Monthly Archives: December 2024
Christmas Take-Away: Dis-Cordia- a sermon on Colossians 3:12-17
Christmas Take-Away
Dis-Cordia
Colossians 3:12-17
† In Jesus’ Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Chirst reveal to you the unity that exists between all those God has called to be His family, and whom He loves!
- The Preponderance of Discord
Back in the 1990s, there came into existence something called chat boards, and message boards. ChurchChat and ChurchUSA were places people would “gather” online and discuss their faith, in what was called “realtime.” You type your comment, someone else posts a response, or 20 others do. Similar boards were set up where the messages weren’t live, but one thread included messages responding to another—allowing t he messages to stand forever.
It was soon realized that both types of communication needed referees called moderators. Why? Because some people came in and were determined to cause trouble, and others simply Christianity with a much narrower lens, saying that only their “brand” of Christianity was acceptable to God.
Those desiring to cause division or those who caused it in ignorance had to be dealt with, and I was occasionally put in that role. I hated it, as it often meant I had to kick people out that had become “friends.” But sometimes the discussions proved so emotionally laden and divisive that it was reduced to name-calling, cursing and even condemning each other.
The modern versions of these programs, called social media, can are often this contentious. Twitter, FB, and other forms of social media seem to be prevalent with this, and one of the biggest is actually called “discord!”
Hear a few comments recently from social media,
“he recognizes no god and he prays for no one, he’s a vile decrepit (next words erased) crawling with the diseases of corruption”
“burn in hell (explicit)!”
“For sure it could not have been just for praying. (He’s) trespassing, embarrassing staff, threating people and the usual “b.s.”
And the one that scares me the most,
“I don’t pray for him”
All of these comments coming from “good, committed, every week church going people. No wonder the place where these were posted by Christians is named after the mark used to tell you an answer is wrong on a test…
Ironic, a place to exchange ideas is titled with a word that means “disagreement” and “a lack of harmony.” Discord is the opposite of a word we use around here all the time… Concordia.
And it is the opposite of what Paul writes to the church in Colossae, “4 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace.
That harmony, that peace is Concordia… and it is who we are!
- Dealing with faults
I think the discord we have to let Jesus remove from us is caused first by a lack of love. If we are not clothed with Christ’s love, we aren’t dwelling in mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness or patience.
Without that love, and all its companions, all that is left is pride and envy, which quickly turns to discord, and hatred. What does that result in? Well, what’s your first reaction to these words of Paul?
13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others!
If your reaction is “what about them?” or to ask what Paul means when using the phrase, “anyone who offends you” or even to try and define “faults” asking if that includes this and that sin, then we’ve got a problem!
A problem called sin!
And left undealt with, it will continue to rob us of God’s peace, and destroy and sense of Concordia, of harmony.
The problem is that we can balance having mercy with tolerating evil or sin. We struggle with that division, and rather than gently correct in love. In frustration with the error and we struggle with having the mercy, kindness, humility , gentleness and patience.
Yet those are what we are to be clothed in, that is what is supposed to define out life life, and that is where we find our harmony. Ity is not something that can be forced, anymore than a tree can force itself to bear fruit.
So where does Concord come from? And how do we delete discord?
- Chosen, and called to
- The Message filling your lives
The key is not in our effort, but in the work and glory of Christ, and the transformation that the Holy Spirit works in you while clothing you in Christ Jesus.
Verse 12, “ Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves…”
Verse 14, “. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.
Those sort of sound like we are responsible for the work, don’t they? After all – most of us dress ourselves – in my case, ethat’s easy to tell! 😊
But these are the work of God who calls us into this relationship and forgives our sin, literally separates or strips us of it. He takes us of our filthy rags, and we are clothed instead in Christ. It’s the same concept as Ezekiel’s words that promise the Spirit replaces out stony heart with a heart of flesh, or Paul’s words that talk about the transformation of our mind – the concept of repentance which the Holy Spirit gifts us with…
This is where harmony, where Concordia is created, by God in His presence as He transforms us. As the message of His love fills your life and your praises, as His peace fills your hearts and mind…
This is what your baptism is about, what communion is about, what prayer and Bible study is about, helping you do more that hear these words, but experience the truth of the love…
Paul instructs us to sing songs and hymns and praise songs to God, the more we take His message in, the more we are bound together, the more we sing with all the harmnony and with all the abandon we have!
For we are His…
Is the church still asleep in the light? (Oddly Enough, Pope Benedict XVI and Keith Green have the same solution!)
Thoughts that carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the cross.
“How long, you sluggard, will you lie there? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to relax, and your poverty will come like a robber, and your need like an armed man.” (Proverbs 6:9–11, NET)
“The world is sleeping in the dark, that the church just can’t fight, because its asleep in the light….”
. Every font is now charged with spiritual fire, and from every chalice we now drink sacramental blood. Adam mutinously ate from a tree and its fruit killed him; we meekly eat from the tree of the cross, and its fruitful flesh restores our life.
Thus, missionary zeal has nothing at all to do with the conquest of a person or people, but rather with enabling all to give their lives the deepest and most joyful meaning possible. The Church but reflects Christ’s light and permits people to experience in the Eucharist God’s presence in Christ’s sacrifice, and thereby the divine invitation to adore and glorify Him, the triune God.
My generation of church leaders heard the words of Keith Green’s song as a prophetic message, judging the church of its day, and their lack of helping people see the incredible intimate relationship we have in Christ. We swore we would never be like that, that our generation would be the one that would see the world change again, that as servant leaders of the church, we would see revival far greater than Azusa Street or Caine Ridge, a reformation and restoration of the church that had only been a dream for Luther and those who followed.
40 years later, our churches are even more empty, and “asleep in the light” is not just a spiritual statement, but often a physical one, as our leaders are no longer in their 50s and 60s, but many of them over 80!
We are asleep here in the USA, and in Europe, and the hope of the church has begun to be found in East Africa, and in the wilds of South and Central America and Southeast Asia and Korea. In those areas, the gospel in thriving, in ours it looks more like the living room during a bowl game, those that remain are snoring.
Our answers aren’t even really answers! They are hypothesis that are being un-retired, programs that mimic those which were once considered effective, or “modified” from those which seem effective now, without any study or long range success. Books written, seminars sponsored (usually led by formerly burned out pastors who weren’t successful) coaches contracted, all to achieve what should naturally be achieved, if we are being restored by the Body and Blood, nailed to the cross, which enters us each and every week!
The answer to spiritual apathy, to spiritual low-blood sugar isn’t monitoring and reading, it is having something to eat!
Pope Benedict XVI understood this in a similar way to Keith Green, as he describes the driving force of missionary zeal to be found in the intimacy of the Eucharist, in the presence of God as Christ has given Himself, (once and for all ) for us. That invitation into adoration that occurs during the Feast is life giving, life restoring, freeing it again from the life draining bondage of sin and a unrighteous world.
That’s why Keith ended his call to missionary action with these words,
Come away, come awayCome away with me, my loveCome away from this messCome away with me, my lovCome away from this messCome away with me, my loveCome away, come away, ohCome away with me, my love
In the sacraments, we find that we do “come away” with Jesus, only to find out that we awaken from our broken slumber, and see that others can be share in this life and glory of Christ as well… and we find ourselves given to this task… and content to see God provide the revival.
Keith Green, No Compromise – 1978
Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. 38). Emmaus Academic.
De Gaál, E. (2018). O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance: Explorations and Discoveries in Pope Benedict XVI’s Theology (M. Levering, Ed.; p. 53). Emmaus Academic.
Grace Revealed, Glory Revealed! A Christmas Eve sermon on Titus 2:11-14
Grace Revealed, Glory Revealed!
Titus 2:11-14
† In His Name †
May you always rejoice in the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ the way a six year old rejoices over the Christmas presents found in their stockings!
Intro: the glories of young Christmas
Most everyone I know has a Christmas from their childhood that they remember for certain present, or group of presents. Sometimes it is something big like a toboggan, other times it something we didn’t like, except at Christmas, like those old lifesaver books with 10 whole rolls of lifesavers in them.
Maybe its not your childhood, but your children opening the presents, that the memory is so precious that you want every Christmas to be like that! Where the joy is so prevalent that you almost match the angels and shepherds singing for joy!
Sometimes as we grow older, we get more cynical about Christmas, Bob Bennett sang his lighthearted song, “Christmas for cynics, like me” the other night, and I realized sometimes I am the old ground, a match for any Scrooge, and even act like the grinch, desiring to steal other people’s joy as well as my own.
What steals that grace
There was one mem family who used to ruin Christmas for the others, well at least he tried to for his older brother. You see, mom and dad mostly got us the same presents. So if one of us got underwear and a shirt, the other got one, maybe a different colour but the same pattern and style. If one of us got a cassette player, so did the other.. So what the younger brother did was he found ways to determine what his brother got, and then he would know.
But he might leave enough evid4ence to show the package was tampered with…and since he always got in trouble, they never suspected the younger, more intelligent child, and perhaps geekier looking one to have done ANYTHING wrong.
We all have Satan playing a similar role in our lives, as we are tricked into doing things wrong, as we fall into temptation and evil. That is why Paul wrote Titus, 12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures.”
Note he didn’t write this to unbelievers, but believers, which means that some believers have problems with godless living and sinful pleasure! If that is you, take courage, there is hope.
We’ve already admitted we need to be healed from sin, we need the help that came and was laid in a manger, born of a young virgin girl,
The glory lit up the skies that night, as His star pointed to His birth, as the grace of God came and dwelt with us, so that we could know that God could and wanted to restore each of us as His child.
That is what this night is about =-revealing the incredible grace of God, the grace the archangel testified to when he said “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” Well pleased being another way of saying those who receive grace from God, those whom are restored from the havoc sin causes in their life.
This is what Christmas is all about…
That God came to us, determined to live with us. Who came to restore what sin had stolen, to pay for the punishment that sin deserved.
That wonderful day!
In Lord of the Rings, Gandalf learned that hobbits have a second breakfast, (and a second lunch and so on) We have a second Christmas—the day Paul refers to as that wonderful day, that glorious day when the glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. The day oif the second coming, the second gathering of Jesus, of His people.
That is the day we await for now, the return of the Messiah, when the glory of God is revealed, not just in Jesus, but it is shared with us.
Because He came once, and as Paul writes, “14 He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. Titus 2:14 (NLT2)
And I pray hoping for that day, brings you the excitement of a 6 year old, waiting to see what they got for Christmas… time a million.
AMEN!
Christmas Take-Away: Being Alone! A sermon on Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalm 2, John 1:1-14
Christmas Take-Away:
Being Alone
Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalm 2, John 1:1-14
† In Jesus’ Name †
- Deadbeat Doug
The man was a legend in our time, He travelled the world, never really held a job, just did odd things here and there. He could have done so much with his life—he was an excellent speaker to youth, a professional volleyball player, a really good musician.
And he was everywhere and nowhere.
He would show up at your apartment and ask to sleep on the floor, or in the tub, or on the couch. He could easily eat you out of house and home, and never helped with the chores. He would always
push you to the breaking point, then he would move on to another friends, or even just sleep in his battered old VW bug, with the surfboard on top, the old battered guitar and the bag of volleyballs.
But the next year he would show up – you would remember the deep, late-night conversations about God, the incredible times where ½ dozen guitars would be pulled out, or and you would welcome him back with a smile and a hug as you carried everything in….
He was always at home wherever he went.
Dead beat Doug was his nickname at points, or hobo Doug, but the man was at home in the world, and in your refrigerator!
And as I think of all thought about the line in the gospel reading, that Jesus, “became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.” I thought of Doug and how he could do that, even though I haven’s seen him since 1988, I halfway expect him to show up for brunch.
That way of being at home, putting his feet up up and staying a while, can make a huge difference. And as we celebrate Christ coming into our lives and making His home with us—there is one difference, Jesus never leaves.
- Being alone
As we’ve looked at what God promised to change when Jesus came, he took away so much, and today, as we look at Jesus making His home, with us, feeling free enough to put his fee up on the furniture, Jesus takes away something else, the idea that we are alone.
That is why Isaiah says that beautiful are the feet that brings the news He is coming, that’s why David says that the only ones who have hope are the ones who kiss or embrace his feet, like the prostitute who washed those feet with her tears and her hair.
I think this si the easiest day in the calendar, and the most needed ot talk about how God is at home with us, that He removes loneliness from our lives by simply not letting us be alone.
It’s the day when we see Him as a baby, something to cuddle and hold, rather than the omnipotent King of Kings and Lord of Lorrds who is coming to judge the living and the dead, whose Kingdom never ends.
This is the day when being terrified with God is replaced by being afraid we will drop Jesus as we hold him,
Our fear changes to awe, our hesitancy to deal with God is changed to desiring to hold Him, to embrace him,
And then as we read of His life, that awe turns to wondrous joy!!
It is then that beholding His glory change, as we realize we are and will be enveloped by it, not just witness it from afar….
This is Christmas, literally the Christ’s gathering, This is the joyous day, when Christ comes in and makes his home with us…forever! AMEN
Advent Take-Aways: Fears and Anxieties A sermon based on Zephaniah 3:14-203
Advent Take-Aways:
Fears and Anxieties
Zephaniah 3:14-203
† I.H.S. †
May the peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Chirst drive away all the fears and anxieties in your life, that tell you that you don’t belong in God’s presence… for you do, you are His child!
Introduction
I had to have been fourteen or fifteen at the time, and if I was normally extremely self-consicous, that evening I was that times 100. I don’t even remember the event, it could have been one of the dances my folks, or a wedding of one of my aunts, or my grampie De’Luca’s seventy-fifth birthday, but I had to get dressed up… in a tuxedo.
I remember feeling so anxious and nervous, and afraid that I couldn’t eat or drink. I didn’t belong in a tux, in a fancy hotel ballroom, surround by al these adults all dressed up. I kept on thinking someone was going to come over and tell me, “Kid – go home, you don’t belong here…”
To be honest, there are a lot of times I geel like I don’t belong—especially at celebrations, and especially if I am considered one of the V.I.P.’s.
I imagine the shepherds would feel that same way, as they were buzzed by ten of thousands and tens of thosands of Angels, and sent to witness Jesus laying in the manger – what me? I can hear the shepherds voice, eerily echoing the attitude of Moses as he encountered the burning bush,
6 I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. Exodus 3:6 (NLT2)
Or Isaiah’s cry, 5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”
Isaiah 6:5 (NLT2)
To use the words of Zephaniah, they “felt the hand of God’s judgment,” and because of that, were more uncomfortable in the presnce of God that I was in a tuxedo….
And the reason for joy is that, hand, that discomfort would be removed!
- LAW – the hand to be removed
Of all the impact of sin described by Zephaniah, the one that strikes me as the harshest is seen in verse 18—as people mourned over the high feasts…they were a disgrace
So great was idolatry and immorality among the people of God that there was no joy, heck there was no desire to hear the incredible words that God accepted the sacrifice, that they were forgiven.
The temple went through the motions, and the ceremonies became boring, just a ritual, without any faith, without any expectation of God’s mercy in the eyes of those who were participating in the sacrifices.
Let me explain it this way, imagine that we are having church, and during the words of confession and absolution, we had a football game up on the screens, or a cartoon, or a soap opera. And then during communion a numch of people went up in the choir area and started dancing while in the back in that corner a poker game was going on and that side a wineand cheese tasting event…
Or maybe that is just where our minds and hearts are…
What good would absolution do, if no one really heard it? What good would it be? How could we share in the blessing of Chirst’s body that was shed, and theblood that was spilled if we don’t take it and eat in faith….
We don’t have to imagine it, the Apostle Paul addresses it clearly.
“That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.” (1 Corinthians 11:28–30, NLT)
That sounds like a disgraced feast, one to grieve over! One that brings no joy, just a box we checked off on some list of obligations.
The concept is the same, as we sin, as we do not look for God’s grace to cover or make excuses for our sin, we neglect God’s love, and what He would give us…
Just to make sure we all understand, the idea of examining oneself is not about passing or failing and examination, or having to look at yourself and anazlyzin every little detail. It is about looking at the tux in the mirror and realizing it isn’t right, and crying out to the One that Zephaniah and all the other prophets spoke of,
- Gospel – The hand is on the cross – where al are gathered – where all are named
Let’s go back to Zephaniah’s prophecy and the hand of Judgement… hear the promise again,
14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 For the LORD will remove his hand of judgment…
I lovethe picture of the Lord removing His hand of judgment from us, for I know that hand’s next movement, to stretch itself out on the harsh wood of the cross, and for this we shouldsing praie and shout We should rejoice with all our heart, because knowing what happened on the cross enables us to experience the feast of God, to make our time at the altar more than just an empty ritual.
It becomes the place of joy, for until we are in heaven, this is the fulfilment Zephaniah’s words, “I will bring together those who were chased away. I will give glory and fame to my former exiles, wherever they have been mocked and shamed. 20 On that day I will gather you together and bring you home again.”
This is home, this is the family feast., this is the place to rejoice that God has given us the chance to be his, This is the place where God takes away our fears and anxieities, making us comfrotable in His presence, because Christ has taken his hand of judgment away, and clothed in His righteousness – and comfortable in those clothes…
And then Paul’s words to the church in Phillipi will describe you,
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT2)
AMEN!
Can a Lutheran (Or Catholic or Presbyterian or) Pray for Revival?
Concordia Lutheran Church – Cerritos, Ca , at dawn on Easter Sunday
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the Cross
““So I will set apart as holy the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will set apart as holy Aaron and his sons, that they may minister as priests to me. I will reside among the Israelites, and I will be their God, and they will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, so that I may reside among them. I am the LORD their God.” (Exodus 29:44–46, NET)
544 The Communion of the Saints. How shall I explain it to you? You know what blood transfusions can do for the body? Well, that’s what the Communion of the Saints does for the soul.
I don’t know why I felt the need to write on revival this morning, and to be honest, I didn’t see the connection at first in my devotional readings. The seem as far from the concept of revival as the horizon seems to the sailor in the Pacific Ocean.
What great thoughts ar expressed in them though! The idea that God’s reason, His “so that” for the Exodus, was not just so they could recognize Him, but that He could reside, that He could dwell with us! And as He does this community that is formed with Him in Him and through Him becomes the place of the transfusion, as the trust in God that sustains this saint becomes common to that one. Where the hope of that little group becomes the hope for all, as we are reminded of the Lord’s presence,
And as I long for those thoughts to become reality at Concordia – I realized what I was longing for was the result of revival–it is the end game result, the people of God knowing the love of God for man that enables us, no that compels us to share the life we’ve been given.
All the rest that goes with revival, from the repentance of people who have learned to grieve over their and their communities’ sins, to the flood of new music, to the care for those who are widowed and orphaned and who have immigrated to the community, are complimentary and caused by the people of God dwelling in His presence, communing together, as they are made God’s.
But it is the communion, the community of God and man (all of us) that is the goal. Not the change in morality, though that will happen, nor is it about filling every church and planting thousands of others-thought this will happen as well. It’s not about political agendas, or denominational superiority. It is even about the signs and wonders that happen…..
Revival is simple- it is about people rejoicing in the presence of a loving God as He cares for us.
And this we can all pray…even as the psalmist did:
6 Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? 7 Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
Psalm 85:6-7 (NLT2)
Escrivá, Josemaría. The Way (p. 117). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Advent Take-aways: Distractions! A Sermon on Malachi 3:1-7b
Advent Take-aways:
Distractions!
Malachi 3:1-7b
† I.H.S. †
May the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus purge us o all distractions, all impurities that would weaken and cause us to break.
- The Spots get all the attention!
In today’s reading from Malachi, there are two illustrations about cleansing and purifying, one is doing so with metals and furnaces, refining or smelting metals. I don’t know much about that, besides what I read. The other illustration is something I am much more familiar with…
I think there is a law that governs such things, at least in my life.
It is definitely guaranteed, that if I am on the way to an important meeting, I will spill something on me that will stain the shirt I am wearing. It could be mustard, ketchup, hot sauce, the grease from a burger or burrito, or even someone bumping into me with a cup of coffee or tea…
But there will be a stain that can be seen 50-75 feet away!
Guaranteed!
Then, during whatever presentation I am doing, I can feel people staring at the spot on my shirt, they gain a laser focus, and everything I say is lost, for the stain distracts everyone…
That’s the nice thing about preaching in a robe… 😊
But that only covers the sin…err the stain
(at least that means you cant see it!)
- The distractions
That big stain on my shirt becomes an issue when it distracts people from the message, or when knowing it is, and people will think I am a slob, or a klutz, or both. Or they don’t even have to focus on it – I know its there and stain there, and thinking others are focused on it will distract me!
The same thing happens with our sin, the unrighteousness in our lives. There was once a book called the “Scarlet Letter” where the sin of one person was marked on their forehead. Sometimes sin is that clear to the world, if not marked on their forehead, then at least shared on Twitter.
And even if the world doesn’t know yet, we are panic that they might come to know our dirty dark secrets. If that is not enough to cause some anxiety, there is this,
5 “At that time I will put you on trial. I am eager to witness against all sorcerers and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people do not fear me,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
It’s one thing for people to know what my sin is, and it is very hard to live with the hidden sins, the ones whose guilt and shame rob us of peace. But to think about God almighty testifying against us and judging us should be terrifying.
The guilt and shame for those God speaks against must be, more than we can bear. And don’t be confused, this isn’t just about those sins listed—they are just a sampling – it would include those who idolators, and those who do harm in word or deed to others, to those who engage in extra-marital intimate relationships and gossip and trying to be equal to or better than the Joneses.
This is part of the nature of Advent – looking at both our world and our lives and realizing that even we, the people of God, need to delivered from our sin.
Our sins, as in ours individually and those our our community.That is the cry of Advent, the cry of Faith, trusting in God and His nature to compassion and do what He’s already said he would.
- The Gospel
But Malachi is clear about the hope we have,
6 “I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed. 7 Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
God doesn’t change – he will clean the laundry of our lives, erasing the stains with the strongest cleaner ever – the blood of Jesus. He acknowledges he could have destroyed all the sinners, and would be right in doing so,
But He promises reconciliation – with a simple promise – you come back, we’re back. If that means he needs to do ur laundry or cleanses us from great.
Remember – the promise was that He purifies the gold and silver, he removes the stains, He cleanses our souls. This was the prophecy of Malachi, and the message of John we heard this morning.
It is here we find our identity, in Christ, not as broken sinners, but as healed members of His family, as those made righteous because He left His throne to come bring the glorious light on God into our darkness.
All those sins that we dread to think about, He removes, and they become no more than passing distractions that are brushed away, as God embraces us. The stains will be long forgotten, washed away with a trace remaining.
This is what we consider in Advent, as we still deal with some of the earthly consequences of them – but even there God can work, bringing His healing and reconciliation to bear. But even those are minimized as all are reconciled to Jesus, as we look forward to a day when we all see Jesus, as clearly as Mary, Joseph and the shepherds did one glorious night as angels sang.
So let us eagerly look forward to the 2nd advent, rejoicing in what God has done, and is doing even today.
Today, as we dwell in the peace of God, which is beyond reason and understanding, but one we are treasured and kept safe in by Jesus! AMEN!
A History of God working with Us! A History of Compassion! An Advent Sermon on Psalm 25:6-7
A History of God working with Us!
A History of Compassion
Psalm 25:6-7
May the compassion of God our Father, shown in the coming Christ, in His birth, death and resurrection – for you—convince you that are loved, and that you will endure in His peace!
- A History of Compassion…
I had a thought, now It was more visual than that, a vision of God’s face back at the beginning of time that astounded me in its clarity. I was the face of an old man, preceding to walk into His precious garden, to spend time with the two people He love more than anything else.
As He heads towards them, a sound reverberates through the trees, louder than anything else, crashing and drowning out the sound of animals, and the wind, and the water running through the rivers. The sound of teeth breaking the skin of a fruit, and as I looked at the old man, I see the tears begin to pour down His face, as He cries out “Adam! Where are you!”
We think we know the rest of the story, how God boots them out, punishes them with lives full of pain and hard work. But we don’t see the compassion, the way that God the father looked at them, and could not kill them—as was the promise, the guarantee of breaking the only commandment they knew, and choosing to know evil.
We see it throughout scripture, this compassion.
We see it in the mark God puts on Cain, removing from him the curse for murdering His brother. We see it shown to Noah’s family, to Abraham and Jacob. We see it show to the rebellious idolators Moses tried to guide through the desert,
And so it is no wonder, that David can cry out the words Jim read a moment ago,
6 Remember, O LORD, your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past. 7 Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth. Remember me in the light of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O LORD.
Psalm 25:6-7 (NLT2)
God’s compassion – shown to every believer and sinner from Adam and Eve forward, was so historically proven that David could, without hesitation, cry out for it…. And be sustained by it.
And so can we…
- My Need to Cry out – to see His compassion
And we need to!
Heck – let me be honest, I need to cry out with David! I need to see it!
And knowing all that history the work God ha done with other sinners, encourages our crying out for God to act—for we know that is His nature, that is who He was, who He is, and who He will always be.
A compassionate God who loves His people, and revives and restores those dead and broken in sin.
If it wasn’t for all the history of God doing this in scripture, I would believe it was too good to be true. Those stories exist too, the prodigals who wander away, and are slow to come back. Those convinced they are so unclean, so controlled by their past sins, and the unrighteousness that surrounds or surrounded their lives, that this would never happen…
And we get to be the latest historical (and hysterical examples)
- Dad’s here…
The gospel reading tonight shows it again – this is the Kingdom of God. I didn’t have to go back over the sinful history, and so we skipped that part of the prodigal’s story.
Here’s the important part, told slightly differently,
“Our Father saw us coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to us embraced us, and kissed (yuck?) us…. It goes on to say, for this child of mine was dead and has returned to life, He was lost, but is now found,’ So the party began.
I don’t have to tell you we each need His compassion – we all know our brokenness – the sins we commit, the injustice seen in our lives and communities that so devastates us. We know that stuff – all to well.
But we need to know the Lord’s compassion, His mercy, His forgiveness… His love.
By needing to know it, I don’t mean like providing a Sunday school answer, I mean to experience it with ever
If you are wandering, or dwelling in the pigslop, if you’ve been unfaithful to God, it’s time to come home….knowing God’s track record…and coming to know His embrace..
So come… and let the party begin!
May the compassion of God our Father, shown in the coming Christ, in His birth, death and resurrection – for you—convince you that are loved, and that you will endure in His peace!
- A History of Compassion…
I had a thought, now It was more visual than that, a vision of God’s face back at the beginning of time that astounded me in its clarity. I was the face of an old man, preceding to walk into His precious garden, to spend time with the two people He love more than anything else.
As He heads towards them, a sound reverberates through the trees, louder than anything else, crashing and drowning out the sound of animals, and the wind, and the water running through the rivers. The sound of teeth breaking the skin of a fruit, and as I looked at the old man, I see the tears begin to pour down His face, as He cries out “Adam! Where are you!”
We think we know the rest of the story, how God boots them out, punishes them with lives full of pain and hard work. But we don’t see the compassion, the way that God the father looked at them, and could not kill them—as was the promise, the guarantee of breaking the only commandment they knew, and choosing to know evil.
We see it throughout scripture, this compassion.
We see it in the mark God puts on Cain, removing from him the curse for murdering His brother. We see it shown to Noah’s family, to Abraham and Jacob. We see it show to the rebellious idolators Moses tried to guide through the desert,
And so it is no wonder, that David can cry out the words Jim read a moment ago,
6 Remember, O LORD, your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past. 7 Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth. Remember me in the light of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O LORD.
Psalm 25:6-7 (NLT2)
God’s compassion – shown to every believer and sinner from Adam and Eve forward, was so historically proven that David could, without hesitation, cry out for it…. And be sustained by it.
And so can we…
- My Need to Cry out – to see His compassion
And we need to!
Heck – let me be honest, I need to cry out with David! I need to see it!
And knowing all that history the work God ha done with other sinners, encourages our crying out for God to act—for we know that is His nature, that is who He was, who He is, and who He will always be.
A compassionate God who loves His people, and revives and restores those dead and broken in sin.
If it wasn’t for all the history of God doing this in scripture, I would believe it was too good to be true. Those stories exist too, the prodigals who wander away, and are slow to come back. Those convinced they are so unclean, so controlled by their past sins, and the unrighteousness that surrounds or surrounded their lives, that this would never happen…
And we get to be the latest historical (and hysterical examples)
- Dad’s here…
The gospel reading tonight shows it again – this is the Kingdom of God. I didn’t have to go back over the sinful history, and so we skipped that part of the prodigal’s story.
Here’s the important part, told slightly differently,
“Our Father saw us coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to us embraced us, and kissed (yuck?) us…. It goes on to say, for this child of mine was dead and has returned to life, He was lost, but is now found,’ So the party began.
I don’t have to tell you we each need His compassion – we all know our brokenness – the sins we commit, the injustice seen in our lives and communities that so devastates us. We know that stuff – all to well.
But we need to know the Lord’s compassion, His mercy, His forgiveness… His love.
By needing to know it, I don’t mean like providing a Sunday school answer, I mean to experience it with ever
If you are wandering, or dwelling in the pigslop, if you’ve been unfaithful to God, it’s time to come home….knowing God’s track record…and coming to know His embrace..
So come… and let the party begin!
Advent Take Aways: Take away Injustice! Jeremiah 33:14-16
Advent Take Aways
Take away Injustice
Jeremiah 33:14-16
† In Jesus’ Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrate what righteousness and justice truly is, even as you share in Christ’s Justice and Righteousness!
- God Gives…God Takes Away
Looking at all the Advent readings for this year, a common thread started to appear. Or perhaps it would be good to say was that the common thread was that things disappeared.
You see, the coming of Christ, whether the first coming, or the second coming we wait for, means radical change to life – as things which haunt us disappear. In this sermon series, we will watch the distractions that corrupt us be taken away, then the fear and anxiety be taken away, we see our-self-centeredness taken away…and we will consider what their absence means…
It all starts with what is taken away in today’s reading, as the promise of God is heard,
And injustice is dealt with
And what is left, when Christ comes, is the complete absence of injustice and its corollary, unrighteousness, is truly amazing…
- The Take Away
If we are going to talk about injustice, we better define what is not just, what is not right, what is not fair. Just, right and fair are all the same word in both Greek and Hebrew.
The problem is that most of us, injustice is slanted heavily in our favor, as we cry out about a call in a sporting event. “those refs are blind”, like a child accusing another of an unfair advantage. We do the same thing when we hear of someone’s court case, or a business deal, or a war.
We assume, and often demand that others acknowledge that we have all the information, that we know all the rules, and that we have the responsibility and authority to judge the matter! Whether we are on the playground, or trying to force peace on the Holy Land.
This is where it gets a bit…challenging. Unless we not only know exactly what happened, and exactly what the minds were thinking and hearts were feeling, our judgment of what is injust or just is biased, and therefore sinful!
Yeah – we can be the ones who back injustice, even when we claim to be defending justice! God’s standard of justice versus injustice has no grey area, it is complete. Anything less than 100% perfect is unrighteous, anything biased where we claim it isn’t fair or righteous is simply sin—we’ve decided to make God in our image—we’ve credited ourselves with His purity, with His omniscience, with His righteousness and justice!
And let’s face it, that isn’t us!
For us to pray to end injustice affects our attitudes and behaviors as much as the world’s
- What that Leaves Us
So the promise from Jeremiah deals with the taking away of injustice. It is the focus of the entire passage. It starts with
14 “The day will come, says the Lord, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good things I have promised them. 15 “In those days and at that time I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. (Jeremiah 33:14-15)
Here is the promise of the first advent – the coming of Jesus—the descendant of King David. The difference between Jesus and every other descendant of David is simple—He is righteous—remember- that is the same word as just!
Here is the standard, here is the One whom everyone else is going to be measured by, and in him, there will be hope—a hope that was always promised, a hope to restore the people of God, and the glory of His people that was seen in the days of King David!
But the way Jesus deals with injustice is not through legislation, the establishment of His kingdom is not through political intrigue, or brute military strength. That is what the world still struggles to understand, as it sees injustice as something that has to be overwhelmed.
Instead, injustice is dealt with by Jesus by His taking it upon Himself at the cross. That is the real way to deal with it, to let it be laid on Jesus, as Isaiah prophesied,
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. Isaiah 53:4-6 (NLT2)
This is why Jeremiah says, 16 In that day Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this will be its name: ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’
You see, this is the key—Jesus doesn’t just provide us righteousness as someone would deposit or credit us money. Jesus is not just why we are righteous—He is out righteousness.
It is our union with Him in baptism, where we are united with His death, and He cleanses of us sin and all injustice and He becomes our righteousness. He is our Righteousness…
As he takes away the injustice -all of it, at the cross –leaving us freed from it. This is the hope of the second advent, the day when Injustice, already defeated Is banished.
And until that day, The Lord Jesus will protect you, as you dwell in the Father’s peace which is beyond all understanding. AMEN!
