’s love for us isn’t like any other love we know: every other love we see in life is one that could fail us.
God’s love never fails.
God IS love – the apostle John who spent close time with Jesus, enough that he calls himself the “one whom Jesus loved” in his Gospel, and calls US beloved through out his letters, tells us that this is the lens through which we can read all of Scripture. He says that God IS love and that when we review all that is and was and will be by first acknowledging that truth, we can trust all we are and all we will be to that God.
Because God loves us.
God loves you when you lie
God loves you when you cheat
God loves you when you gossip
God loves you when you hate
God loves you when you are angry
God loves you when you are sad
God loves you when you are sick
God loves you when you are healthy
God loves you in every moment and in every situation you find yourself
God loves you when you cannot see it
God loves you when you are angry with God
God loves you when you don’t believe in God
God loves you more than I can tell you, more than you can understand, more than you can see, more than you have ever seen
And God tells us this truth OVER and OVER in this book.
The wonder of the Bible is not just that it has come to us, but even more that it comes to us with a solid continuous message: YOU ARE LOVED by the GOD WHO IS LOVE.
God loves you.
God loves me.
God loves every person in this world who was, who is, and who will be.
Maybe you had great parents who loved you perfectly. Maybe you have had a great boyfriend or girlfriend or husband or wife who loved you very well and made sure you knew it.
Maybe you have a child or a grandchild and you love them with a love you cannot articulate and you cannot express adequately
God loves better. God loves bigger. God loves more. All of that perfect love that we might know in our lives – those are mere shadows, mere slivers of what it looks like when we look for the immensity and fullness of God’s love
Maybe you have lived your whole life and never heard someone say “I love you” or maybe those words only came with pain and heart ache and sorrow. Maybe those words always came with conditions and rules and you knew that if you broke any of the parts that you were supposed to uphold – you knew it would cost you the love.
God’s love isn’t like that.
God loves us, God loves you, God loves without condition. God wants you to understand that love, God wants you to see it, or at least a glimpse of it.
God would say to you, right now, today without any hesitation: I love you.
Can you hear it?
Over the course of the next year and a half, you are going to hear it every week.
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
Next week our series that will run through November 2019 begins - Love Letter from God: A Journey through Scripture. We hope you will join us for this series that will start in Genesis and end in Revelation and give us a picture of the Love of God as written in every book of the Bible.
Link to the video referenced in the message:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw
Transcript: Please stand together for the reading of God's Word:
Isaiah 6:1-8 New International Version (NIV) In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted,seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King,the Lord Almighty.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Let us pray
Hide me behind your cross, Lord. Let the words I say be the thoughts of your heart articulated by my voice to your people. May they with the power of the Holy Spirit guide us into greater understanding, deeper faith, and abundant, fruitful lives that point only to you. To the glory of the father, the majesty of the son, and the power of the Holy Spirit be given all we offer. Amen
There are some things that you can use an analogy to describe – things that are otherwise hard to understand, you can take this thing or that thing that is easier to describe and help someone understand a difficult topic. In the Forrest Gump movie, we all learned what an analogy was: Life is a like a box of chocolates – you never know what you are going to get.
We use analogies to help us understand church things, too. We talk about sin and how it is like a captor – it holds us prisoner and keeps us away from a relationship with God.
But it is not only difficult, it is heresy to develop an analogy for one theological concept.
Watch this… [play video of Lutheran Satire Irish Twins]
At the very end of that video, Patrick said this:
The Trinity is a mystery which cannot be comprehended by human reason but is understood only through faith and is best confessed in the words of the Athanasian Creed which states that we worship one God in trinity and trinity in unity neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance that we are compelled by the Christian truth to confess that each distinct person is God and LORD and that the deity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is one: Equal in glory, co-equal in majesty
Which is a very fancy way of saying we can’t say anything about the Trinity without saying a bunch of words, if we want to avoid heresy.
The trinity is a mystery – we will never understand it completely. Aside from describing it with a lot of words as Athanasius did, we can also understand it (a little) in terms of the relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus says it best: In John 16:7-15:
But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Clear as mud, right?
Jesus is telling us that the Holy Spirit is sent from both the Son and the Father, and that the Son is sent from the Father. The relationship between and among them is continuous and involves both being sent and going out. Each person of the trinity is moving and working together and they work independently, but only in this way: according to who they are in the Godhead. They are so connected as to be inseparable and yet so individual as to require distinction.
I set this stage so that you might know what it was, exactly, that Isaiah saw.
On one hand, what he saw was likely just a snapshot, a vision that didn’t exactly equal the throne room.
On the other hand, Isaiah was overwhelmed with a sense of his own otherness – his own sinfulness – his intrusion on someone else’s space where he did not belong
He knew where he was and Whose presence he had encountered, but he certainly did not understand what was happening:
I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
As a vision, this has physical ramifications – shaking buildings and filling them with smoke are actual results of heavenly creatures speaking!
Isaiah is aware of his own limitations as he is in the presence of a holy God.
Isaiah recognizes that he is here but is unworthy of admittance because holiness points out sinfulness – it always does.
You know that - if you’ve ever visited someone who has a white carpet and white furniture and there are no spots on any of them – you know that person has no children and probably still spends a ton of time cleaning and washing and getting rid of dirt. Why? Because even the tiniest spot would stand out in a space that void of color.
In the same way the holiness of God highlights every unholy thing about us, to the extent that we, too, are unworthy of standing in God’s presence without his intervention.
For Isaiah, the piece of coal touches his lips as a symbol of purification. For us, the same happens at our regeneration in Christ and later in our sanctification: God intervenes to create holiness where before there had only been sinfulness.
But God doesn’t stop there: not with Isaiah and not with us.
Isaiah’s purification has been done for a reason, and it is the invitation for him to participate in the very work of God. You see, the beauty of the trinity is that as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together to redeem the world – they invite us to join in the work: The sending and sent God sends US to be messengers and ambassadors. The sending and sent God ASKS us to join in the work.
This invitation to Isaiah:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
Is an invitation to a man who has been touched by the divine, who has been spared the wretchedness of his sin, and who has seen the very God who would invite obedience in the way of holiness.
It is, indeed the invitation we live with today – the invitation to live and work and love and give and be according to the holiness God has given us. It is the invitation to be included in the work of the Trinity, to be SENT, just as the Godhead sends God. It is a wondrous mystery and it is one that is as real for us as it was for Isaiah, who stood in a shaking building and responded as we all can, as hopefully we all want to:
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
As we celebrate communion this morning, we do so remembering that every instance of participating at the table of God is a renewed invitation and sending. We are invited to participate and we are sent to be Holy men and women of God in the world where we are. May you always respond with “Here am I. Send me!”
Transcript:
Acts 1:1-11 New International Version (NIV)
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Hebrews 1:1-4 New International Version (NIV)
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
Revelation 19:16 New International Version (NIV)
On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
king of kings and lord of lords.
Revelation 22:20 New International Version (NIV)
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Hide me behind your cross, Lord. Let the words I say be the thoughts of your heart articulated by my voice to your people. May they with the power of the Holy Spirit guide us into greater understanding, deeper faith, and abundant, fruitful lives that point only to you. To the glory of the father, the majesty of the son, and the power of the Holy Spirit be given all we offer. Amen
The Royal Wedding. Who is invited, who is not, who is wearing what…all of these things have captivated imaginations around the world through the centuries. Truthfully, while England/the United Kingdom has the most well-known royal family in the modern era, there have been kings and rulers and people in charge of countries and groups for thousands and thousands of years.
But the King we discuss today, King Jesus – is the King of Kings.
He rules all, he was and is and is to come. He is the Alpha and Omega.
He is the King who walked among us. And he is the King who sent us to keep doing his work.
The first text we read this morning tells us about the ascension of Jesus. We read in Luke’s words the message Jesus gave – it is the primary direction for the church and it is part of our mission here:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
You may have heard me talk about this verse before – because this is the core of what we are here at Momence First: Just as Jesus told the disciples to be witnesses in Jerusalem, the place where they already were – we carry that forward in our mission here, by knowing that Jesus has called us to be his witnesses HERE – in Momence, in Bourbonnais, in Bradley, in Manteno – the “heres” where we live and work and are actively invested in the people around us.
It is why we continue to call our church Momence FIRST – because even though some would call that archaic (why not Life or Compass or something along those lines?) or optimistic (are you planning a Momence SECOND Church of the Nazarene?) It is our intentional mission to think about our congregation in terms of a launching point of witnesses to tell about Jesus – who he is, what he’s about, what he’s done for us and what it looks like to live out his mission.
So – as King, Jesus has given us a command: Go and Tell and Live lives that are fruitful with my fruit, by the power of the Holy Spirit
In the next text, we read that Jesus has always been and will always be, and that after he came and did the work of God among us – he sat down at God’s right hand.
That phrasing brought to mind images of TV sitcom dads…you know the ones? The caricature from Married with Children, All in the Family, and even recently the Goldbergs – where the ‘man of the house’ comes in from a long day of hard work somewhere and plops down on the recliner, unbuttons his pants, and pops open a cold one…usually before he says anything to anyone – except maybe to holler “Hey honey, I’m home”. This is not the reality of what happens when Jesus gets home to the throne. We know he is interceding for us, that he speaks to the Father on our behalf, that he walks with us, that he speaks to us, and that he continues to work through us in the here and now. It is, in fact, a picture that reminds us that Jesus, who ascended into heaven, sat down only to show us that he has conquered sin and death. We don’t have to live in fear of those because he has defeated them – as much as the King commands, the King remains with us and reminds us that he is victorious. He lives and reigns. We serve a risen King, a King who lives, a King who
King Jesus is alive and reigning right now.
The final part of our text today is the reminder that King Jesus is coming again. One day we know that King Jesus will return. It is promised. We don’t know what that will look like exactly, but we do know he will come as King – as resurrected and living and victorious King. We know he will serve as judge, we know we, the Church universal, will be presented as his bride, and we will join together in a celebration supper. Just as we know Jesus lives now, just as we commemorate the death of Jesus with our communion supper – we also look forward to the coming King, the coming wedding supper of the Lamb – the King will come and reign victorious. All things will be made right. There will be no more war, no more tears, no more death. There will be no more hate, no more poverty, no more starvation. No more illness. This is why the prayer at the very end of scripture – the very last words are Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
We expect his coming. While we do, we live into the command he gives for us to be witnesses to his truth, to the lives he’s called us to live. We know he lives because his Kingdom – you and me and all Christians throughout time - continues to be. We are the Kingdom, the witnesses to it, the ones who live out its principles, and the ones who cry out Come Lord Jesus, we await the return of our King.
TRANSCRIPT:
John 15:9-17 New International Version (NIV) “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good
things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such
love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above
all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we
can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
This is our 4th and last week of seeing Jesus in the common. The first week we learned about seeing Jesus in the broken bread, and how it is that we can understand Christ best in fellowship. Then we talked about seeing Jesus in the Good Shepherd and how he is with us in our deepest need and darkest moments. Last week we thought about seeing Jesus in the vine – and how that looks like sustenance and provision so that we can bear fruit.
This week as we close out this short series, we will talk about Jesus as a friend.
Did you know that Facebook limits the number of friends you can have? Yes, they have capped you to just 5000 people in your circle of influence.
It’s ridiculous of course to think you can have 5000 people that you are actually friends with. In fact, Oxford University has said that our brains actually limit us to 150 friends that we can keep actual tabs on, know things about, and the Dunbar number (that’s what that 150 is) is based on the idea that there are only so many people you can care about and contact (not just like a status) at least once a year.
If you actually tried to keep in touch with 5000 people in real life, you would not be able to do pretty much anything else. Facebook allows us to have more people we are loosely affiliated with in a specific way, without necessarily having to be deeply connected or actively engaged with on a regular basis – they give you a shout out for your birthday, you reciprocate – and unless you engage and talk with them on a regular basis, you can in this way “know” people you went to high school with, work with, and even sometimes go to church with.
When Jesus tells us he is our friend in this passage, he’s not talking about a Facebook friendship at all – he is talking about the kind of friend who is there for you, but who calls you out when you mess up, who supports you when things are dreary or wrong, but who also keeps you from drowning in self-pity. Scripture gives us pictures of what it means to be friends with God – from the Garden before the fall, when God would find Adam and Eve and walk with them in the cool of the evening. In Abraham’s wanderings, when God visited and told him of plans to eradicate Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as promising a son in his old age. In the story of David and Jonathan, we find a friendship deep and compelling – as one man’s father hunts to kill the other man, they sacrifice much and love each other like brothers. We see friendship even more clearly in the Gospels – in fact part of the Good News of the scripture is that our friendship with Jesus is rooted in the deep and powerful love he has for us. The love that brought him from heaven to earth to a cross and showed for us the victory over death that is represented by an empty grave in a garden.
One of the keys to real friendship is love – and unconditional love – but love that is reciprocal. So as we discuss our friendship with Jesus, the key question we will be working from is this: Is our friendship with Jesus a real one or a Facebook one?
I am using facebook as a picture of superficial friends – I’m sure you have REAL friends who are also facebook friends – but the fundamental difference between what I am calling real friends and facebook friends is the depth of the connection – the weight of that friendship.
Facebook friends will post pictures and you will like them, but you don’t know the truth of the story. You won’t see that three seconds before the selfie the toddler was biting his sister who was pulling mom’s hair who was screaming at dad who was looking at the cute blonde walking by – all you see is the snapshot of a family. From that you think you know them…but a REAL friend knows that they are struggling. A real friend is invited into that moment and soothes the baby, reminds the couple of their love for each other, and scolds the toddler. That kind of friend is engaged and the family is not afraid to show that friend who they are – because they are friends. That is the kind of friend Jesus is – one who knows our struggles, but not only that, one who wants us to show him our struggles. We can be vulnerable with Jesus, we can be transparent with him – and he will walk with us in that moment.
Facebook friends have a lot of opinions, hopefully some that our different than ours, hopefully some that make us think about our own positions. Facebook friends share fake news. Facebook friends give us information based on their experiences, but don’t necessarily care if that experience matches what we need or want or can use at that moment.
A real friend tells us what we need to know. A real friend is invested in truth – truth that instructs and builds and helps. Jesus IS truth – his truth is that his love and grace and mercy are bigger than our hates and sins and doubts and fears. His truth is available to us – but if we are truly friends – how often do we give our truth to him and let him transform it. How often do we recognize our limits and weaknesses and sins and give them to him? How often do we really let his truth become ours, how often do we allow his truth to invade our hearts and minds in such a way that it becomes embodied in us.
Facebook friends are those who we may know in real life, but most are not the ones that we are intentional about spending time with. Facebook friendships are built on clicking reacts or posting a gif: they have no substance, no depth, no relationship.
A real friend comes over for dinner. They are part of our lives in real ways – they eat with us, live their lives with us. Real friends are active and vital parts of our actual reality on a regular basis.
Jesus, too, invites us to his table – it’s why we celebrate it every week – but we have to also invite him to ours. Being a friend of Jesus requires us to allow him to be a part of what we are doing all week, not just on Sunday. In Acts, Paul says of God as he speaks to a group of philosophers: “In him we move and breathe and find our being, we are his offspring” This is very different than a casual interaction. This is more than a Sunday morning go-to-meeting relationship – it is instead a deep and full relationship that requires our daily interaction with each other. There is a reason God uses marriage and parent/child relationships as metaphors for our relationship with Jesus – because we are to be the best kind of friends, the kind of friends who talk every day, who whisper I love you in the dark and know that our friend has heard. The kind who walk together in the joys and sorrows and who forgive and who lean in. The kind where Jesus gave his life for ours. The kind where abundance is found in trusting and loving and seeing Jesus closely and beautifully and wonderfully.
As we come to the table today, we come in celebration of this friendship. We come recognizing how magnificent and wonderful it is that this friendship is not just Jesus loving us, but us loving Jesus enough to live in relationship with him, too.
We come to the table knowing there is room for us to love deeper and to live more fully as friends of Jesus – this Jesus who gave us his very body and blood in exchange for our abundant lives.
Transcript:
John 15:1-8 New International Version (NIV)
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
O God, whose Son Jesus is the vine that binds your people to himself,
Grant that we might bear much good fruit by remaining in him; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
This is our 3rd week of seeing Jesus in the common. The first week we learned about seeing Jesus in the broken bread, and how it is that we can understand Christ best in fellowship. Then we talked about seeing Jesus in the Good Shepherd and how he is with us in our deepest need and darkest moments. And today, we will think about seeing Jesus in the vine – and what that looks like for us.
I spent a lot of time thinking about vines this week. It is a little odd for me to think about vines and branches and pruning and fruit when I am definitely one of those people who has the amazing skill of killing any living plant in my care quickly and most efficiently. This is why I’m not in charge of our community garden and why I will do my best to never touch any of the plants put in there – I wouldn’t want to be responsible for what could happen!
As I learned about vines, specifically grape vines, as that is probably what Jesus’s hearers would have understood him to be referring to – the analogy of a gardener and Jesus as a vine and us as branches began to make a whole lot of sense to me. Jesus is so smart!
Jesus talks about remaining in him and he will remain in the branches – very important to the production of fruit from a vine is that the fruit only grows if the branch remains attached to the vine, if the branch is pruned of any excess leaves, and once it has grown for two years – the first year the branch can’t produce any fruit. Only the second year will the branch of any vine produce fruit.
The vine itself is dependent on the gardener – this is why Jesus points out that God, the Father, is the gardener. Everywhere in his ministry, Jesus consistently points out his reliance on the Father for his sustenance and work, and here is no different. Jesus reminds us that even he must trust the Father and be obedient to God in order to fulfill his mission.
We, too, must remain true to God and obedient to Jesus in order to fulfill our mission of making disciples. But our obedience doesn’t strictly turn into disciples FIRST, instead it creates fruit. What fruit are we to be known for? The fruit of the spirit - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – In Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, he says that the fruit is from the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’s ministry, he says we bear fruit by staying true to him, and that if we don’t bear fruit – if we don’t ultimately demonstrate our commitment by love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control – then we aren’t really in the vine at all.
Once the fruit is produced, there is an offering to those who aren’t in the vine. There is a custom in the Mediterranean, that as you walk by a vine you are welcome to its fruit. So as others walk past us – they should be receiving fruit from us. They should see how it is we live according to the faith that we have.
Jesus tells us very plainly in this passage that he is not talking to people that are not already his – instead, he is talking to those who have already decided they will be part of his Kingdom. He makes an interesting promise here as well – that if you are in the vine, and you remain in the vine and his words remain in you, then you can ask what you will and it will be done. The key here is that the more deeply you are rooted in the vine – the more what you want is what God wants. This is not about asking for a brand new Cadillac in the driveway, but it is about asking for the things that are after God’s own heart. You can only know that heart by seeking God, by spending time in his word, by spending time in prayer and intimate conversation with him – but you also need to be in community.
We had a pretty amazing thing happen here this morning – a church from a completely different background and theological underpinning has come and been a part of our service today. It almost couldn’t have been a better picture of what the branches of the vine do – since we are all joined to the same vine, we are part of the same Jesus, we are able to share our fruit not only with those not yet part of our community, but those who are also remaining in the vine. Pastor Justin and New Life’s worship team are just serving us because they serve Jesus, but it is that kind of community and fruitfulness that is necessary for all of us to grow. We cannot do it alone – Jesus says you can’t do it apart from the vine, and since the vine is a central connecting point for each of us, we can’t do it apart from each other either. None of the fruit is something you can do without being connected to others: how can you love if there is no one to love? I can be patient all day if I’m by myself, but what good is that? How can I be gentle alone? Everything we do as we remain in the vine that is fruitful has to be done in community – not just with non-believers, with those who yet need to be grafted in, but with those who are already grafted in. What would a vine look like if only one branch stuck out from it with fruit – pretty pathetic, I think!
One of the things I read this week was about how the wildfires in Northern California stripped the land clean and destroyed acres and acres of vineyards. Where once beautiful and incredibly fruitful vines had been visible for miles, now scorched earth and fruitless land scarred the geography.
But in places now you can see the beginnings of new plants growing. You can see the spots where life blossoms in the spaces where only death had been. And that is the picture of the gospel as well – where there is nothing, where only death had once been, it is there that the vine gets rooted and covers the space with new life. I believe in transformed people, because I know that we have been called to live differently because of our faith – but before there is any change in us, we are first brought from death to life – we are first set free from the chains of darkness and sin and hurt and heartache that bound us and we peek up from the ground as new creation where before there was only desolation and scorched earth.
The vine brings us the power to love and have joy and be at peace because the vine has infused us with life – that is the power of the resurrection power of our King – the vine of life that empowers us to be fruitful for the kingdom. We do this by remaining in him, by being pruned and worked by the Gardener, by living in community with others in the vine, and by being renewed and reborn in the life of the spirit that embues with a lasting abundant life.
As we receive communion this morning, let us remember that the bread and the cup are reminders, over and over, of the new life we have by virtue of the death and resurrection of our Jesus – the true vine that ties us to himself and each other.
TRANSCRIPT:
John 10:11-18 New International Version (NIV)
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Every week, I lead a Bible study at the nursing home here in town. It is not a very deep study, since most of the residents are not able to completely understand all of the ideas, and truthfully, most are looking for something to do during the day, but we read stories from scripture together and I pray for each of them. In the last few weeks, one of the residents has asked that I read Psalm 51 and Psalm 23 to them every week. I have started to do this – I open with Psalm 51 at prayer time and then I close our prayer time with Psalm 23. I do not know why those particular Psalms are important to the resident, but both of them talk much about the character of God and the ways in which God’s care for us is manifested in our own hearts and lives. Psalm 23, in particular, which we read to open the service today, gives us the perspective that God is our shepherd, that God pursues us, protects us, knows us, and walks with us. Shepherds are not as common in our day to day, but they are and were in Israel, where Jesus lived. They were and are common in other parts of the world, too, and in reading and learning about them and what they do this week, I have seen a lot of parallels. David’s poem in scripture is one of a Good Shepherd. It is one that tells us that God is our Shepherd. Perhaps it was thinking of David’s imagery that compelled Jesus in this passage. Jesus claims for himself the role of Good Shepherd for us, his sheep.
So how can we see Jesus in the Good Shepherd? There are a lot of ways in both this text and Psalm 23 where we can see parallels to how shepherds take care of their sheep and what it means to be a good shepherd, but there are three that we are going to focus on this morning. The Good Shepherd protects his flock. The Good Shepherd knows his flock and they know him, and the Good Shepherd is with his flock.
We can see Jesus in the Good Shepherd when we think of him as the protector of his sheep. Sheep are very peculiar animals. They have little in the way of natural defense mechanisms and so they rely significantly on their owner for protection. King David, who wrote Psalm 23, would have had a very keen awareness and a certain understanding of sheep and shepherds, because, as we know, he was in charge of his father’s flocks before he was sent to live with Saul.
He tells stories of his protection of his flock: bears, lions, and wolves would come and try to maul or kill and eat his animals. Jesus tells us that he will protect us from the wolves who are looking to break in and remove us from the flock. Those ‘wolves’ are not physical wolves, but they are the things that would keep us from following Jesus – sin and doubt and lies the enemy tells us to try and move us away from the one who has called us to him. We have rejected what the world tells us is right and good and instead, we cling to the One who is right and good. And when we do that, there are voices that would try to distract us from the truth – that we are valuable to God, that we are living more abundantly in God’s kingdom, that we are being transformed, that we are loved.
Jesus proclaimed himself the the way, the truth, and the life as well as the good shepherd. And so we answer the lies with the name of the Good Shepherd – Jesus. Jesus has proven our value, Jesus has promised and is giving us abundant life, Jesus is transforming us, Jesus loves us. This is how the Good Shepherd protects us from the enemy – the enemy that is sometimes just the words we say to ourselves in the dark. The whispered name of Jesus drives the enemy from us and draws us closer to the Good Shepherd who wants to keep us safe. You see, Jesus already laid down his life to protect us from sin and death. Jesus already willingly and obediently gave all of himself for us. When we call on his name, we are simply acknowledging the power of that gift – and claiming Jesus’s work on our behalf. Jesus can keep us safe.
The second way that we can see the Good Shepherd and know it is Jesus is this: Jesus knows us. He knows our name. We know his voice. We recognize him as the one who has laid down his life for us. In fact, I would say we are like the bummer lambs.
Sheila Walsh describes bummer lambs this way:
Every now and then, an ewe will give birth to a lamb and immediately reject it. Sometimes the lamb is rejected because they are one of twins and the mother doesn’t have enough milk or she is old and frankly quite tired of the whole business…
Unless the shepherd intervenes, that lamb will die. So the shepherd will take that little lost one into his home and hand feed it from a bottle and keep it warm by the fire. He will wrap it up warm and hold it close enough to hear a heartbeat. When the lamb is strong the shepherd will place it back in the field with the rest of the flock.
“Off you go now, you can do this, I’m right here.”
The most beautiful sight to see is when the shepherd approaches his flock in the morning and calls them out, “Sheep, sheep, sheep!”
The first to run to him are the bummer lambs because they know his voice. It’s not that they are more loved — it’s just that they believe it. We haven’t necessarily been rejected by our parents, but we have rejected the world, we have moved into a Kingdom the world can’t understand, and we do that without knowing so well that Jesus, this Jesus who is our Good Shepherd, he knows us.
He knows that some of us struggle with addiction. He knows that some of us wrestle with past hurts. He knows that sin you hide from everyone else. He knows that greed or selfishness or pride or lust or anger or jealousy that you harbor. He knows that spirit of unforgiveness. He knows everything about you – past and present. And he loves you. He knit you together in your mother’s womb, Psalm 139 tells us. He knows the scars you have, the wounds that aren’t scars yet, and the pain that can defeat you in a moment – and in every place where you see deficiency or lack – he whispers your name. He knows you – you are fearfully and wonderfully made – and he cares about you.
He won’t leave you in those spaces. When sheep are in a place where all the grass has been munched, they will stay in the same place unless the shepherd leads them to a new pasture. Jesus takes you from the places where you have lost everything, used everything up, and he calls you to the place of abundance and transformation. And because he knows you – it is the best place for YOU.
Scripture tells us that God sings over us, that our names are tattooed on God’s hands. That our inmost being is known and loved and cherished by the God who made us. Jesus knows YOU.
Finally, we see the Good Shepherd in Jesus by virtue of his very presence in our lives. Whatever we are going through, whatever the circumstances: he is with us. He promised us two things toward the end of his ministry: we would have trouble and he would be with us. It is that presence of Jesus that carries us sometimes when all else seems lost. He protects us and knows us, but he is also WITH us.
I have a friend who runs a farm in Maine. The last few weeks have been lambing season, and this one for her, this year was a very tough one. One of the first births this year was an ewe who had twins. Neither survived the labor. After the ewe went through all of that, my friend put her babies with her and the ewe was ‘talking’ to the lambs and to my friend, very quietly, very gently. My friend said “[the sheep] try to tell their shepherd”.
That is because they know their shepherd is there for them. The sheep try to tell their shepherd in the only language they have because they can sense the shepherd’s presence. The shepherd draws near in the places of deepest pain, darkest hurt. David says it in one of the most compelling ways – even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he writes, YOU ARE WITH ME. Jesus is with us. Every week, our benediction says “May the presence of Christ you have known today be with you through the rest of the week” and that is not a call for Christ to be with you – it is a call for you to recognize that he IS with you, that he has not left you. Jesus, the Good Shepherd is WITH you, is protecting you, is loving the you he knows so well. There are many more characteristics of Jesus that correlate with his being our Good Shepherd. But if we focus on these: He protects us, he knows us, and he is with us, we can rest in the knowledge that we can see the Good Shepherd when we see Jesus.
Before we go to communion today, it seems appropriate to read Psalm 23, from the most familiar translation, the King James Version:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Transcript:
Luke 24:13-35 New International Version (NIV)
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.
He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas,asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
“What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
I can practically see them: the travelers trying desperately to figure everything out. Wearily trudging to Emmaus, shoulders hunched, perhaps, feet shuffling, surely. It has been an odd day – Mary Magdalene and some of the others had gone early to the tomb where Jesus had been laid. Peter and John, summoned by their panic at the sight of its awful emptiness raced, too, to the place where he had been and where he was no longer. Angels said strange things – Why do you look for the living among the dead? Could Jesus REALLY be alive? Or were the Jewish leaders playing tricks? It was hard to think of them as having that kind of imagination, but the limits of their own imaginations were being reached – a living Jesus? But then Mary gave them more news later – Jesus had spoken to her! Was she to be believed? Even now, whispered interrogations were being held – Did he really say Peter’s name specifically? What did he look like? It seemed foolish to think her words and the bloody, bruised, dead Rabbi were compatible things. But the alternative explanations were just as strange, just as laden with unthinkable and unspeakable ideas. The two wondered as they walked, uncertainty and maybe a little fear coloring their voices and their demeanor. Another joins them.
It is Jesus. It is the very one they are discussing, but in their fear and confusion and sorrow and even longshot hope of a miracle, they are not seeing him for who he is. He asks them what they are discussing, and I love this moment: they not only tell Jesus everything that has happened, but essentially ask if he’s been living under a rock for the last few days! Perhaps Jesus would have been a little bemused by this, but his words take them to task for not already believing what they’ve been told and for not recognizing all the prophetic moments they have been a part of.
Randal E. Denny writes that then, “Jesus began an exposition of Scripture from each individual prophetic book, giving the first correct lesson on Messianic teachings of the Old Testament. He showed them the golden thread of grace running through the whole fabric of Scripture. It could not be separated from the scarlet thread of atonement. What a sermon that must have been! Jesus opened the Scriptures — developed, illustrated, and applied in himself. How I wish that lesson from the lips of Jesus had been preserved. Someday, in heaven, I hope Jesus will preach that sermon once again!”1
When they arrive at their destination, Jesus feigns leaving them, and they convince him to join them for the evening. They knew something was different about their companion, or at least they enjoyed his company – but still, even after all this conversation and discussion and sermon, they don’t know him.
They sit down to dinner, and it is as Jesus breaks bread that they suddenly realize who he is. As soon as they do, he leaves them. They don’t even finish eating – but run back to Jerusalem. What a different pace they set on the return to Jerusalem! What a different conversation! Their best hope is affirmed, they have had an encounter with the living Christ and it has, as it must always, changed them.
So it is in the ritual of the broken bread that we most clearly see the Jesus we need to see in our doubt, in our uncertainty, in our confusion. The God who raises the dead, the God who walked among us, gave us the simplest tool, the simplest illustration for our thick heads to really see him as he is: two halves of a loaf of a basic food staple. Jesus is visible to us in the commonest and most mundane of moments. I suspect this is why we don’t have the details of that Emmaus road sermon – we don’t need to understand those details the way we need to understand that we can see the risen King most clearly when we shed our sermonizing, strip away our impressive explanations, and simply break bread together. It is in breaking the bread, time and time again, that we see Jesus, and when we do, when we see him clearly in the grace of that moment, Jesus always changes us.
TRANSCRIPT:
I Corinthians 15:1-19
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas[Peter], and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Living Jesus, On this day, this resurrection Sunday morning, may every word of my mouth be a thought from your Spirit, Lord. May the empty tomb stand as a reminder of the ways in which you take us: dead and empty in our sins and transform us into living, breathing, masterpieces of your grace and mercy. In your precious, holy name – Amen
You may be seated.
He is risen.
He is risen, indeed
If it weren’t for the truth of the resurrection, I wouldn’t be here. Neither would you, for that matter, in all likelihood, considering that if it were not for the particular miracle of Easter morning, Paul would be remembered as Saul, a good Jewish rabbi who kicked those pesky Christ-following weirdos to the curb back in the day.
Because without the resurrection, Christ-followers are stupid.
Because without the resurrection, Christ-followers should be pitied.
Because without the resurrection, everything about what we do here: worship, offering, eating together, celebrating communion, EVERYTHING is foolishness.
Without a risen Christ, what do we celebrate? The death of another rebellious Jew in the age of the Roman empire? Probably not – I don’t know the names of too many other rabble-rousers from that period, do you? And anyway, why would it matter? Because he said nice things? Well, really, without the resurrection most of what he said is just…well…strange.
Many of his followers AT THE TIME thought so and quit following before the crucifixion because of it. He said to eat his body and drink his blood! What the..? That is simply NOT DONE.
He told us to be nice and to love our neighbors. But he also told us that he was doing his “father’s” work – meaning God. He also said that we should not worry, that we should live peaceably, and that the Holy Spirit – a comforter was going to come. He said he was going to die – but he also said he was going to be resurrected. So if he wasn’t – if he hadn’t been – everything else he said and did and was about becomes crazy talk from a guy who died a really horrible death.
James, Jesus’s very own brother, certainly seems to lend himself to the conclusion that the resurrection mattered. He didn’t believe Jesus while he was alive. In fact, he was kind of vocal about it. He went with his brothers and tired to get Jesus to slow his roll, to stop being ridiculous. What WOULD dad have thought? The crucifixion happens, and we know James was not among the disciples, because Paul specifically calls him out in our passage: “…After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”
James becomes the leader of the church in Jerusalem. James writes one of the epistles in the New Testament, but without the resurrection, James is barely even a footnote in the historical record of mankind.
Paul calls the resurrection the gospel – the good news. And that is what it is! The resurrection of Christ portends all of OUR resurrection hopes. It is the hope of every Christian in the world today – the hope of eternal life. The hope of a perfect body, celebrating the God who made us forever.
The resurrection is what defeats death.
The resurrection is what destroys sin.
The resurrection is what redeems and rescues and restores us.
Without the resurrection there is no good news.
Without the resurrection we are fools.
Without the resurrection none of this matters.
But there were hundreds who saw him.
And when Paul originally wrote this letter, in addition to himself, those hundreds and many of the apostles were still alive to tell the story of their encounters with a risen Christ.
Paul’s story of encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus is one he tells often in his letters – a reminder that he was one thing and meeting Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, changed him from the inside out.
That is the good news of the resurrection. The resurrected Jesus, the one who met Paul that day, is still the living Jesus we can encounter today. We sang “I serve a living savior, he’s in the world today” as part of our service today, and we did so because that resurrection, that livingness of our Jesus, is the most vital and important part of our faith. Without that miracle, Jesus is just the Jesus of the cross, the Jesus in a famous tomb, perhaps. The Jesus long forgotten by a world that has moved on from silly men with weird ideas of faith and life. The Jesus of a broken promise, a faithless God.
BUT THANKS BE TO GOD – we do not serve an unresurrected King – but a living Jesus. A Jesus who remains both fully God and fully man, a Jesus who sits next to God and intercedes for us. A Jesus who sent His Holy Spirit to empower us to love both our God and our neighbor. A RESURRECTED Jesus who offers us not only the beauty of a grace-filled now life, but the hope of an eternal one spent in his presence, thanking him for that grace.
This morning as we receive communion, we do so to remember that the road to the resurrection was paved with suffering, that it necessarily leads through a cross on Golgotha’s hill, but one that could not have ended there or we would not be here.
He is risen
He is risen, indeed
Tim: 00:01 That sounded like the Pentecostal Church, right there
Jennifer: 00:08 No, no, no...I just started recording. You said that. Oh my goodness. We were not speaking in tongues. I just want to clarify that. Speak that out. Straight up. I'm about to be ordained. Seriously, dude. Be careful (laughter) There are some people that would have a very big problem with that. OK, let's stand up as we read from Mark Chapter Eleven verses one to 11.
Jennifer: 00:49 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples saying to them, go to the village ahead of you and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you doing this? Say the Lord needs it and we'll send it back here. Shortly. They went and found a colt outside in the street tied at a doorway. As they untied it. Some people standing there asked, what are you doing untying That Colt? they answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the Colt to Jesus and through their coats over it and he sat on it, many people spread their cloaks on the road while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed, shouted Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest heaven. Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around and everything, but since it was already late, you went out to Bethany with the twelve.
Jennifer: 02:05 Let us pray. hide me behind your cross, Lord. Articulate your heart through my voice to your people. Let the transformation of our lives. be wrought thoroughly by the Holy Spirit's in response to your truth in this lenten season and always let us faithfully remember the sacrifice you made on our behalf to draw us to you. In your name we pray, Amen. You may be seated.
Jennifer: 02:36 If you've ever been to a wedding, you know what a procession looks like in modern times preceding, the person the day is all about are all the people who are part of the program but play smaller parts. The bridesmaids and the groomsmen, the flower girls, the ring bearer, they all walked down the aisle, but then the music changes and the congregation stands as the main attraction. The bride begins her march down toward her future, or maybe you've been to graduation. The professors enter first before the students who will graduate, and then the graduates come in behind. Again, the procession marks the beginning of the ceremony which will launch the forever changed status of the person or persons taking part. In two weeks. The Church of the Nazarene will hold an ordination ceremony and in much the same way, there will be a procession and a proclamation and a new future launched for those who will be newly ordained as elders and deacons in the Church of the Nazarene. and so as we look at this moment where Jesus comes into Jerusalem, he's participating in a procession. It actually launches an entire week of anticipation and actions that lead up to the cross, but all of those who are in the procession are expecting different things. Only Jesus knows that he is ushering in a new age of redemption. Only Jesus knows what it will cost him. Only Jesus accepts this. Praise as his due and yet anticipates that the same people in this crowd shouting, Hosanna, God, save us on Sunday will shout crucify him on Friday. You see the crowds. They're expecting a revolution that will launch a new leader, someone who will overthrow the Romans and set them free to be their own nation. Again, they're crowning him king over the nation. The disciples are part of that perception too: they're expecting the same kind of revolution.
Jennifer: 05:28 they just think they'll also be leaders. The PHarisees - They're not sure what to expect. What they know is they're very worried about what their Roman occupiers are thinking about this guy who's now coming into Jerusalem as though he's going to be crowned king The Pharisees, They're going to end this week believing that they have ended a revolt and knowing they have silenced a critic and are pretty sure, that they've eliminated a blasphemer. The disciples are going to end this week afraid and confused and shattered, unsure what's going to come next, not understanding yet what it is they've experienced, how all of the things that have transpired could have transpired. They're going to be at a loss and in pain and scared themselves for what will happen. Crowds, they're gonna end this week, the same as they have from every other possible messiah because trust me, there have been plenty that have come through these times that they're living in and they'll be disappointed that this wasn't the one, but they'll put on their pants and wait in hopeful expectation that the next one will be the one. Jesus. Jesus ends this week, dead not sort of dead, not kind of dead, actually, truly, completely dead. Knowing next Sunday is Easter. He will begin with a fresh hope, hope that we share a hope of redemption and abundant life transformation, freedom. Eternal life. but as he rides the donkey into the city of Jerusalem and his procession is one of victory and joy, Jesus knows that this is a launching. It's a starting point when in other texts when Jesus gets to the end of this procession, he looks out over Jerusalem and begins to weep. He says, if you only understood what I'm really here for, then we could be joyful. you're, you're not gonna. Get it. He says, if I could just gather you as chicks to a mother hen, he says, as he's weeping over the city, he accepts the praise and honor is due because he knows that he will be king and that's what this procession foreshadows is God's kingship. Jesus King kingship king of kings, but as he starts the week with a procession anticipating a coronation for Hosannas, he ends the week dead, crucified among jeers and insults. He was expecting the resurrection, the victory that will defy all expectations and change everything. The Hallelujah after the procession. As we get into this week of things that happen, I don't know about you, but if I knew I was going to die at the end of the week after being betrayed by a really close friend, I might not be so willing to spend a lot of time with that friend, I might not be so willing to spend time teaching the people who are going to abandon me. I might not be so willing to spend myself on their behalf.
Jennifer: 10:32 But every Gospel writer tells us that Jesus didn't like hanging out in a cave somewhere. He did a number of things in anticipation. He cursed the fig tree. He was doing miracles. He cleared the temple. He answered questions and challenges. He engages in debate. He teaches his disciples, in fact, spending extended amounts of time with them. He has a Passover meal with his disciples. He washes the feet of his betrayer. He spends time giving them final instruction. He prays in the garden of Gethsemane and he is betrayed, arrested, and tried moving from Jewish courts to Roman courts all night long, and then he is crucified. But by the time The next Sunday rolls around, he is also resurrected. The example that Jesus gives us in this week is one of living between the already the hose as of the procession that mark the arrival of the Messiah and the not yet the crucifixion that will redeem and the Hallelujahs of the resurrection that will end death forever. We too live in that space. We live between the already of Jesus's work and its result for us and the not yet of his return and the final judgement. We can learn four things from Jesus in that timeframe
Jennifer: 12:24 because in the already but not yet space. Jesus was very intentional about how he operated. He lived in community. Jesus was actively engaged in the events of the week. If anything, rather than spending less time with his disciples and those who followed him, he spent more time engaging them and teaching them, and that is the command that he leaves for us as well. We cannot do the work of the kingdom without the support and interaction of our community of believers, our a church family.
Jennifer: 13:03 the design and intention of the Kingdom of Heaven. The here and now, Kingdom of Heaven, the one we live and move and work in now is children of the king, is that it be lived and worked out as a fellowship. Jesus didn't hide. Neither can we. If we intend to follow Christ's example as believers, we must do so within the context of the body of Christ. The second thing Jesus did was he served others. He was still healing people. He was still performing miracles. He invested in the disciples, giving them final instructions, trying desperately to change how they thought about him, to prepare them for what was happening, going to happen,
Jennifer: 14:01 He was engaged and active in the lives of those. He was with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Were his hosts and Bethany, and that's where he spent his time outside the temple, gave them the great commandments to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. And his whole life was service, but these days between Hosanna and Hallelujah they were intentional and important things that he did that impacted those around him. The third thing he did, he prayed and spent time with God. Every single day he would spend some time alone on the Mount of olives. Luke tells us this, Chapter Twenty one of his book, each day Jesus was teaching and every night he went to the Mount of olives. In fact, there were two reasons why he did this. First, to spend an in-depth amount of time in prayer and petition to the Lord. second to establish a pattern for Judas, his betrayer, he set it up so Judas would know exactly where to find him. When they came to find him his final prayer on Thursday was a prayer of intercession. As much as it was a prayer of submission, we remember the, not my will, but thine and the sweating drops of blood. And that is an important part of it. But if you want to see who Jesus was, and understand how he was thinking. John's narrative of his prayer on Thursday and John Seventeen is an incredible testimony to the expectations Jesus has for us. The fact that he spent so much of that time praying for us as part of his final prayer is the key to helping us understand that his whole point of mission was us.
Jennifer: 16:17 he wasn't here for some lofty goal we can't understand and we can't see. He was here to redeem us, to set us up for saving relationship with him that would change us from the inside out. That was the mission that Jesus lived and died and lived again to complete, and that's the fourth thing. He totally surrendered himself to that mission. He gave himself over to those that would kill him. He set up the pattern so that they could find him. He stood silently before them. In keeping with the prophecy, he surrendered to the will of the father, to the plan that God had had from the moment of the fall. He gave himself willingly for the completion of the Kingdom work.
Jennifer: 17:27 So I ask you, are we participating in the kingdom efforts? The way Jesus laid out for us to do by virtue of our attendance this morning, we are participating in community.
Jennifer: 17:44 but are we engaged and active in that space? Are we serving others? Are we spending time in prayer? Are we surrendered to the kingdom? We live in the promise of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Are we living it out? Are we living it according to the example that he gave? I'm sure Jesus was tired and worn out, but he still practiced a kingdom life that was active and purposeful and we should be honored to do the same.
Jennifer: 18:23 As we prepare to worship at the table this week to receive our weekly grace deposit, I wonder how many of us I include myself in this are fully surrendered to Jesus. How many of us have given over our lives completely to him? It is my desperate prayer this morning and every morning that the answer is all of us that we know and love this Jesus who came for us to the fullest extent possible, that we spend time in community as a church celebrating in joyful remembrance of that gift that we serve others in light of his service, that we pray in intercession and as a way of spending time with him.
Jennifer: 19:19 we have given up all of ourselves that we can to all of Jesus that we understand,
Jennifer: 19:29 because that is the beauty of the season. We have the possibility of an abundant life, not one without care or hurt or pain or illness or all kinds of things, but one with peace and joy and hope that is given in spite of our hurts and care or pain because of the procession that celebrated Jesus crowning him king in Jerusalem when Sunday, 2000 years ago, and the knowledge that that procession wasn't the culmination of his work. It was the launching point of it. So today we celebrate the anticipation of the completed work in our lives as well. Just as Jesus did. And I pray that we know and experience that work as active participants in the kingdom. Jesus inaugurated.
TRANSCRIPT
Pastor Jen: This morning, we are going to learn about Rahab. Rahab is actually covered in Scripture in a number of different places. We will be looking at a few of them for the start. I actually give as my text James 2:25-26, but we're actually going to read about five verses this morning, and I'm going to let you know where we are in the process. I'm going to ask you to stand for the reading of the word this morning, and I'm going to start in James 2:25-26.
Pastor Jen: In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Pastor Jen: Hebrews 11:31. By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
Pastor Jen: Matthew 1:5. Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.
Pastor Jen: Joshua 6:25. But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
Pastor Jen: Let us pray.
Pastor Jen: Hide me behind the cross, Lord. Articulate your heart through my voice to your people. Let the transformation of our lives be wrought thoroughly by the Holy Spirit in response to your truth. In this Lenten season and always, let us faithfully remember the sacrifice you made on our behalf to draw us to you. In your name, we pray. Amen.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Pastor Jen: You may be seated.
Pastor Jen: As I was thinking about Rahab, I thought it was really interesting the way that Rahab is described throughout Scripture. You will have noticed that she is often described specifically by what her occupation was. It reminded me of one of the tours I went on in Scotland. It was kind of a funny thing. In Scotland, there's all this history, literary history. Lots of literary people were from Scotland, especially Edinburgh, where we were for a period of time. There's Arthur Conan Doyle went to university to become a doctor there. There is Robert Burns, who was a big poet. All these people. As we went on this tour and the guide took us to all these little places, one of the things he said was, frequently, "You'll see there's nothing marked here. You'll see there's nothing marked here." As we went on the tour, it became pretty obvious that apparently nothing in Edinburgh was marked. In fact, he told the story. He said when his kids were little, one of the first things they learned to say was "there's nothing marked here."
Pastor Jen: I tell you that story because sometimes when we're trying to figure out how things work, we get to places where there's nothing marked. One of the conversations that we had as a part of this tour was that names matter. The places that we go, the things that we do, those names and the things that happened in a particular place, they matter. So it is that we come to the story of Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute, and we see over and over in Scripture that that's how she's called. What that means in her time was that she served in the king's palace in a very particular function. She lived there for a period of time, until she got to an age where she was no longer able to and then she got moved. She was obviously wealthy because she lived in the place outside at the edge of town near the top near the gates, which meant that she had some means and was doing pretty well for herself at that point in time, which probably means that she was retired as well.
Pastor Jen: She was there, and here come these spies. To set the stage for you, Joshua was at one time a spy into Canaan himself. He was sent with Caleb. Once upon a time, Moses sent him and 11 other people into Canaan to investigate. They came back, and Joshua and Caleb said, "Let's go," and everybody else said, "Eh, not so quick. Not so fast. Let's ... brakes. Stop." So this time, when Joshua sends, and everybody listened to the 10 and not Joshua and Caleb, and so God punished them by telling them that they had to wait 40 years. So now all of the people who were of age when Joshua and Caleb came back, except for Joshua and Caleb, have now gone on, and all that's left are the younger generations, who are now going in to take what was rightfully theirs, what was promised to them by God in the first place. Joshua sends a couple of spies just because he wants to know exactly what's happening, but he does it secretly. He does it quietly. He sends them in, and they get to town, and they probably are pretty obviously Hebrew spies because they don't wear the same clothes, and they don't talk the same way.
Pastor Jen: Pretty quickly, they get picked out of the crowd. They happen to knock on Rahab's door, and she's like, "Get in here, you idiots. When you're spying, you're supposed to fit in." She brings them in and hides them up on her roof under some bags of flax. Not before too long, here come the counterterrorism unit from Jericho. That's probably not what they called it, but the guys who were looking for them, they come and knock on the door, and she's like, "Mmm. I don't know. Maybe they went that way. I'm not quite sure." She sends them on a wild goose chase that apparently takes them three days. Once they're gone, she calls the spies back and she says, "Hey, look. Let me tell you something. I've heard about you guys. I know who you are. I know who your god is. This is why I'm helping you because I know that your god is going to wipe us off the map if that's what He chooses to do, and I want to be on the side of right."
Pastor Jen: They promise that they will protect her and her family as long as they're in the house when the time comes. Mind you, nobody here, nobody in this story knows exactly how God is going to accomplish the conquering of Jericho. We all know the little song, Joshua fights the battle of Jericho and the walls come tumbling down. They don't know that song because it hasn't happened yet. They're actually sitting there going I don't know how God is going to go through 20-foot wide walls to get us into this town, but God said he would. Even Rahab believes that somehow the God who walked the Israelites across the Red Sea is going to make it possible for them to defeat this walled city. So the spies tell her, okay, hang out a cord, a red cord. Throw it out the window. We'll know it's you. We'll come and get you, and we'll make sure that you guys aren't among those who get taken down.
Pastor Jen: Some time goes by. They get out of town. They hide for a couple days. They figure out. They see the spies, trackers come back into Jericho, and they leave after they get back to town. Then there's some time that happens. It's several months before they actually get to the point where they come to Jericho. They go through this ... When they get there, I can only imagine what Rahab is thinking when she's sitting in her house, and for a week, these crazy Hebrews are walking around the wall because that's how God did it. God had them walk around the wall once a day for seven days, and then on the seventh day ... or for six days, they walked around it once, and then on the seventh day, they walked around it seven times, and at the end of that seventh time, they shouted and blew their trumpets, and the wall fell. What? Can you imagine? If you walked around this building — please don't do this, by the way — but if you walked around this building once a day for six days and then on the seventh day, you walked around it and you blew a trumpet and you shouted and it fell. That would be ridiculous. Sometimes, that's how our God is. He does the ridiculous to prove that He's God.
Pastor Jen: In any case, Rahab and her family are where they're supposed to be, and they're rescued. The rest of the town is defeated. But that's not the end of Rahab's story. Rahab is one of very few women from the Old Testament who is mentioned several times in the New Testament. She is always mentioned as Rahab the prostitute, which is like our hook for where we find her. It's the marker. In Edinburgh, nothing's marked. Rahab has a mark. Her mark is Rahab the prostitute. That's how she's known throughout all of Scripture. Do you know why she's known that way? Because God is saying, "Look. This is what she was, but here's where she wound up." Because let me tell you where she wound up because it's pretty cool. She wound up staying with the Israelites. She didn't have to. She could have gone anywhere she wanted. There was no requirement that she stay with the Israelites when she came out of Jericho. She could have gone anywhere she wanted to. She could have done anything she wanted to at that point, but she stayed with them. She stayed with them to the point that she married a man named Salmon. She gave birth then to ... Let me get the names right. Make sure I get this right.
Speaker 3: Boaz.
Pastor Jen: Boaz. Thank you. Boaz, who married Ruth, who was the great-grandmother of David. You might remember David. He was the king in Israel once upon a time. So she was not only rescued from this place where she could have died, but she became a part of the full story of redemption. She became a part of the story of Jesus. That's why we read the passage in Matthew because it tells us the lineage of Jesus, and there she is. Rahab. We hear about her in Hebrews, when they're giving a long list of the faithful in Hebrews. The cloud of witnesses includes Rahab the prostitute. It's all because Rahab heard the stories about what God had done and believed that God could do it again. She was rescued. She joined the Israelites. She became a part of the lineage of Jesus, and she becomes a representative to us of what it means for faith to be acted out.
Pastor Jen: The best part of Rahab's story is that even though Rahab is always known as Rahab the prostitute, that is not who she wound up being. She started there. That's where God found her. That's where she was at the beginning, but that's not where God left her. That's the same for us. Wherever God finds us, that may be who we are at the beginning. Maybe I am Jennifer the angry. I don't know. That's not who I am anymore. But that's who I was when God found me. And then God flipped the script. Whatever we were, God rewrites our story so that the label everyone else gives us is not our ultimate truth. Instead, our truth is that God's faithfulness and mercy change us, transform us into the continuation of God's story in the here and now.
Pastor Jen: Today, as we worship at the table, I ask you to remember the ways in which God has reclaimed you, the ways He has remade you, renamed you. Remember God's mercy and faithfulness as you receive today the gift of communion.
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