Category Archives: sermon
Life: God’s Version of Take Your Child to Work’ Day Week 8 – The Job Isn’t Done, yet! A sermon on Amos 8:4-7
Life: God’s Version of Take Your Child to Work’ Day
Week 8 – The Job Isn’t Done, yet
Amos 8:4-7
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace and mercy of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ sustain you, until the work God began in you is completed as Jesus returns!
How do you know the work is over?
As we talk about going to work with God, today we are going to look at the great moment when the job is done.
Or more precisely, how do we know when the job is done?
When we are kids, I don’t think we understand this all that clearly. We might finish a small task and go, “Dad, we’re done!” and think it high time we go and celebrate!
Until Dad lets us know that the little task we had completed was just the first of many!
“But Dad, I filled the wheelbarrow liked you asked, can’t we go now?”
“No son, now we make the concrete with the sand and the cement mix, then we get the rocks and make the wall….”
“but Dad, that will take for—-ever, and I am hungry now…”
“Be patient, there is more hard work to do…. “
So I’ve got a question for you…
As we work with God in this life, are you ready and willing to keep working with Him?
Are you sure? What if the work is hard?
What if the work isn’t just trying to save the world, but you are the object of the work? What if you are the one God is finishing what He started to recreate?
Or we could you hear yourself telling Him, Lord, we finished the work?
The Law ( Oh and is there law!)
The passage from Amos describes God’s message to His people, as He continues to do the work while He walks with them. You see, they messed up the job a little, and caused some delays, and God must…work on them a little.
The passage is brutal, getting right to the point as God points out their sin. God goes right after how they treat their neighbor, taking advantage of them the moment, they walk out the door of church,
“so you can get back to cheating the helpless. You measure out grain with dishonest measures and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales. 6 And you mix the grain you sell with chaff swept from the floor. Then you enslave poor people for one piece of silver or a pair of sandals”
Now, all these sins are against one’s neighbor, but you may be going, whew, those aren’t my sins. I mean when was the last time Nancy mixed chaff with the wheat she was selling someone? Or the last time you used that scale that you knew was off… in a business transaction.
Wait, does lying to the doctor count here?
Or do you “own” some people who went into debt with you?
Or is there something deeper at work here?
The Real Sin, Behind the Sin
One of the problems with Amos is that we don’t recognize the primary sin here, and there fore we can’t recognize the gospel in the passage that deals with the sin.
We look at what we consider the big sins, the ones committed against other people.
Did anyone notice I missed the big sin in the passage?
You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end…
Here is the issue—what leads us into deeper sin is our rush to end our time with God and get back to “real life.” The second commandment – to treasure the sabbath day and keep it holy – they couldn’t waste their time finding rest and restoration by knowing God’s love, and instead they wanted to get back to …whatever they thought was more valuable than worship and prayer, than hearing God’s word and communing with Him.
I’ll be honest, there are times when I’ve been distracted by life, and wanted to get moving past some pastor’s conference worship session or end a Bible Study. Sometimes the reasons sound good, other times
And it is that attitude towards God, that point where time with Him doesn’t matter compared to something else, that we begin to act and believe like others don’t matter either.
That is where sin begins, where neglect of our relationship with God
That is what James is talking about, when he writes about God’s law not being a bunch of different sins that are ranked, but rather, “8 Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 9 But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law. 10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. James 2:8-10 (NLT2)
So if God’s going to do the work, on us, with us, wouldn’t it be beneficial if we aware of the work?
Did anyone see it in the passage from Amos?
It’s there!
The Grace, Where We Didn’t See Grace
It’s a challenging discussion, enough so that I wrote several other pastors and Jim and Bob to see if they saw it. Didn’t even sleep on Sunday night, as I could not see the gospel in these verses, something that would give us hope, because of the death, burial and resurrection.
And then I saw it, right there in verse 7,
7 Now the LORD has sworn this oath by his own name, the Pride of Israel: “I will never forget the wicked things you have done! Amos 8:7 (NLT2)
God’s not going to forget our sins! That’s incredible news! In those words, we find the gospel, and it is amazing!
It doesn’t sound like good news, it doesn’t sound like the gospel! That sounds like condemnation! That sounds like every sin is going to be remembered and God will crush us for them….
And if God remembers every time we neglect Him, every time we sin by not loving our neighbor as ourselves, we are in deep doo doo.
But the Hebrew there means that He won’t forget to deal with the sin. It doesn’t say He won’t deal with it, or that He will just right off the one committing the sin. God won’t forget our sin, means He won’t forget to deal with it.
Amos and the people of God didn’t know how God would deal with such sin, they had no idea of Grace. They only knew that sin would get punished…they never saw Jesus taking the punishment we deserve
They didn’t know of the cross.
They didn’t apply Ezekiel 37 and God putting His spirit into the bodies He created from the dead dry bones in the Valley. They didn’t believe he couldn’t save us, and bring back to life that which was dead in sin.
They didn’t realize what we testify to..
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
(He is risen indeed! Alleluia)
and therefore
(We are risen indeed! Alleluia!)
God indeed will never forget our sin, and He will never forget He dealt with that sin at the cross!
We have to understand this job, God doesn’t do it half way, He completes it, He doesn’t forget our sin, nor will He ever forget He did something.
Which is the point of the prophetic message, to help us realize the promise of Christ, and God not forgetting, but dealing with our sin, at the cross. And because of that death and resurrection, He will never forget He dealt with that sin.
When we know that, the peace of God, which passes all understanding, yet in which we are safe, our hearts and minds, by Christ Jesus.
For the Joys Set Before Us! Week 1: The Celebration Set Before us! A Lenten Sermon based on Deuteronomy 26:1-11
For the Joys Set Before Us!
The Celebration Set Before us!
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ create in you a great desire for the Celebration when we are before the Father’s throne!
- The Boring Commands of Deuteronomy?
I would love to ask this question of you all this morning, but I won’t. I will state the question anyway.
“How many of you have read the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy?”
Maybe I should ask it this way, “How many of you enjoyed reading the Old Testament Book we call Deuteronomy”
Yeah, when we think of Deuteronomy, we usually don’t think of pleasure and enjoyment. If we know the book, it’s basically a cross between a pastor’s manual and California Penal Code, detailing the law of Moses, and the punishments for breaking those laws God put into play.
But some of the laws…well, you almost can’t think of them as laws. I mean – hear this one, “— This is a time to celebrate before the LORD your God at the designated place of worship he will choose for his name to be honored. Celebrate with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites from your towns, and the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live among you.” Dt 16:11
Here’s a command from God… CELEBRATE!!!
Oddly enough to not do so, is a sin.
It doesn’t sound so much as a command in our reading this morning, but it is, “11 Afterward you may go and celebrate because of all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household. Remember to include the Levites and the foreigners living among you in the celebration.
Have a great celebration, ahave an incredible time celebrating how good God is, and be so amazed by that goodness that you drag everyone in town, including all the pastor types and immigrants to the celebration!
That’s why they call them Old Testament Feasts!
And while the Jewish people in the desert looked forward to that feast whey could finally enter the Holy Land, we have a feast to look forward to – one with God, as we boldly enter His presence, and are welcomed home.
- The Preparation/Confession
Here is a question for you.
How longer after a incredibly successful Advent Tea do you think it is prior to Carol and Linda starting to prepare for the next Advent Tea?
This year I think they were procrastinating, because they waited until after church on Sunday before they asked me about the theme for Advent 2025. Obviously procrastinating!
Preparing for the feast to be held when Israel finally entered the Holy Land took 40 years! Forty years of dealing with the sin that had ensnared Israel after they were freed enslavement in Egypt.
When they finally arrive in the Holy Land, what they are commanded to do is to remember and confess that God had to rescue them.
5 “You must then say in the presence of the Lord your God, ‘My ancestor Jacob was a wandering Aramean who went to live as a foreigner in Egypt. His family arrived few in number, but in Egypt they became a large and mighty nation. 6 When the Egyptians oppressed and humiliated us by making us their slaves, 7 we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors. get us out of Egypt with a strong hand and powerful arm, with overwhelming terror, and with miraculous signs and wonders!
They had to confess a need to be rescued and that God did that! Oppressed and humiliated, they needed to be helped, even as God had already told them He would.
Lent is our memory, not just of oppression and bondage to sin, but of the way in which God sustains His people and prepares them for the feast. Whether that is the feast of Israel, or our feast celebrating the Lord’s Supper, or what both are a glimpse of, the feast in heaven of all God’s people gathered in His presence.
- The Feast
That is what this is all about – from the feasts on the Sabbath and the Lord’s Supper on Sundays, to Passover and Maunday Thursday/Good Friday, to Tabernacles and Pentecost – all are a picture of the celebration that occurs when all who are rescued by God arrive before His throne. Every thing in Christianity points to this incredible celebration that is set before us, that we are moving towards, in which we are promised entry, because Jesus would die on the cross and rise again to guarantee it.
Hear the words again,
“O Lord, I have brought you the first portion of the harvest you have given me from the ground.’ Then place the produce before the Lord your God, and bow to the ground in worship before him. 11 Afterward you may go and celebrate because of all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household. Remember to include the Levites and the foreigners living among you in the celebration.
While we are in Lent then, why don’t we spend as much times as we can, considering what God has provided to us through Jesus Christ, and then praise Him for it!
After all – when we think about what God has given to us from the ground, we might be able to remember the words from the other night, and remember that we are what came to life, as Christ was planted in the ground!
And then, let’s feast—including all those who, like the Levites serve the people of God, and those who are not yet part of the family…the foreigners living in our midst….
After all, we are commanded to enjoy this grace, together!
From Glorious to Glorious Light: The Glory FOR All – a sermon on Luke 2:22-32
The Glory FOR ALL!
Luke 2:22-32
† In Jesus’s Name †
May the grace, mercy and peace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be reflected through you, lighting up the lives of those captive in the darkness!
Intro – Uhmm –WHAT DID HE SAY?
This morning, I came across the words of a pastor/theologian that were so concerning, and so contrary to the very gospel reading this morning that I had to adapt, almost re-write the sermon to contain them.
He wrote,” If people don’t like the idea that we are supposed to perform acts of love more for some people than others, just wait until they find out that God loves some people more than others”(Fr. Mike Totleben on Twitter, 1/31)
I want you to think about that for a moment, what he is accusing God of, that God plays favorites, and therefore, we should as well.
He would later go on to determine who he thought God should love more, which was disappointing, because it wasn’t about helping the least of these, but rather helping the people who were just like us.
In view of Simeon’s words, in view of Jesus’s words about being there for the hungry, thirsty, stranger-(that is the word for an outsider, with different cultures, languages etc), the naked, sick and imprisoned at the judgment day, I am in shock at the pastor’s words. And what about Jesus’s and the Apostle Paul’s words about loving our enemies, and adversaries?
But it gets to the heart of today’s message – which is how we see Jesus and His kingdom. And how that imprints how we live, and think.
What Do We Want the Messiah to Be?
If it wasn’t for the presence of the Holy Spirit guiding Simeon, I think he would have been gravely disappointed that day in the Temple. All his life, and a very long one by the averages, he had been told he would see the arrival of the Messiah, the hope of Israel, the Savior of the nation. That morning, as he is walking with the Holy Spirit, he is told, “today’s the day!”
I imagine, that if he wasn’t filled with the Holy Spirit, he would be looking for a mighty warrior priest, surrounded by 10,000 holy warriors, all doing their best imitation of Chuck Norris!
But he looks around, and the Holy Spirit says, there! And he looks and again, “there!” and he’s shaking his head, for all that was there was a couple with a tiny infant…all exhausted from an 10 mile hike up hill, that morning
Uhm – “God—are you sure?”
Israel had expected a savior! One who would save them—not only from the Romans, but from the powers that be within their people. The Pharisees expected a Pharisee Messiah, the Sadducees, one of their own, the Herodians didn’t care where the Messiah came from, as long as he would work with the Romans, and the Zealots and Essenes had their visions of the Messiah, made in their own image as well.
I don’t think we are any better today. We expect Jesus to be like us… not in appearance, that would be disappointing, even horrifying in my case. But with our views, with our judgements, who loves only those we love, and hates all those who aren’t like us. And who would only help those people like us, that we approve of..
We might not say it that bluntly, but we do play those kinds of games –choosing our own favorites, and expecting God to only bless them, and therefore, we only have to help…them.
And let me be blunt, assuming we know who God loves and doesn’t love, and narrowing our ministry to only them… is sin.
And we need to change…
The Hope of Simeon
The great thing in this passage is that Simeon isn’t speaking as himself, full of the Holy Spirit, he is rejoicing in the fulfillment of the promise—that this baby would change everything…far more than anyone could ever dream… well unless he was a prophet!
30 I have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared for all people. 32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” Luke 2:30-32 (NLT2)
All People, to the Nations – the myriad of ethnicities, the people of Israel—the equivalent to people like us…
All people – sharing in the light and the glory—
By the way, I need to note that Simeon’s words are simply Old Testament passages—in fact 5 times in Isaiah the idea of the Messiah being a light to the Gentiles is covered!
God’s glorious love, enveloping people like us, and people we don’t think are like us. People who are completely compatible to us, and those that tick us off and drive us crazy.
That is who Jesus came to save—not just the “favorites” but all people. We don’t get to pick and choose, for God so loved the world that He gave…
To us, for there is two things everyone in this world, and everyone in history can be defined by.
The first is that we are sinners, that we’ve rebelled and disobeyed God. We are pretty good at defining who some sinners are…but we all are sinners in need of deliverance.
The second is that Jesus came into this world to be our Savior. To save us all from the sin that ensnares us.. all.
So that He could be our light and our glory, and love.
Let’s pray for His peace to be given to all He loves. The peace that comes with being delivered, being saved, that comes from dwelling in Jesus. AMEN!
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…
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!
The Plan: Revealed and Realized. Hold on to the Plan: the Promise and the Hope! A sermon on Hebrews 10
Hold On to the Plan: the Promise, the Hope
Hebrews 10:15-25
† Jesus, Son and Savior †
May the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be etched into your heart and soul-encouraging you to enter His presence!
Hold On!
I had dinner with a couple of high school friends on Thursday, but even as I was looing for to it, a memory of our infamous trips in Alain’s VW van to Magic Mountain. There were a lot of fun memories there, and one very painful one.
It happened on what was a brand new ride, I think it was the first week it was open. Very tame by today’s standards, 4 people sat next to each other, the car was hauled up the tower, it hung there for 5 seconds or so, and then dropped 131 feet- without notice. Back then, it was a lot, though today similar rides drop 300 plus feet.
The only problem was that it took until after sundown to convince Jeff’s date to join us on the ride! It was quite dark by the time we got on it, and as the roll bars dropped into place, she was terrified.
And instead of gripping the roll bars, she grabbed our arms. Not a problem for Jeff, who played football, but the skinny geek I once was… well she bruised the entire arm as she held on…tightly!
That is what the epistle of Hebrews tells us to do this morning, to hold tightly. Not to each other! It says,
“23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.” Heb. 10:23 NLT
Hold on to that hope, that promise, what we’ve been looking at for all of October and November – the plan God has for our future and our hope!
I Don’t see what to hold on to!
The problem Jeff’s lady friend had was she couldn’t see what was going on. She had no idea how things we going to happen, as the car when plummeting straight down into the darkness. There was absolutely no control, and so she held on to whatever she could find.
In the Old Testament, it was much the same – they knew God was doing something, but they had no idea of what, and they had no control, so they would do what was right in their own eyes.
That was why the reading starts out talking about the sacrifices outside the tabernacle and temple daily. And once a year, the high priest would enter the holy of holies with the blood of the sacrifice to anoint the mercy seat, securing the people from God’s wrath for another year.
Here is how the Tabernacle was laid out. Outside the tent, at a distance, the twelve tribes would camp. That would be for most people, all but the Levites and priests. They were allowed in closer to the tent, in the courtyard where washings and basic daily sacrifices would occur. That is why in many old designed churches, the baptismal font is out there in the entry way.
In the holy place – where you are all sitting – only priests could come to serve, to offer prayers and other ministries. But here – right here was a floor to ceiling curtain—so think you could not see anything through it…and behind it was the ark of the covenant, with two golden angels glowing over it and between them, what is called the mercy seat – where the blood would be poured out, the once a year offering for all the sins of God’s people—to put aside condemnation.
But the people never saw what went on – even all the other priests could not see in, they could only hear the bells tied to his robe as he moved, and though they knew what should happen, there was no way to know it was happening. The curtain clearly block the view into where God was at work…on His throne, accepting the offering for sin.
So, like us, they took matters into their own hands, releasing their hold on the hope, and the plan… the sacrifices meant nothing, because they didn’t trust in what was promised! They didn’t believe God and therefore they didn’t trust in the plan!
People do that today, if they don’t now God, how can they trust in Him? How can they understand this glorious plan?
So they do what they can—they trust in whatever they can make with their hands, and create in their mind. They try to find peace in the habits they acquire, or the relationships they have with their family, their work, or who they want in charge of their city, state, or country.
And they give up on the promise, “I will never again remember their sins or lawless deeds!”
Now you can see (the curtain is torn apart)
Continuing with the analogy, Jeff’s lady found the comfort and peace from knowing Jeff and I were there…
That is what the gospel does! It reminds us of what happened because of the cross, it shows us the blood that was spilled to cover out sins, spread out on the most Holy place.
Hebrews says it this way,
19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.
Now hear the account of Jesus’s death,
50 Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, 52 and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. Matthew 27:50-52 (NLT2)
Now, the blood that was not poured out in the Temple could be seen, on the mountain called Golgotha. The sacrifice of His blood covers all of our sin, cleansing us. That is why Hebrews goes on to say,
21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:21-22
Just as the High Priest has to be cleansed, so have we been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, This is the hope we cling to in the midst of this life, so often broken by sin…
This is the what we confess and affirm, this is the testimony of the Old and New Testament, now clearly seen, and celebrated!
One pastor put it this way, “The Christian faith has only one object, the mystery of Christ dead and risen. But this unique mystery subsists under different modes: it is prefigured in the Old Testament, it is accomplished historically in the earthly life of Christ, it is contained in mystery in the sacraments, it is lived mystically in souls, it is accomplished socially in the Church, it is consummated eschatologically in the heavenly kingdom.
This death and resurrection of Jesus—we were joined to it in our baptism according to Paul, gives us access, not just into the Holy Place, but past the curtain into the heavenly Holy of Holies, where we fellowship, where we commune with God.
Everything in scripture points to that death and resurrection. Our service, like that of the tabernacle, pointed to it. Why?
So we can grab on to the cross’s plan, the promise of our future and our hope. That is what matters in life, and gets us through death.
This is everything for us…
So hold tightly to it, this plan, this promise, this hope…
And help others do the same.
For the peace of God, which is beyond all understanding it yours, as He holds on to you! AMEN!
God’s Plan! Revealed and Finally Realized! The Plan to give us unrestricted access! A sermon on Heb 4:14-16
God’s Plan! Revealed and Finally Realized!
The Plan to give us unrestricted access
Heb 4:14-16
† I.H.S. †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ assure you that you are welcome before the very throne of God, even when you are in need of forgiveness!
Access
The young man swept an ID card at the Pepperdine Senior faculty/administration parking lot gate in front of me. He got out of the car, and pried open the control box, and just as he was about to hit the manual overrise to open the gate, I asked him what he was doing.
He claimed he worked for the Director of University Card Services, and he was checking on the box to see if it was functioning. He said he did this all the time, and was allowed to park in the parking lot.
I asked him what the name of the Director was, and he looked at a business card and said, Dustin Parker.
Of course at that point, our public safety sergeant Mick showed up, and said,, “hey Dustin…..how are you doing?”
The look on the young man’s face was precious…
Not only was he not granted access to that parking lot that day, he would never need to access that parking lot or any other parking lot for the rest of the year, as his ability to have a car on campus was suspended.
At the same campus, the card services manager, who was responsible for all the computers in food services, was granted access to the senior faculty, administrators dining room. It was a fun place to eat, as some of the discussions were incredibly interesting. Not to mention the food was incredible, and not expensive! I didn’t deserve the access, but accepted the gift and the blessing of it being given—by the one who could grant it!
Restricted Access
When access is restricted, many of us begin to assume it is because of injustice. We, or someone we love, can’t get into the right university, because we don’t have the right connections, or the right money. We can’t get a foothold in the career we want because of some demographic reason, We can’t get the car we want, or the house, because we don’t economically qualify for it, or we can’t get the best medical care, because we don’t have the right insurance.
Well – at least in that instance we can talk to Helena…
Or perhaps we don’t like that others have easy access to what we fought so hard to get, because they do have some connection!
This includes access to heaven—we often think we deserve it because we are good, or because we did something special, or because we were born into the right family, or the right place and time.
Or we believe we don’t belong in heaven, if we look at those same works, those same connections, those same points of origin, we know we don’t belong, that we belong in a different place.
It was no different in the Old Testament, as the Tabernacle and then the Temple were commissioned, when people weren’t satisfied that only on family, in one clan were allowed to enter the Temple, and only one person in that clan could enter the Holy of Holies, the place where grace was made known—between the wings of the cherubim, where the blood would be poured out….and that only once a year.
Yet others would try to take that role, including King Saul, and so many others…and in doing so, they denied themselves the very grace they originally sought.
Their access to heaven is much the same as the young man’s access to the admin/faculty lot – there wasn’t any. And the more we try to get access by our own right, the more trouble we get ourselves into…the more we are tempted to sin, especially to find idols, or make ourselves into an idol. We often know when we’ve done that, when we want to judge and condemn others.
Unrestricted Access
There is much more at stake here, than having to park in the gym parking lot and climb 268 steps straight to get to the bottom level of the campus classrooms! We needed someone to get into, not just the holy place in the temple, nor the holy of holies, but to get to the throne of grace the place where sin is completely nullified where we are welcomed, and receive the mercy, the grace and help which we need.
That is where the high priest comes in, in this case, Jesus, our perfect high priest. For he not only enters heaven, the Greek word there in reminiscent of a penetrating blast that a swat team would use to enter a building….
The kind of thing that happened at Christ’s death, when as He died on the cross the foot think veil dividing the holy of holies from the holy place. He penetrated that barrier for us, and did the same thing for heaven, enabling us to enter through the veil that once blocked people from accessing the throne of grace.
Going back to the idea of access…and the Executive Admin and Senior Faculty Dining room for a moment. You didn’t go there, unless you were… well hungry. And hunger was satisfied, more than that! Likewise, going into the Holy of Holies was meaningless, unless the mission was to see people forgiven, their relationship with God, and with each other restored as they were redeemed. It is the same concept in Hebrews, hear it again,
“16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
We aren’t perfect before when we are drawn to Christ – that is His work – that is why he opened the route in to the throne. It is there we find the access to the healing we need the reconciliation, and the transformation that is repentance.
And then we are welcome there forever, but it is there, here in the presence of God that we receive the incredible mercy and grace. Because of Jesus, and His death and resurrection, we shall always have unrestricted access to the glory of God…
God At Work in Our LIves: The Thesaurus Sermon…. on Ephesians 1:3-14
God at Work IN OUR LIVES!
God Adopts US! The Thesaurus Sermon
Ephesians 1:3-14
† In Jesus’ Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ assure you—that you are a child of God!
Double the praise!
As I read the passage that we are looking at this morning, I thought Paul was in what I call “Thesaurus Mode.”
He wasn’t just doing the ancient technique of repeating what he said twice, He repeated, then summarized it, then retaught it, then restated it, then he explained it, then he said it again!
I think that means he wanted us to get the point he was trying to make—
A really basic thought, but one so incredible that he has to surround it with the only thing that made sense.
Verse 3, “3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
And verse 14, “we would praise and glorify him.”
The anticipation and reaction of this incredible message begins with us in awe, worshipping God and ends with us praising and glorifying Him,
So what is the message? What is the word? What is the news?
His Plan, His Decision, His Will, His Promise
Well, the first part of the message is to communicate that this was always what God wanted to happen.
In verse 4 it says, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ.”
In verse 5 it repeats the idea , “God decided in advance”
And
“This is what he wanted to do”
He keeps the idea going,
Verse 9, “God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan”
and going,
verse 11, “for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.”
Verse 12, God’s purpose
And finally in verse 13, whom he promised long ago.
Seven times in 11 verses, Paul tries to reveal that this is not some last-minute reaction to do something about our brokenness, it is something that from before day 1 God determined to do.
I think we need to realize that, more importantly, I think God, who inspired St. Paul to write these words, knew that we would be broken, and that we needed to know how deliberate God was in dealing with that brokenness.
And how the sin of the world, the sin of our community and our own sin breaks us, for it certainly does.
We need to know God was always prepared to deal with this brokenness, this sin, and bring healing to us. He reveals that over and over in the Old Testament, as you see in the Psalms and the minor prophets.
God knew… and God planned to take care of us… even at our most broken.
Even if that is today… He’s loved and chosen, decided, wanted to, mysteriously planned, chose in advanced and promised to act in our lives….
DO you see what I mean by saying this is a message communicated using a thesaurus?
Blessed, United Brought, Adopted , identified, His inheritance, His purchase
But it’s not enough to tell us God’s intent… we have to know what God intended to do to us….
So, verse 3 blessed us with every spiritual blessing because we are united with Christ,
Verse 4, loved us and chose us in Christ, to be holy and without fault in His eyes
Verse 5, God, adopted us into His own family by bringing us through Jesus Christ,
Verse 6, we see God pouring out His glorious grace on us who belong to His dear Son.
Verse 7 He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins,
Verse 8 showered (baptized us ) with kindness and with all wisdom and understanding
Verse 10, God brings us along with everything under the authority of Christ,
Verse 11, He gives us (the ones who were broken) an inheritance from God, and makes it all work according to His plan.
It goes on to describe this as being for all us, both Jewish people who were the first to trust in Christ, and the Gentiles who heard and believed, in verse 13 are saved and identified as His own…
It says there also that He gives us the Holy Spirit , and verse 14, He gives us that inheritance, to all He has purchased to be His own people!
So to summarize, He blessed, united to Christ, loved, chose, made us holy and without fault, adopted us, bring us to Himself through Jesus, poured His glorious grace, purchased all of us with Christ’s blood, baptized us with kindness, wisdom and understanding as He places us in Christ, gives us His inheritance, saves us, identifies us as His own, gives us the Holy Spirit… and again purchased us—so that we can be HIS OWN PEOPLE!
Wowza….
Praise and Value
Seems like we should value and recognize all that work that God has done!
That is what it means to praise and glorify Him, as we recognize all of this!!! That is what it means to praise and glorify Him—because of what happened as Christ died on the cross, and rose from the dead, and what He does as He baptizes us, as He justifies and sanctifies us…..
This is our God, this is the message God wants to us to know, and what He communicates through St. Paul…
This is why we praise Him, not just because He is almighty, and all knowing… but because He reveals to us His love, and the action that love for us who are broken… and He makes us His own….
Amen!
Cry out! “The Lord is With You!” A sermon on Gabriel and Mary from Luke 1:6-28
Cry Out:
For He has answered!
“The Lord Is With You!”
Luke 1:26-38
† Jesus! Son! Savior †
May the grace and peace of God which passes all understanding enable you to ponder the depth of His love. For you and your world. Amen!
- Hail Mary… full of grace, the Lord is with thee..
As someone who grew up Roman Catholic, hearing the gospel this morning seemed, well, a little off.
I mean, I know it is perfectly accurate when it says,
“Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
but I will always hear this passage in the way I memorized it as a kid,
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee….
It means the same thing – and we have to understand what it means, and more importantly, why it means that….
It is not for us a prayer to her, but as with so many in scripture, an opportunity to contemplate the work of God in her life, that we might comprehend His work in ours.
The reason for this is clear, though we don’t carry Jesus physically for 9 months, we are still united to Him, because “we are favored by God”, or to use the old words, “we are full of grace!”
- Confused and disturbed – at a message from God?
Before finding out she was about to become pregnant, Mary reacted to the presence of the angel, and his opening line about being favored—filled with grace.
It isn’t a bunch of “praise the Lord!” and “Alleluias.” She was in shock. The older translations say she was “greatly troubled,” but the modern translation does a good job—she was “confused and disturbed and she tried to think what the angel could mean!”
If she was confused and disturbed by an angelic being telling her she had been found in favor with God, that she would be blessed beyond belief, how much more would she be confused by the idea of carrying Jesus for nine months and giving birth to the One who would die to save mankind?
But we have the same confusion when it comes to God visiting us. We have the same reaction when God is calling us to something – especially if it is difficult and may leave us open to ridicule, or lead to uncomfortable conversations.
Who me God? How can this be? I have never done anything like this before!
Or maybe we answer like Moses, I am to shy, I can’t speak, I don’t have the charisma, I am not the right age, I don’t want to go live in the desert, I don’t….
It’s not that we don’t believe in God, but we struggle to depend on Him when what He has planned for us is beyond our imagination, beyond our comfort zone.
It would so easy to say “no”, it would be so easy to say, “that’s impossible, it would be so easy to dismiss the call of God on our lives.
Or so we think….
- Our Response to the Word of God not failing
The angel gave her an answer, this is how it will be, and here is a great thing you can do to confirm this, go check with your cousin Elisabeth, she’s got some interesting news… even though she’s over 75-nearly 80- she’s pregnant! You remember her – the one everyone gossiped about because she was considered cursed and barren…
Now I would suggest – even hope that none of our 70 plus year olds would have to get pregnant for God to make His point about your life being one that is special, but if it has to happen….
Seriously, we have a promise that proves it, the presence of the Holy Spirit given to us as we were born again with Him in baptism. The Holy Spirit who Jesus promised will “teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” John 14:26 (NLT2)
It is the same thing that Paul taught about when he wrote,
“18 I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people, 19 and how very great is his power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength 20 which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world.” Ephesians 1:18-20 (TEV)
That Holy Spirit, who came upon Mary and resulted in her pregnancy and our salvation, is at work in us- blessing us, filling us with His grace – as much as He filled Mary with grace, and because of the same death and resurrection that makes this all possible.
So as we transition from Advent to Christmas in this service, as we celebrate God coming into the world to dwell with us…
You may find this confusing and overwhelming – as much as Mary did, when the Angel spoke those words,
But Greetings my friend, the grace of God is poured out on you, for the Lord is with you!
Now bring Him into the world – and let God’s word determine your life, for you live in Jesus… AMEN!
Are We the Modern Prophets?
Thoughts that drag me to Jesus, and to the cross
15The 50 prophets from Jericho saw him and said, “The power of Elijah is on Elisha!” They went to meet him, bowed down before him, 16and said, “There are fifty of us here, all strong men. Let us go and look for your master. Maybe the spirit of the LORD has carried him away and left him on some mountain or in some valley.”
“No, you must not go,” Elisha answered.
17 But they insisted until he gave in and let them go. The 50 of them went and looked high and low for Elijah for three days, but didn’t find him. 18Then they returned to Elisha, who had waited at Jericho, and he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?” 2 Kings 2:15-18 GNT
In other words, the church is not just any assembly that happens to call itself by the name of Jesus for whatever reason or purpose, or where there may be orders calling themselves holy and so on. To counter a current heresy, the church is not just “people.” That assertion may rightly controvert the idea that the church is a building or even an institution, but it too easily forgets that the church is a gathering called and shaped by the gospel of its Lord, Jesus Christ. The Christian church occurs where the quite specific activity known as speaking the gospel occurs and the sacraments are administered according to that gospel. Where that does not occur there is no such thing as the church of Jesus Christ.
I look at the 50 prophets that Elisha encountered, and I see me.
And I see the church today.
We can recognize the Spirit of God on someone; we see the call God has laid on their life, But when they speak for Him, it is as if we didn’t know them, or we doubted they speak for God, and we go and waste a couple of days, doing our own thing.
We do this with each other, and we do this even with the scriptures. Liberal and conservative alike, we look for what resonates with our emotions and our thoughts, blissfully forgetting those emotions and thoughts have been twisted by sin.
We see that to an extent in the claim that “people are the church,” when people are talking about the buildings, but even more about the structure and those in responsibility. No longer is the church where God’s word is preached, and He blesses people with the sacraments. Forde rails against this–for where is there hope given, where is life cleansed, where else is there a chance to be still, and be revived by the power of the Holy Spirit.
While church should serve man, it should not serve his desires. Elisha was grieving, but he was also aware the time had come for others to step up, for Elijah to rest. The 50 should have done the same, for they saw God at work. When we hear the gospel, when we see the miraculous sacraments, I pray that we can be like Elijah, and work from that place of communion, humbling ourselves, and repenting of our trying to replace God.
Lord, help us to recognize the Elisha’s in our lives, help us to hear Your word, and receive your sacraments, and then help us to die to self, and see Christ live with us. AMEN!
i
Gerhard O. Forde, “Proclaiming,” in Theology Is for Proclamation (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1990), 186–187.
