Category Archives: Sermon Notes

gospel, John, Sermon Notes, Suffering, Sunday

Sunday Sermon: Lent IV- John 9:1-41

I had the opportunity to preach this past Sunday at Breath of God Lutheran Church in our neighborhood. While I forgot to record it, I am posting my manuscript here. The name of the sermon was “Blind Witness News”. A big thanks to Mark Parker for the invite and grateful to have such an engaged church in our neighborhood.

“Blind Witness News ”
Text: John 9:1-41

I don’t know about you, but I’ve probably spent more time in the last six months absorbing news content than I have in the last 6 years. The political climate in which we live, regardless of your political persuasion, is unprecedented and unpredictable. And with newsworthy happenings in the world come the inevitable spin and questions. It is so easy to get sucked in to the news reports and the arguing and the punditry and the analysis.

As such, perhaps this what has caused me to think of today’s Gospel reading in much the same way: as a news story. Could you imagine if it were recounted by a popular 24 hour news network today? Perhaps it isn’t too difficult to imagine. We have a significant event happening and a lot of people questioning and disagreeing about it. So today, I do want us to follow this story a bit like we would a news story, and try to offer some self-reflection along the way.

The word “blind” is used by John 17 times in his Gospel. 15 of those times are in this passage. This should bring to our mind not simply the topic of this passage, but a theme of sight. John wants us to see something here (pun intended).  We will come back to the disciples question in a bit, but I wanted to focus on the rest of the narrative, as if it were picked up by the news.

Imagine what the local news coverage would have been like for this story. “Breaking: we have some odd reports of a man, apparently born blind, who has been healed with mud, and you won’t guess what it’s made out of. Tonight at 11.” Or further still: “It is unclear as to the true identity of this man who was allegedly healed by a traveling Rabbi. We have someone who claims it was him who was healed, others claim it was just someone who looked like him: you be the judge.”

There are a lot of fun details in this story, and we can’t address everything, but I just had to pull out this amazing question by the neighbors as they begin by questioning the blind man after he received his sight. They ask him, in v. 12 “Where is he?” and he said “I don’t know.” Come on now…that is funny! This man has literally never seen anything in his life, he is sent by Jesus to go wash in a pool, where he then receives his sight and begins to be questioned, and one of the questions is, “Where is this man whom you’ve never seen?”

Next, the story gets picked up from the local news by the big news channel. Let’s call them PNN (Pharisee News Network). Their headline would look something like this: “So-called Prophet Breaks Sabbath by Performing Alleged Miracle…Sinner performing signs?” On their show, they would invite the blind man and his parents on, along with some expert analysts (pharisees, of course), to talk about this situation.

At the end of their newscast, the blind man turns the tables, even asking the pharisees if they want to follow Jesus because of all their questions. And like good pundits, they stick to the talking points and seek to discredit the man in order show they are the ones who are right, saying “You were born entirely in sins, and how are you trying to teach us?” And they cut the interview off and send him away, feeling satisfied that they got another news story, and maybe boosted their ratings.

Notice, that Jesus is not invited into the Pharisee’s discussion. Instead, Jesus goes to find the man after he hears about how he has been treated. He hears his confession of faith and says to him: you are the one who really sees. You get it, while those who think they have insight into the ways of this world are showing that they are blind. This is the work of Jesus which elicits an important question, not just for the pharisees, but for all of us: “surely we are not blind, are we?” We see things the way they are, don’t we Jesus?

It is here where I want to finally come back to the beginning of the story. When Jesus and his disciples come across this man who has been born blind, the disciples’ first impulse is to ask a question which I would paraphrase like this: “Whose fault is it?” This man is suffering, is it his own fault or the fault of someone else? Or, put even more succinctly: who can we blame for this?

I feel this question on a regular basis when I encounter human suffering, illness, and injustice in our world. My first impulse is to ask: “Whose fault is it?” so I can quickly post something calling them out on Facebook or something (I am only speaking for myself…I’m sure you don’t do this!) Or, it allows me to make a judgment call. “Well, they obviously brought this on themselves.” This helps me deal with the suffering as I see it. It helps me explain it away. It helps me keep things at a distance.

But, Jesus invites us into another way of seeing, altogether. To simply see a blind man as a problem to be analyzed, diagnosed, reported, or blamed is the way of the world. It is the way of the 24 hour news media. It is the way of blindness. Furthermore, to dismiss the work of God in the world when it doesn’t look like we think it should is the way of the religious elite, it is the way of power…basically, it is not the way of Jesus. And it is damaging.

Let me just say, that people have been horribly stigmatized by those who claim Christianity. I work part-time with HopeSprings, an organization which seeks to awaken, equip, and engage the church to bring hope and healing to those with HIV. We are having some focused conversations with other health and faith-based organizations right now to better address how faith informs our engagement with the people most at risk for HIV. This includes people in the LGBTQ community, particularly black gay men, transgender individuals, and IV drug users. Some of the people we have the opportunity to serve amaze me, because they still love Jesus after being treated as subhuman by those who claim to follow him. Many struggle to even think of darkening the door of a church again, though their faith is incredibly important to them. So many have been over-analyzed and scrutinized because of these factors, but people often fail to see God at work in their lives (and oftentimes, God is working in them to work through them to bless others…like us!) Certainly these would be like those whom we would categorize as “blind” today and seek to blame them or others for whatever may ail them. I wonder who else may be treated like they are “blind” today. And I further wonder whether we aren’t, in fact, the blind ones.

When Jesus sees this man, born blind, he sees it as an opportunity for the kingdom of God to break into the world. He sees it as a chance for him to get to work. To literally get his hands dirty, making mud out of spit and dirt. The work which began in Jesus continues on in his body, the Church, by the power of the Spirit. He is the light of the world, and now, so are we.

So, as we move forward today, back into our neighborhood this week, we are invited by Jesus to see what he sees. When we see our immigrant neighbors, will we simply analyze our assumptions concerning their lives, or will we wonder where God might be at work and inviting us to join? When we hear or read of another carjacking, mugging, or break-in, will we seek to blame police, victims, or perpetrators…or will we wonder “How might the light of Christ shine in this situation?” Where is God inviting you to see the world around you differently, as pregnant with possibility?

Jesus’ words in response to his disciples are an apt challenge for us today: We must work the works of him who sent us while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. So, as long as you are in the world, shine in the world by working in the world, perhaps in the most unlikely places, in order to bring glory to God. May we move forth as people who see. May we look for opportunities for God’s kingdom to come in the situations and people we encounter. May we get our hand dirty in the work of loving and healing others. And may we have our own eyes opened to the reality of Christ.
Amen.

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Discipleship, Matthew, Sermon Notes

(Post)Sermon Notes: What Will You Do With What God Has Given You?

So, we had some volume issues with our podcast posted this week, so I thought it was a good excuse to try to get some more (post)sermon notes up for those of you who like to follow such things. I will be doing the same next week, in lieu of a podcast (or a sermon for that matter!).

Text: Matthew 25:14-30

So, I didn’t manuscript my sermon sermon this week. I just made four observations with questions at the end. I’ll try to link the points the best way I can to the scriptures they reference.

We are all given gifts of great value, though we are not given the same things.

14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.

 

We are expected to invest what we’ve been given.

16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

This investment means risk and a lack of clear instruction from the master. The servants had to figure out how to put what they had been given to work (or not).

We can tend to justify our inaction/laziness with our own beliefs/theology.

24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ 26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

Many issues we create can be tied to what we believe about God or ourselves, that is simply untrue.

We will be judged/rewarded in connection with how we put to use what God has given us into the world.

19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ 21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ 22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ 23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

 

Questions for Reflection:

-What has God given you? (talents, gifts, resources, etc.)


-What are God’s desires in the world/for the world?


-What can you do with what God has given you? What imagination do you have for investment of what you have?


-What is keeping you from acting on it? (what are your fears, hang-ups, questions, doubts?)


-What do you think God be declaring to you, in light of what is keeping you from moving forward? If you are afraid, what do you think God is saying to you in your fear?

I’d love any thoughts you may have, feel free to comment or contact me directly through the site here.

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Matthew, Religion, Sermon Notes

(Post)Sermon Notes: Would Anyone Want Your Life?

So, we weren’t able to get our normal podcast posted this week, so I thought it was a good excuse to try to get some (post)sermon notes up for those of you who like to follow such things. I hope it helps you consider or re-consider what this life of follow Jesus might look like.

Text: Matthew 23:13-15
How many of you are familiar with the movie “The Little Rascals”?
The movie centers around little kids, particularly the boys who have formed the “He-Man Woman-Haters”. This is an exclusive club, with the big rule that you have to hate girls to belong. The two best friends, Spanky and Alfalfa, end up having a falling out because Alfalfa has fallen for Darla, and has been spending time with her in secret.
It all comes out in an epic scene, where, while trying to have a secret date in the clubhouse, Alfalfa accidentally burns it to the ground because of his romantic lunchtime candles. He is punished by the group, and it isn’t until the very end, through a surprise guest, that they realize they were wrong, finally rebuilding their clubhouse and hanging a new sign on the door: “He-Man Woman Haters Club: Women Welcome”. In the final scene, you see them all getting along so well, and even Spanky seems to enjoy the company of his female friends.
In this movie, there was a strict rule that was preventing Alfalfa from pursuing the love of his life. And it was a nonsense rule (and even a dangerous one…we might admit that some organizations would be more honest if they hung a sign like the one at the end of the movie on their doors…). Alfalfa had been sold a bill of goods and he couldn’t do it anymore. It was not a life he wanted. And the damage it caused was extensive.
I know the movie is a silly example, but the Pharisees and teachers of the law that Jesus is talking to have been doing something similar. They have been laying up heavy burdens on others, they have been seeking to exclude other people and convert people to their cause, and have been blind to the hurt and pain they are causing, not to mention the fact that they were causing themselves to miss out. There is a certain misery in seeking to always police the world and be right all the time. That is what is behind the word “woe”. Jesus is saying: this life you have chosen for yourself…it is not just misguided and destructive, it is sad and lacking.
Woe is me.
We don’t tend to hear the word “woe” often today, but they were used by prophets to name what currently exists in someone’s life. It is a statement of regretful fact with even a twinge of compassion. This is not simply judgment, it is a sorrowful statement of what is happening.
It begs the question: do you really want this life, and would anyone else want your life? This is a key question for us as disciples of Jesus. Of course our lives have challenges and we are not perfect, but would someone on the outside looking in want our life? And if not, why not? This is a time for us to get honest about our own lives as we look at the lives of the Pharisees.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

Jesus begins by passing judgment on the scribes and Pharisees for the effect that their hypocrisy has on others. The kingdom of heaven is meant to be attractive and inviting, but the scribes and Pharisees prevent those so attracted to it from entering the kingdom. They do not live as if they have entered the kingdom. because they actually haven’t. But they feel like they have to prevent others as well.
These leaders are so obsessed with holding on to their power and position, that they are trying to trip up and discredit Jesus so that the people who used to follow them (and now follow Jesus) will turn back to them. And how do they do this? Power and coercion. You aren’t following the rules. You aren’t keeping sabbath. You don’t really understand the Bible.
[the best manuscripts don’t include v. 14, so we didn’t look at it. For more detail as to why, or if you are concerned that we are removing things from the Bible, read this and
this to start]

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

Jesus, in talking about the Pharisees suggests that they are missionaries (and even successful ones), but those they convert are made even more corrupt than the Pharisees themselves. This is the danger of seeking to convert someone to an “-ism” an ideology , rather than to a way of living in deep relationship with the God of all. There is an appeal to fundamentalism and philosophy—it is the thought that we now know fully how to do the right thing and everyone else is wrong. Again, this is the heavy burdens of the Pharisees and the ultra-religious. Even our zeal can be something that becomes anti-kingdom. (Just ask the Apostle Paul about that one)
Some of us have really felt this one. We have been indoctrinated into thinking and acting in certain ways where fear was a big motivator. If you do this, then it will lead to [insert worst-case scenario/consequence here]. The bar becomes set so high that we live in constant fear, shame, and guilt because we cannot measure up. And perhaps, there is even this twisted hope that if I share this enough, I will come to believe it and embody it, and maybe even the person I convert will prove that this is right!
Quite simply put: this is a conversion to a Jesus-less religion. Keep these rules. Do things the right way. Believe the right things. Set yourself apart from those who believe the wrong things. There is nothing inherently wrong with describing our faith in relationship to our faith tradition. Someone will say I am Baptist or Catholic or Episcopal or Lutheran or Jewish or whatever it may be. There is such to be gained by identifying with a certain religious stream. However, when that becomes the thing that is more important than Jesus, we need to be careful and aware.
A side note: this is one of the several times where Jesus mentions religious people being the ones especially in danger of being related to or of hell. This should make our ears perk up a little bit. The question is, what are we attempting to convince people of? A system of belief? A particular set of holy living codes? A specific morality? Or…is our message one that says: the kingdom of heaven is near and you can be a part of it…now.
Pascal once said: “People never sin more grievously than when they act from religious motives.” I don’t feel like I need to convince you of this. So many wars have been waged over religious motives (even within the same Christian faith). Religious motives are fleeting and destructive, not just to others but also to ourselves. There is NOTHING about this way of living that is attractive to our world…and it is often where many people, apart from Jesus are living (and many who do confuse belief in Jesus). There is a better way.
What does your life speak about what you believe about the kingdom of God? Is it an invitational life? Is it an attractive life? Could it be that you are closing a door in people’s faces by the way you are stuck right now in your life? Is God saying “woe” to your life right now, not in a way of judgment but in a way of saying “It doesn’t have to be this way.”? The truth is, the door to the kingdom is open wide for us. Jesus has opened it and he is inviting us in. He is the Door. He is the Way. And to follow him is to lay down our striving, our burdens, our guilt, our shame, our rules, the lies we’ve been telling ourselves and others, the expectations we have or others have. It is laying all of it down and it is surrendering to a life with Christ.
What is preventing you today? What is the bad news in your life, the lies and stories you are telling yourself? What does God want you to know about him and about yourself this morning? What is the truth that makes life in the kingdom a joyful possibility?

I’d love any thoughts you may have, feel free to comment or contact me directly through the site here.

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Matthew, Musings, parable, Sermon Notes

[Post]-Sermon Notes: The Reasons for Parables

Note: I am posting a more manuscript version of my sermon because of technical issues with the podcast this week. This was delivered this past Sunday morning during our 11am gathering. Enjoy!

“The Reasons for Parables”
Text: Matthew 13:10-17

On a Sunday similar to this one, in the early fall of 1946, the English novelist George Orwell stood at the front of a church, honoring the enduring legacy of one of the leaders in the Church of England who had recently passed away. Many don’t know this, but Orwell (his real name being Eric Blair) was a very committed Anglican, his faith influencing his writing.

Before he came into the church, he noticed a large tree out front; one that had just started to show its maturity. Some children were climbing in the branches and playing under the shade.

It caused him to share these words:
“A thing which I regret, and which I will try to remedy some time, is that I have never in my life planted a walnut. Nobody does plant them nowadays—when you see a walnut tree it is almost invariably an old tree. If you plant a walnut you are planting it for your grandchildren, and who cares a damn for his grandchildren?” 

Setting aside Orwell’s loose lips and candor during a memorial service, the truth is a powerful one. We do not think to plant seeds for a future we will not get to experience. We are doing work, planting things which we will not see grow or mature.

I first shared this quote almost two years ago in this very room as we jointly celebrated the 100-year anniversary of Patterson Park Baptist Church (and their final Sunday as a church) and the first official Sunday morning of Gallery Church Patterson Park. It was a beautiful time and we gave everyone a walnut seed as a way to remember that we are both beneficiaries and builders of the kingdom; a kingdom that did not begin and will not end with us.

The disciples in the first century find themselves in a very similar place. The idea of the “kingdom of God” is not new to them. It has been in the collective conscious of the Jewish people for centuries. It is reawakened every generation with people who attempt to bring in the kingdom politically or militarily by force. It is anticipated as religious leaders come to gain power and influence with the occupying government, in hopes that they will one day plan a sort of coup to overthrow their oppressors. Yet, success would always evade them, and the consequences were not just loss, but death and often a tightening of the shackles on the people: more taxes, more oppression, more laws, more military.

The prophetic words of Isaiah have become painfully true for the people of Israel. Isaiah’s call was to go to speak to a people. We love to read Isaiah 6 up until verse 9, because it paints a picture of the greatness of God and the incredible response of Isaiah to God’s call. “Here am I, send me!”. We love to use this to talk about missions and obedience. But you know what comes after Isa 6:8? Isaiah 6:9!

The LORD tells Isaiah that he will be going to a people who would not understand or repent. As a result, they would experience the judgment of God.
(Read Isa. 6:9-12)
Verse 13: “And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
Judgment and destruction for a people who would not turn to the God that loved them. But also hope…
(Isa. 10:33-11:2)

So, not only had Isaiah’s words come true (in a not so good way), they were also coming true (in a beautiful way!) in the person and work of Jesus. And the disciples are seeing this, but they want to understand why Jesus is speaking in this very strange way to others.
So their question is this: Why did Jesus speak in parables?
For us to seek to answer that question, we will talk about what parables are and what they do.

Parables are an exposition.
(v. 11)
Jesus is telling the parable about the sower, seed, and soil in order to communicate something that is happening in the kingdom right now. Again, we will deal with this more fully next week as to what this parable reveals, but Jesus says that these parables have to do with the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

Parables are not simply just nice, cute stories that use something concrete to explain an abstract reality. On the surface they do that, but Jesus is not simply teaching to convey information. He tells parables to do something: to reveal the kingdom and who is in on it.
As we will come to see more next week as we talk about the meaning of this particular parable, Jesus is describing something that is happening right now.

So, I know some of you have struggled a bit this week with the questions I asked last Sunday, because I didn’t answer them for you. Someone asked me, “Are you going to answer all of those questions this week?” I’ll tell you what I told them: not yet, and I doubt I can answer all of the questions for you. Remember, we need to sit with our questions! We need to engage with Jesus teachings and allow them to do their work, not simply be problems for us to figure out!

But our main question is this: what does the parable expose or reveal about life and God and me? If we seek to answer that, we are working within the given framework that Jesus has given us. But parables don’t just expose reality, they also reveal something else.

Parables are a revelation.
(v. 12-16)
I mean this more than just that they reveal something about God and his kingdom (that is covered in the exposition). They reveal something about the hearer (or better yet, they reveal who is a hearer).
Jesus says that this way of teaching helps to fulfill the prophecy (and in some ways, the ministry) of Isaiah. Jesus chooses to teach this way in order to reveal who is really paying attention and who isn’t.
The hidden aspect of the parables’ message is thus both a cause of and a response to people’s unwillingness to follow Jesus.
Simply put, not everyone who hears the words of Jesus will understand them, abide by them, or follow them. And, of course, the disciples have a great advantage, having had the Sermon on the Mount given to them specifically.
But parables in some ways are a very practical tool that allows Jesus to see who is really desiring this kingdom. Those who show interest, who understand the parables are showing that they are a part of this movement. But those who do not, reveal that they are not followers of Jesus or his kingdom.

Parables are an invitation.
(v. 17)
This, for me, comes back to the walnut seed. Jesus is exposing the place of privilege and responsibility that the disciples have in being able to see and hear and understand what Jesus is doing.
To me, it is amazing that most commentators focus on this parable and ask questions about the previous verses in relation to the age-old questions of predestination and human responsibility or free will. I will not wade into those waters this morning for a variety of reasons, except to say this. Divine providence/election and human responsibility are both held in tension in the Scriptures. And, at the risk of over-simplifying things, when it comes to divine providence and human responsibility, by definition we are responsible for only one of those things! What I want us to see is that the idea of election: being chosen for a specific task by a specific person (in this case Jesus and his disciples) does not signify simply a privileged status. It is a “blessed status”, meaning, there is a great responsibility place upon you now, because of what you see and hear.
What is most incredible to me about this passage is that Jesus looks at this rag-tag group of followers and says: “You need to understand: your spiritual heroes would have given anything to be able to be in your sandals right now! Isaiah wrote about this ‘shoot of Jesse’ which would spring up out of the burned out stump of a tree of this nation, and you are looking at him, in the flesh!”
Implicit in that statement is a “so what are you going to do about it” sort of question. Will you jump into the story that the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Elijah, Isaiah, and David is fulfilling now? Will you find yourself in this story and be changed by it? Will you be a part of this kingdom? Will you listen to me so I can tell you what it means?
This invitation is ours today as well. We are inheritors of a legacy not our own; a kingdom we did not build, but we can join in and belong. This is historically significant! Jesus is looking to us and saying, so many people would have loved to be where you are now, but it wasn’t time. But now it is time.
This is how Jesus began his ministry, calling people to him because the Kingdom of God is breaking into the world. That is happening right now, through the work of the Spirit in the church that Jesus started.
So, do we hear this? Do we hear what Jesus is up to in the world? Are we seeking to listen to him? We will be moving from hearing to understanding next week as we (finally) talk about what this parable means.
But let’s just take time to listen to the Spirit of God, right now in this moment.
What is he exposing to you right now about himself and the Kingdom?
What is he revealing about you?
How is he inviting you into his work in the world this week?
Benediction:
May we have ears to hear and eyes to see all that God is accomplishing around us in his kingdom. May we respond to his invitation to join him in his work, and may we realize that we are the inheritors of a past not our own, and co-stewards of a future that God is pulling most wonderfully into the present. May his kingdom come and his will be done, in Baltimore as it is in heaven.
Grace and Peace be with you.

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Musings, Sermon Notes

Sermon and Sabbatical

This Sunday’s sermon was a tough one for me to give. It wasn’t so much the difficulty of the text (more on that in a moment), but more the opportunity I took to share my plan for sabbatical this fall.

To admit that I need rest and renewal is a tough thing to do. To admit that I need to have “ears to hear” the voice of the Spirit is even more embarrassing and revealing. I don’t know if “pastors” don’t like talking about these things, but I know its tough for me.

But it really was in preparing to teach this text (Matthew 13:1-9) that I discovered something profound about what Jesus invites us to do as he teaches us. And it will be foundational for me as I move into this next season. He invites us to be good listeners by asking good questions and sitting with those questions for awhile.

It was a tough thing this past week to simply let the parable in this passage do what it does. I wanted to skip ahead to later in the chapter when Jesus explains that this parable of the sower and the soils is not just a lesson in agriculture. I mean, after all, how infuriating would it be to get advice from a carpenter-turned-rabbi about farming?

But if we slow down enough, we come to see that parables provoke questions and feelings in us. And I am terrible at taking time to slow down enough to sit with my questions and feelings. I want the answers (or think I already have them). That’s what the Google is for, right? (Yes, the Google…)

So, beginning in October, I will be taking three months to sit with my questions and feelings. I need to reflect on the past years of ministry. So much has happened in my life in such a short span of time. I feel like I experienced growth spurts but the rest of me needs to catch up. I will be asking God what he is saying and then shut up and listen to him, rather than trying to finish sentences for him.

I will be seeing a spiritual director. I’ll be creating space for this seed of God to take root in me (or maybe even change the soil some). I’ll be investigating some questions I’ve had for awhile. I’ll be visiting some friends I haven’t seen in a long time. I’ll be practicing discernment with others. I’ll be reading and writing for me, not for others (a tough thing to do, for sure).

And, I’ll be shutting off the noise for awhile: social media, blogging, email, etc. In short, I’ll be seeking to have ears to hear.

I’ll be posting a bit more until that time with some more info about what I’ll be doing, but until then, if you are the praying type pray for me. If you aren’t, keep me in your thoughts.

Grace and Peace.

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Authenticity, Musings, Sermon Notes

[Post]-Sermon Notes: Authenticity and Covenant Sunday

Note: This Sunday was incredible! We had kids singing with tambourines, a Shofar being blown as a call to worship, testimony, songs in Spanish and Korean,
authentic clothing from other countries, a parent-child dedication, communion, and a pot-luck lunch! Needles to say, I’m exhausted but my heart is full. A huge thanks to all my brothers and sisters at Gallery Church Patterson Park who helped us celebrate the renewal of our covenant membership to one another. It was beautiful!

Text: Acts 2:42-47
Iif we are to properly covenant with one another, we must understand and commit ourselves to this final value. We have saved it for last, largely because it is key to fulfilling and honoring the others. It is the relational context in which we work through these values together.
We value authenticity. To be authentic is to be who you really are with those around you. It is to be vulnerable, to share yourself with others, warts and all. There are no perfect people, and we don’t want to waste precious time and energy trying to convince others (or even ourselves), that we are better or more put together than we are.
At its best, the early church got this and modeled this for us. As we see in our passage today, we can learn from their authenticity in a few ways. First, to be authentic…

We must be together.
(v. 44a, 46)
This word together, is a phrase of a gathering of people, with the emphasis being on unity. This is more than going to a concert together or working together. It is about fully being with and for one another.
Remember, we talked about the triangle and how our “IN” relational dimension is not in to ourselves, it is in with one another. As Mike Breen says, the indivisible unit of the kingdom is two. We do not and CANNOT follow Jesus alone. We must be together.
And that takes time. More than just a couple hours once a week.
I could say a lot about this, but our lives culturally work against us in some ways. We, through technology, have been given a substitute for community through TV shows and social media. Community is already naturally hard because of rampant individualism, and that is reinforced everyday by how we engage with the world (another conversation for another day).
Community takes time and effort and sacrifice. Some of us will have to think, is it more important for me to spend time with my community or to take that extra trip out of town. Should I go be with that friend or brother or sister or should I just stay in and watch 3 episodes of my favorite tv show.
All I can see is that the early church was drawn to spend much time together. More than 2 times a week. It was a lifestyle of consistent engagement. What could that look like? We will come back to it.
But for the time being, let’s just see at this point that authenticity happens when I chose to be together with others. This is about quantity of time and who you are spending it with. We don’t get to know each other through short, casual interactions.

We must share fully.
(v. 44b, 45)

  • Share what you have and share what you need.

The early church shared their possessions. They even sold things to make sure others had what they needed. Their sharing was based on an understanding of what others need. How did they know what others needed? They told them! They were honest about their needs and did whatever they could to help meet those needs in the family. The big question about generosity and giving to those in need is a conversation about those outside the walls of the church. And this is important. We ask whether we should give to someone who is panhandling or believe the stories of some people or only give away food. These are important conversations and it is important to obey God in these moments.
We receive quite a few benevolence requests from people outside of our church family. People will call the office or stop in and ask for help with rent or food or bills. One of the very first questions I ask is whether or not they are involved in a church. And there is a reason for this: I want to know what their church family has done to help their own brother or sister.
These believers shared what had been given to them in order to meet others needs because they ultimately understood that what they had did not belong to them.

  • Share who you are.

Example of Gen 3 and Adam and Eve hiding from God because they were naked.
When they saw things as they were, they responded by seeking to cover themselves and hiding from God, our of fear and shame.
Who told you that you were naked? Who told you that being naked was a bad thing? God created you that way…
Notice that the reason for hiding is not, explicitly, that they disobeyed God. Their sin, their disobedience, is not the reason they give. They have a completely different perspective on who they are. They are ashamed of who God made them.
Who told you you should be ashamed of who you are?
Kara and I went to a friend’s wedding this past Friday night. It was so much fun. I love people watching, seeing the dancers come out of their shells. There is always that one guy that just owns the floor, right? I mean, he is drenched in sweat and has all the moves. This past Friday, too, there was the flower girl, right in the middle of the floor and she was owning it. And I’m over being a wallflower freaking out about what people will think of me! Many of them were my friends, and many who weren’t my friends were halfway drunk anyway and wouldn’t remember the next day! So Kara and I tore it up!
I think that this is a core part of the result of the entrance of sin into the world; we have this inherent shame about who we are and how God has made us. As a follower of him, you are a gift to this church. The Spirit has empowered each of you with gifts. Those gifts are not for you. They are for the church! And if you allow fear to keep you from sharing who you are, we are missing out on what God has for us. We need you to share all that you are and all who you are!
Which leads us to this last idea…

There is always room at the table.
(v. 46-47)
As the early believers shared themselves, their lives, and their stuff with one another, they found themselves drawn together in worship and in meals.
Here is the thing we can miss: who was at the table.
Acts 2:5-11
Imagine what those meals must have been like! Imagine the foods, the conversations, the languages, the cultures, the differences….but all worshiping together and all eating together.
I guess, in a moment, we won’t have to imagine!
In our context, think of how we would be described if Luke was writing about us and the different people who were there: Mexicans, native-born Americans, Guatemalans, Koreans, Salvadoreans, Colombians, Africans, African-Americans, recovering southerners, Yankees, Balmers, mid-westerners, Californians, Orioles fans, Ravens football fans, Real Madrid “football” fans, and yes, even Steeler’s fans (who we can pray for to be sanctified!).
Jesus wants his table to be diverse, and there is always room for more.
How many of you grew up having family dinner as a kid? We had certain meals that we ate because different people in our family liked them. We also would eat burgers so that mom didn’t have to cook. I like to think of our times together in worship as a family dinner. We are all gathered because we need to eat, but we get to celebrate each other’s tastes. Today has been a wonderful mix of different languages and styles. It is like the meal that we are about to have. I love that! And this is coming from a guy who could eat the same 5 meals every week for the rest of my life! But this is fun! I don’t expect you to like everything that we do here, just like there will be some dishes downstairs that you won’t like. But we will have it as a part of the meal, because Donna made it, and we love Donna and Donna loved making it. We will eat it because we love Lorena and Lorena loved making it.
And this honors God. And it is attractive to others, because it says to them “we value people for being authentic: for being themselves and bringing what they bring to the table.”
And so, we are about to come to the table of Jesus. Jesus’ table is a diverse table. When he first gave us this holy meal, it included the loud-mouths and the nobodies. The self-focused and the swindlers. The betrayer and the “one whom Jesus loved”. The hot-heads and the opposing political parties and the back-woods rednecks. This is what Jesus’ table looks like. Because as different as we are, and as much as we disagree and debate, we come to the table because of one simple truth: we are hungry. We are people who need the sustaining grace of the flesh and blood of Jesus. We are bound together by his blood and his love.

Benediction:
This week, may you say no to fear and shame. May you take time to be “in-with” the family of God. May you share yourself and your stuff with others. And may you seek to expand your table, all for the sake of our King Jesus and His Kingdom. May you be more fully you this week to the people around you.
Grace and Peace be with you…

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Musings, Prayer, Sermon Notes

[Post]-Sermon Notes: Prayer

Texts: Acts 2:42-47, Matthew 6:9-13
(this is a summary of the sermon I have this past Sunday. If you prefer, skip to the bottom for additional resources)
If we’re honest, prayer freaks us out. It feels mystical or magical or strange. It seems like something that is only for the elite. It doesn’t make sense to us. It feels awkward or like our words are bouncing off the ceiling.

I don’t know about you, but I need to be taught how to pray. Jesus’ disciples felt this and it compelled them to ask Jesus to teach them to pray. And he responded by telling them to say the Lord’s prayer.

Prayer begins with direction. It is about relationship

With whom are we speaking? “Our Father, in heaven.”
I know we all approach this idea of God as father from different places. I know it can affect how we see who this God is. For a further piicture of who this Father is, see Luke 11:11-13.

However, the fact that Jesus would instruct his followers to address God in this way was very controversial! “Father” as a title for God was rarely used in the Old Testament (only 14 times I can count) and always used with reference to the nation, not to individuals. Thus, where “father” does occur with respect to God, it is commonly by way of analogy, and not used to directly address Him (Deut 32:6; Ps 103:13; Isa 63:16; Mal 2:10).

In contrast, Jesus Himself addressed God only as Father (some 60 times in the Gospels), never referring to Him by any other name! Virtually all of Jesus’ prayers were addressed to God as Father (except when Jesus quotes Psalm 22 on the cross…my God, my God). So we, following Jesus’ example, get to call the God of the universe Father. The one whose name wouldn’t even be spoken by people for thousands of years, we get call him “Papa”.

When we say that he is in heaven (or rather, the better translation is “in the heavens”), we speak of something I will call his transcendent nearness. So we could pray: “Our Father who is up above, around, and near to us.” God is separate and other while being imminent and present.

So when we pray, we recognize that we are praying to the God of all creation who is our close and intimate Father, right there with us. We don’t have to hope that our prayers “get to God”.

“Hallowed be your name”
Or “may your name be kept holy, special, or set apart”. In the Ancient Near East and in many early religions, the name of a god (or a man, for that matter), was very important. It defined a reality. But men would sometimes use the name of a god to get what they wanted, or would curse them when they didn’t do something right. This prayer is one we participate in. It is saying, “we will seek to maintain the honor of your name”. And this is a difficult thing to do, is it not? We see the name of God defamed all around us, things done in his name, attributed to him. It is the cosmic version of that first bully telling us as a child that our Dad is weak or our mom is not the greatest Mom ever. That alarm that we feel pushes us to fight for the honor of the name of God. The Hebrew people, and even Jews today so revere the name of God, they do not speak or write it. They came up with Hashem, which lit. means “the name” (They ended up giving different names of God-all related to what he has done or his character).

“Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
So this is the first thing we seem to be asking/petitioning God for in this prayer. And I know this is where we get hung up sometimes, in the asking of God for things. We have these mental blocks sometimes.
Psalm 139:1-4 and Matthew 6:8 can become problematic for us. If God knows what we need before we even ask him, what’s the point in asking?
This question makes some big assumptions:

  1. That the need we are asking for is the same as the actual need that God knows.

    2. That God’s knowing is the same as God’s doing (just because he knows, does that mean he will act on it?
    3. That it is ok to rationalize away obedience. (if it doesn’t make sense to me, I don’t have to do it) If you have kids, you know this doesn’t work.

Let me say it clearly: prayer changes things. And we are commanded to do it. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.
God has, in a mysterious way, chosen to tie his action in the world to the petitions of his people.
(2 Scriptures where God appears to change his mind in response to prayer: Exodus 32 [Moses] and 2 Kings 20 [Hezekiah])

I really like this example and quote from Dallas Willard’s Divine Conspiracy that explains the relationship and differences between the “will/purposes” of God and the “action” of God. Some call this idea of God’s sovereignty his “relational sovereignty”.

“God is great enough that he can conduct his affairs in this way. His nature, identity, and overarching purposes are no doubt unchanging. But his intentions with regard to many particular matters that concern individual human beings are not. This does not diminish him. Far from it. He would be a lesser God if he could not change his intentions when he thinks it is appropriate. And if he chooses to deal with humanity in such a way that he will occasionally think it appropriate, that is just fine.”

And that is the heart of this line in the prayer.
When we pray Your kingdom come, we are asking God to be about his business in ways we know only he can do. We are praying for justice, for the world to be made right, Maranatha! (Come, Lord Jesus!)

When we pray Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are saying we want to be about our Father’s business. It is about our obedience. Just like heaven is the place where God is being obeyed and worshiped all the time, we work to bring that to earth in the way we live.

“Give us this day our daily bread”
There are only two things I wish to highlight here. The first is that the plural part of this prayer is emphasized again. It is truly our prayer. When is the last time you prayed for someone else’s basic needs to be met along with yours?

Second, this is a prayer that places our attention squarely on the present. We are not asking for things for tomorrow. We are focusing our trust on what God will provide today. Perhaps many of our prayers are masquerading as baptized anxieties about the future when God is calling us back to where he is: with us, in the present, providing what we need. (again, sometimes we need to have our perception of our needs realigned with God’s)

“And forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors”
There is so much to be said about forgiveness and how it affects our lives. Let me just say that we need a constant reminder of the pity that God has had on us when it comes to our condition. And I use the word pity on purpose, as mercy is a word that may have too much religious baggage to be as jarring. God saw us, way over our heads, upside-down in life-debt. He saw it and took pity on us. He felt for us in our awful state. And then he forgave, the word means to literally send away, never to return.
And this is the way we are supposed to forgive those who have wronged us. This is a transformative side to this prayer that moves us into right relationships. We must be reacquainted with our
“They owe me an apology.” Probably. Cancel the debt, place it on the cross.

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
At its core, this is a prayer saying, “God, please don’t let bad things happen to me.” You may think this is too simple or childish of a prayer. Or perhaps its praying “wrong”. After all, doesn’t scripture talk about being called to suffer, to pick up the cross and follow Jesus?
God is a good Dad. He doesn’t willfully send his children into harm like a sadist. And the truth is, he does this A LOT. We tend to focus on the times where he doesn’t seem to, and think that he is being a bad Dad. This is shortsighted.
The idea of being delivered is that we are pulled through hardship, but make it on the other side. It is not praying: pull me out of this. It is saying, pull me through. Jesus, again, modeled this in Gethsemane. “Father, is there a way you can keep this from happening?” And ultimately, Jesus was delivered through and into victory.

So, this is a prayer we should repeat and a prayer we should model our prayers after.

Because engaging in prayer is like learning how to speak.

Have you ever thought about how you learned to speak? It is an amazing process. It begins with listening. We hear the voices of our parents and those around us and recognize their voices.
It continues with naming who these big people are that feed us. Mama. Dada. Then concrete words like milk, blanky, food. Then abstract like hungry, thirsty, and more. And on we go, putting words together, asking for things, talking about things.
But we can’t speak what we don’t hear. And we have to practice. Because our language changes over time.

Eugene Peterson speaks of 3 types of language that we use in our world:
–Language I is primary language, the basic language for expressing and developing the human condition. It is the language of relationship: coos, giggles, gibberish,
–Language II is the language of information. Everything has a name. Language II is the major language used in schools.
–Language III is the language of motivation. We discover early on that words have the power to make things happen, to bring something out of nothing, to move inert figures into purposive action. This is the language used in advertising and politics.

In our world, languages II and III are the predominant languages of our culture. As we grow up, we tend to put relational language I to the side, it is considered inferior and childish.
We need to relearn relational language. And prayer exposes our deficiency in this language while seeking to change it at the same time!

We need to pray these words of the Lord’s Prayer, again and again. And this is not vain repetition. This is repetition on a mission! It is formative. It helps us learn the language of God! It resets us to speak relationally again.

Ways to engage in prayer different this week:
-Pray the Lord’s prayer, both individually and with others.
-Set times to pray the prayers of others/the Psalms/common prayer. Shoot for once or twice a day. Some great online resources for you: the Trinity Mission, Book of Common Prayer, Mission St. Clare, Daily Office,

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Musings, Relationships, Sermon Notes, Trinity

[Post]-Sermon Notes: Relationships

Guiding Texts: Acts 2:42-47, Luke 6:12-19
 I don’t think it would matter who you ask, most people would say that relationships matter. However, we could also all name at least on relationship that has not gone well. Some of us are in the midst of relational struggle right now: a family member, a friend, a coworker…perhaps you are really struggling in your relationships with your neighbors or people in the city. Some of you have become hardened to those in need around you. And maybe some of us are really struggling with our relationship to God. We have questions and doubts. Some of you may be angry with God or feel slighted by him.
So, as much as we would say relationships are important, we would also be quick to say that we have a lot of struggles and room to grow in how we relate.

As we have said regarding our other values, it is not enough to simply say you value something: there is a way in which we must value them. Which relationships do you value? How do you value those relationships?

Our church’s website says this about our value of relationship:

Relationships matter first with God through His son Jesus and then with people. A relationship with Jesus is the only hope for a lost and broken world. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, His response was simple: “LOVE GOD, and LOVE PEOPLE.” We value the image of God in all people. We believe that we were created to live connected with one another: carrying each other’s burdens, sharing our possessions, praying for and confessing our sins to each other, and suffering and celebrating together. It’s in these honest, loving relationships that God transforms us and His Love is brought to full expression through us. The way of Jesus cannot be lived alone.

 

Our model for relationship is always Jesus, so we can use an example from his life as a framework and talk about some other scriptures on the way.
Relationships Exist in Three Dimensions
(the following is adapted from Mike Breen’s Building a Discipling Culture)

UP 

(Luke 6:12)

In fellowship with the Father.
Jesus was in fellowship with the Father as a matter of priority and necessity. He prayed regularly. In this passage he prayed all night He always had sufficient time alone with his Father daily. Jesus was often at prayer before the disciples woke, he went out to lonely places to pray, and says he can do nothing by himself without the Father.
Prayer, praise and waiting on his Father were fundamental elements in the lifestyle of Jesus. Jesus was in constant contact with His Father, whom He spoke of in very personal and familiar terms. We do not get to the point of calling our Father Daddy (Abba) without spending significant time with him and experiencing the love and care that he has for us.
So how do we move UP?
 When is that last time you enjoyed God? Not his gifts. Not his words. Not ideas about him. HIM?We immediately tend to think that we need to schedule all of this time and do devotions 7 times a day and read the Bible in 30 days and so on… I encourage you to recognize the fact that, as a follower of Jesus, God is with you and inside of you right now. Right now. And all of the time. What can you do to notice him, to enjoy life with him?
It may mean taking time to get up early. It may mean taking time to get away to hear his voice. We will talk more next week about prayer; how to communicate and commune with God. This is where I have the biggest room for growth. But I know it is necessary to be able to have thriving relationships.

IN
(Luke 6:13-16)
When I say “in” I don’t mean in to ourselves, I mean in with each other. This is about relationships with each other as a church family.
Again, Jesus is our example. If there was anyone who could have gone it alone, Jesus may have been the best candidate. But he didn’t. There was no such thing as “me and the father only” for Jesus.
After prayer (up), Jesus calls the twelve to become his disciples (in). Mark 3:13-14 says that he called to him “those he wanted” “that they might be with him”. Jesus was fully human; a social creature. He needed to be with other people. Jesus did not do life alone! He wanted to spend time and build strong relationships with them, which he did over the three years he lived with them.
Jesus came as a human being and showed us the way human beings are to live out their lives. We are not complete as individuals. We are creatures who need the Inward dimension. We need each other. As Mike Breen says, “the smallest indivisible unit in the kingdom is two”. Jesus never sent out people by themselves. As best as I can tell, the only one who did anything by himself was Judas…not a great example.
This is why the believers didn’t simply hear the message and then continue on as if nothing changed or embrace some sort of “personal relationship with Jesus” that included no one else.. The Acts 2 text shows us more about this communal life. They met together daily. They worshiped in the temple together. They shared meals together. They shared their possessions as each one had need. They sold their stuff and gave the money away to a brother or sister. This is a radical move toward community.
And, in general, we (as people) are terrible at doing this. The largest reason is because we do not know how to be authentic and vulnerable with each other. We struggle to share our lives with one another; our true selves. That’s why we are going to take an entire sermon to deal with this on the 30th. So, please do make time to be here that week. I actually think that if we don’t get the “in” part right, we cannot do mission well.

OUT
(Luke 6:17-19)

Relationships outside the family, as a family (Mission)
After Jesus prayed to His Father (UP), he created a team of people to work alongside him and be company with him (IN). He then moved into and amongst the crowd and embodied the kingdom, proclaiming the good news and healing the sick.
This pattern is revealed in the life of Jesus: in order to be obedient in mission, we first need to be in deep, abiding relationship with the Father, then with one another before being able to move out into mission.

So, moving out: what does that look like?
Acts 2:43, 47 Awe and favor with the people around us.

We do not go out alone. This is disobedience.The call is not to go by yourself. You will get hurt. Jesus sent out his disciples in groups of 2 for a reason!

I had someone say this phrase that really provoked some thought in me. He said, the church exists because God is Trinity. (This is from a lecture by Fr. Scott Detisch on “Communio Theology”)

Our relationships with each other and our mission in the world are rooted in the very nature of God.

If we go back to the triangle, and we will see that the Triune God is active in each one of these dimensions. Up (Father), In (Son), Out (Spirit).

To experience life in these three dimensions is to experience the fullness of the Trinitarian life and mission: a God who is constantly moving within and without. This the THE fellowship: it is the relational life that God creates by virtue of his love. The early church fathers had a name for this: perichorisis: the dance of the Trinity. His mission is to continually bring all that is not God into closer fellowship or communion with him.

So we cannot have relationships working at their best apart from God. We come to understand love and sacrifice and family as we are brought into relationship with him.

Benediction:
This week, may we devote ourselves to the fellowship: the relationships that God has created as an extension of himself. May we move up toward the Father in worship and communion, in with each other as the body of Jesus Christ, and out in mission, empowered by the Spirit to see the renewal and redemption of the entire creation under the Lordship of Christ.
Grace and Peace be with you…

Would love your thoughts and comments!

Recommended Reading/References:
Building a Discipling Culture– Mike Breen/3DM
Perichoresis and Personhood: God, Christ, and Salvation in John of Damascus – Charles C. Twombly
The Trinity and the Kingdom– Jürgen Moltmann

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Musings, Scripture, Sermon Notes

(Post) Sermon Notes: Worship

As we continue on in our “Family Values” series, we talked through our value of worship.

Much like the value of Scripture, the value of worship can mean so much and so many different things. Seriously. Just Google it.

Using Romans 11-13 as a framework, we talked about how worship is at least 3 things: Remembrance, Action, and Anticipation.

To worship is to remember
(Rom 11:33 -12:1a)
This is related to Scripture as one of the main purposes of the Scriptures seems to be to remind us. The Bible is replete with phrases like “do not forget” and “remember”. Even Deuteronomy is sermon given over again; reminding people of the law.

And Paul is doing this all-throughout Romans. For the first 11 chapters, he is laying groundwork, reminding the Jewish people of their story and showing how the Gentiles fit in. Being so moved by it, he burst into song at the end of chapter 11

He then says, therefore, in view of God’s mercies…

To remember is to put God’s mercies, his loving acts, back into our main view.
Simply put, to worship is to remember all that God has done.

To worship is to act.
(Rom 12:1ff)
Once we view God’s mercies, it prompts us into action. We must respond by offering our bodies as a living sacrifice to him. This is a very loaded term.

This word for body is “soma”. A couple things about this word:

  • It is word that means more than just our physical selves. It is a shorthand word for “all that makes us, us” (offer your self: body, mind, soul—everything)
  • It is used in the plural here while “sacrifice” is singular as well as all of the other adjectives that follow. It is a collective sacrifice made up multiple “bodies” all doing the same thing

So, my humble translation of this verse would be something like this:
“I appeal (encourage/admonish/plead) to all of you therefore, brothers and sisters, because of the mercies of God, that you all present your bodies together as one living sacrifice; a single sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God. This will be your collective spiritual or reasonable act of worship/service to God.”

So there is an inherent togetherness of worship. It is not “my worship” it is always my part in “our worship”. When we come together to worship God, whether on Sunday mornings, or on Saturday mornings handing out food and clothes to the homeless, or painting a wall, or whatever it is: we are together offering one big sacrifice to God. We are a living sacrifice; a body of believers that is a living body. Paul “fleshes” this out later on the chapter by saying that each of us is a member of the body or a part of the whole. We all have our role to play. We all have our own gifts and talents. But we all belong to each other (more on this another time)

John Stott best summarized what this looks like when describing a living sacrifice:

“It is not to be offered in the temple courts or in the church building, but rather in the home life and in the marketplace. It is the presentation of our bodies to God. Then our feet will walk in His paths, our lips will speak the truth…our hands will lift up those who have fallen, and perform many mundane tasks as well…; our arms will embrace the lonely and unloved, our ears will listen to the cries of the distressed, and our eyes will look humbly and patiently towards God.”

Worship is to remember all God has done and to join Him in what he is doing.

To worship is to anticipate
(Rom 13:11-12)
When we remember and act, we are anticipating God’s future. This is actually the wonderful combination of remembering what God has said about the future and doing what he has asked of us.

There is a sense of preparedness and a future hope which can guide our current activity. This plays itself out in our singing and conversation, as we talk about what God has said he will do or about the future of creation. The fancy word for this is “eschatological”. For our worship to be most full, we must worship eschatologically; thinking of where this whole thing is going and what that demands of us. It’s remembering forward.

To complete our definition: worship is remembering all that God has done, joining him in what he is doing, and anticipating what he will do.

Benediction:
This week, may we realize that the work of worship continues as we leave this place. May we remember the mercies of our God, may we glory in his goodness, and may this push us into action. May we together be a good and right sacrifice to our God, and may our good works anticipate Jesus’ future kingdom by pulling it mightily into the present.
Grace and Peace be with you.

Would love your thoughts and comments below. 🙂

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Musings, Scripture, Sermon Notes

(Post) Sermon Notes: Scripture

After some urging by a few people, I will be doing my best to post some notes and perhaps some additional thoughts from my teachings from the weekends. (not to mention make use of this incredibly underused blog o’ mine)

I would always welcome further engagement and discussion here, being that my desire in teaching is hardly to end a conversation but, rather to spur it onward. So feel free to read this, and perhaps listen to our podcast as well to get the most content.

I probably had the most fun reading/preparing for this past weekend’s sermon than I have had in awhile, simply because the Christian Scriptures fascinate me to no end.

Here are some of my notes from this weekend:

-Right belief about the Bible (as bound up in words like inerrancy, authority, inspired, etc.) is important but insufficient when it comes to how we use/understand/apply it. In the same way as claiming a map is the authorized map is insufficient in meaning you will get to your destination or that it is the most efficient or safe route (I borrow this analogy from Christian Smith [see recommended reading])
-If we want to model our church life after the early church, we must devote ourselves to the Apostle’s Teaching (as they did) amongst other things.
-To devote ourselves to something is a continual, intense, and ever-increasing “holding onto” and “wrapping around”.

This raises two questions:
-What is the Apostle’s Teaching?
-How do we devote ourselves to it?

The Apostle’s Teaching
This is not a shorthand for “the Scriptures” but rather a way of understanding and interpreting the Scriptures.
Teaching here is not a verb, it is a noun. They did not devote themselves to going to see the Apostles every day or weekend. They devoted themselves to their teaching; the substance of their message. So what was the substance of their teaching?
The previous part of the chapter to tells us in Acts 2:15-41

The Apostle’s Teaching is (at least)…
Jesus’ Life and Ministry (v. 22)
Jesus was a real man with a real life and a real ministry! And this is important! It is not just about his death and resurrection, it is about his life! This means all that is in the Gospels.
Jesus’ Deliberate and Undeserved Death (v. 23)
Jesus’ Triumphal Resurrection (v. 24, 32)
Jesus’ Receiving and Pouring out of the Spirit on All people (17-18, 33)
-Young and old, men and women
-Peter is explaining to the people their place in salvation history and is interpreting to them the events of what is taking place.
Respond to it in repentance! (v. 38-39)

Devoting Ourselves to the Apostle’s Teaching

So when we talk about valuing the Scriptures, the way in which we value them is by devoting ourselves to the Apostle’s teaching, which was Christ’s life, death, and resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit for the continued work of Christ in the world. So this is more than just believing that the Scriptures are true and having tons of Bible studies. This is about HOW we read, study, meditate, listen, and digest. We do it by continually pursuing the story of Jesus, seeking to find him where we look, and then asking “What do I do with this?”

Jesus is the interpretive key. We devote ourselves to the apostle’s teaching by trying to see Jesus as they did: the fulfillment of the long awaited hope of Israel and the future hope for the world.

A few supporting quotes:

“For a Christian, every part of the Bible must in some way point to Christ, to the living person of Jesus who is the Christ, and to the unlimited, liberating love of God which is revealed in Christ. To put it bluntly, it is not the words of the Bible that are ‘the way, the truth, and the life.’ It is the person of Christ, to whom the Bible witnesses.” (Keith Ward, What the Bible Really Teaches: A Challenge for Fundamentalists (London: SPCK, 2004), 27.)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it this way: “In its entirety and in all its parts it is nothing but this witness of Christ, his life, his death, and his resurrection.” (No Rusty Swords, ed. Edwin H Robertson, trans, Edwin H. Robertson and John Bowden (1965; repr., London: Fontana, 1970), 312.)

John, an apostle, explains why he even wrote his Gospel and included what he did in John 20:31, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

So we devote ourselves to a teaching; a way of understanding the Scriptures, which is ultimately about Jesus. So we devote ourselves to the story, as fulfilled in Jesus.
Not to merely a book (or rather a collection of books).
Not to a theological system or “ism”.
Not to a certain pastor, leader, or author.
Not to a social cause.
Not to a philosophy.
To the ancient, apostolic teaching that Jesus is the full revelation of God himself, he has redeemed the world, and he invites us to join him.

What does this stir in you? Questions? Thoughts?


Recommended Reading:
The Bible Made Impossible by Christian Smith
The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight
Surprised by Scripture by N.T. Wright
How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth by Gordon Fee
Coffee House Theology by Ed Cyzewski (his chapters on Scripture and Tradition are very thoughtful)
For those of you who struggle with the OT (like me), particularly the violence,this is an excellent article by Brian Zahnd.

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