1/21/18-Eph. 4:25-5:2: In Christ: Our New Behavior

The Purpose of Ephesians: forming us into a New Community, the church.

 

We must learn to read the Scriptures not simply as a rule of “do’s” and “don’t’s” but as principles for guiding and shaping us as the body of Christ. The Scriptures were written to promote what builds community and avoid what breaks community.

 

3 Points in the Sermon: 1) Type of Behavior in New Community (v. 25-29), 2) Power for Behavior in New Community (v. 30-32), and 3) Reason for Behavior in New Community (v. 5:1-2)

 

In Ephesians, Paul follows a typical New Testament pattern of writing. Ch.1-3 talk about what GOd has done for us in Christ, and now ch. 4-6 lays forth our response to his grace.

 

God makes the first move, and now we are “in Christ”. Last time we were in Ephesians we saw what it meant to think as a Christian (Creation, Fall, Redemption). Now Paul turns to acting like one, and gets down to “brass tax”

 

Yet, we also must ask ourselves, why should us Christians be good? To earn heaven? To get the praise of others? No, we are good simply because God has been good to us first.

 

-1) Type of Behavior in the New Community

 

→”Put off Falsehood and Speak Truth (Paul backs this up with Zech. 8:16 from the Old Testament)

 

Why do we lie? Is it not to justify ourselves and make ourselves look good? But who are we trying to impress? Who’s opinion really matters in the long haul?

 

Truth may sometimes be blunt, but if it is done in love, it will heal, establish trust, and create respect. Whereas lying tears down community, truth builds it.

 

→ “In your anger, do not sin” (Paul backs it up with Psalm 4:4)-We all get angry, it’s what we do with it that matters.

 

Either we lash out and destroy others, or we bottle it up and it can destroy ourselves. We all get angry, but we cannot stay there, for anger is the devil’s trojan horse because it sneaks in and can lead us to other sins and goes everywhere.

 

The Solution? Take it to God, because He can take it. If you are angry, tell Him so, and be honest. He will give you peace

 

→ “Quit Stealing”-but notice it goes from a negative to a positive

 

This is not simply saying, “work hard but keep it all for yourself”

 

Instead, “work harder so that you have more to give and share” for in Christ, the thief must become a donor, and the taker to become the giver.

 

If you cannot work? PRAY, for that is the most important work of all!

 

→ “No Foul Talk”-Unwholesome-this words means “spoiled fruit” or “rotten meat” and hey none of us like having bad breath.

 

Speak the truth in love, for just as we are saved by grace, and empowered by grace, so it must be in grace.

 

-2) Power for Behavior in the New Community

 

→ It is nothing less than The Holy Spirit, God Himself.

 

The Gospel is good news. The Gospel is not just cold rules in an old book, but God’s gracious and loving offer: to have new life in His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

This is a transformation of who we are within. The Holy Spirit re-wires us on the inside. Rules cannot really do that because rules don’t touch the core of who we are. Our nature has to change and we must be born-again.

 

Only God, the Holy Spirit, can change us because He transforms us on the inside and makes us aware that we are continually living in God’s presence, not just in church but everywhere we go.

 

The Holy Spirit is not a force, for a force cannot change us, because it is too blunt. Only a Person can change a person because only a person can know us intimately to change us.

 

Like a person, the Holy Spirit can grieve, and when we sin, we grieve the Holy Spirit, we grieve God. For He has promised us joy and gladness, peace in this world and life in the next, and we must live with that in mind always.

 

-3) Reason for Behavior in the New Community

 

→ We have the Reason: Jesus Christ.

 

When Paul writes to the Christians of his day, he writes to us too. He writes of love. Love that builds us and binds us into a community, but that love is not a lofty, unrealistic ideal, but instead a concrete reality.

 

It is a PERSON, Jesus Christ. GOd did not just command us that we love, He also gave us an example in Jesus. We love because He first loved us. Our morals are based on that!

 

God did not wait for us to grope around in darkness and ignorance. Rather, He came to us! He sought us out. Jesus Christ, God-in-the-flesh sacrificed Himself lovingly for us, you and I.

 

Remember, He became like us so that we could become like Him. And because Jesus was resurrected, it proves His death was not in vain, and that goodness and love conquers all and is the right way to live.

 

To we who have been forgiven, we need to forgive. We as Christians must break the cycle of violence in our world today and must leave vengeance to God. He will handle it because only He knows how.

 

How do I forgive? How do I tell the truth? Refuse anger? Live like Jesus? How? ASK

 

One final point: In Ephesians, Paul closes this section by saying, “be imitators of God”

 

The church is like a New Eden

 

In the Garden, God created man “in His image” and so Adam and Eve already imitated God because they were like Him. Then the lie was that man could replace God.

 

Now, in Jesus Christ, God offers mankind a chance to be re-made, better than Adam. Just as God placed man in community where he had harmony with God, each other, and all creation, so now God has re-created us and called us to be a new community, a new Eden and we are to bear His image as a new humanity in community. Love God and one another so much that the desire to hurt others is squeezed out!

12/24/17-5th Sunday in Advent-God’s Christmas Promise Made (Isa. 42:1-9; 49:1-13)

This is the story of a promise, a promise made by God to us.

 

Isaiah was a prophet that lived around 700 B.C. and a great deal to say warning about destruction, but he also delivered messages of hope of One to come to restore, a Servant of God.

 

To know more about this Servant, this sermon asks 3 questions: Where is He from? What is He like? & Why has He come?

 

Where is He from?-To be a perfect servant who carries messages to others, you need to know both ends of the relationship: The Master’s message and how people need to receive it.

 

If you are the Servant-Messenger between God and humanity, the same applies. The Servant must know the Master (He did because the Servant is God) and the servant must know the people (He did because the Servant is human).

 

So, Isaiah 49:1-the Servant is a man, and Isaiah 7:14 says he is to be virgin born. So He is Divine yet human.

 

Isaiah 49:1 also says the Lord, “Delights in Him & Upholds Him”-this would almost indicate a relationship more intimate that just servant and master.

 

If you combine this with Isaiah 7:14, and it says later of this Servant, “this is my Son, whom I love and with Him I am well pleased”.

 

Isaiah 49 also says, God’s Spirit will be upon the Servant, and later on we would read of the Holy Spirit coming down as a dove from heaven and resting on a recently baptised One.

 

Finally, God is faithful because He uses His own holy name to promise this guarantee and will protect and keep His servant safe, now compare this to One later whom God would protect as a child and bring Him home from Egypt when his parents fled.

 

Where is the Servant from? From God and humanity both, for He is completely one and the other.

 

What is He like?-The Servant will be Gentle and Encouraging, He will show justice and truth.

 

Isaiah 42:3-”says that a bruised reed He will not break and smoldering wick He will not snuff out”-This means the Servant will see us when we are hurting, and He will gently pick us up with loving hands.

 

When the Servant comes, He will not arrive in pomp and fanfare, but poor and lonely, and instead of riding a white horse which would be a symbol of war victory, this Servant will be riding a donkey, a humble animal of peace.

 

Simply put, this Servant will be perfect in every way. He will be a Perfect King, a Perfect Servant, will be perfectly loving, perfectly protective, perfectly humble.

 

Why is He coming?-To show God to the world.

 

Mankind has always asked “is there a such a thing as god?” “if so, can I know Him/Her/It?” In the Servant we hear God give a loud YES!

 

The Servant does something amazing-He brings God’s new holy agreement, His covenant to humanity, and yet even more, the Servant does not just bring the covenant, He is the covenant!

 

The Servant is God’s hands reaching out to catch humanity, so we won’t fall, and to pick us up when we do.

 

This Servant brings and is a New Covenant from God, and what does it include?

-Sins are forgiven

-Past wrongs are done away with

-Freedom from sin’s grip is promised

-Freedom from anger, hatred, and addiction

-Freedom from fear and guilt

-Freedom from sadness, loneliness, poverty, debt, hunger

 

God loves us so much He doesn’t want us to stay trapped in these struggles, instead He sends this Servant who comes and says, “I came not to be served but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many”

 

This Servant who we celebrate who lay in a manger, comes to offer us God’s grace, a chance for life as it was meant to be, so that we are no longer a slave to sin, but a child of God.  

 

Why has this One come? To show God and His love, because that’s exactly who He is!

Reflection: “We light this 5th advent candle, the candle of faithfulness, to draw attention to God’s trustworthiness. The Lord is all-powerful and able to do anything, yet He relies not upon His power or might to draw humanity to Himself, but rather shows them His goodness, His power put into purpose. He made a covenant, a holy agreement, with Noah and his descendants, and symbolized His goodness in a rainbow. Later, God sharpened His focus and extended a covenant to the people He would set free from slavery and call His own, Israel. Although God is Lord and Master over every people group on the planet, He took this nation Israel for His own to receive His law so that they would show Him and His ways to all. Sadly, Israel as a whole nation and with few exceptions, would neglect this great responsibility as God’s chosen people. Yet, while Israel and all of humanity show faithlessness and failure, God’s faithfulness is greater. He not only says to Israel through the prophet Isaiah that He will restore them, but that His new covenant will include not only Israel but all people who call upon His name. God’s goodness does not shut the gates and leave us out in the cold just because we may not come from a certain tribe, have a certain amount of wealth, or look a certain way. Rather, He looks into the heart of a man, the heart He created, to judge whether that person truly loves Him and desires to keep His ways. It is not a matter of race, rich, poor, any other way we tend to divide people that truly matters to God. Rather, He is looking and gathering those would love Him and keep His ways. God is faithful in His promises to humanity, and in the birth of Jesus Christ, God is saying to the world, “behold my promise is being kept to the fullest in My begotten Son”.

It is through this Son of God and in a relationship with Him, that Ezekiel’s words come true. God does not simply expect us to be good on our own strength. Instead, He gives us a new heart, a heart of flesh that would love Him. He imprints His ways into our lives so that instead of trying on our own gumption only to fail again and again, we would simply submit and let Jesus Christ have the control in our lives He has rightfully earned. God is trustworthy in every covenant, every agreement, every promise He has ever made, from Adam to Noah, from Abraham to His nation Israel, and the greatest proof of this is in His Son Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate this Christmas. It is the same Jesus placed in a manger, that seeks those who would place Him in the manger of their hearts and lives.

Prayer: Faithful and True God, thank you for never turning your back on us even when our wrongs made us deserve it. Grant us your hope, your peace, your love, and your joy, all based on your faithfulness to us because you love and cherish us and have proven that to all by sending your Son Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

Reflection: “We light this fourth Advent candle, the candle of joy. We have been journeying through this season of Advent and looking at the Old Testament Scriptures that testify about the One who is to come. Imagine the eagerness with which they looked forward to a time when their mourning would be turned to dancing and their sadness transformed into joy. Although Isaiah’s verse seems out of place for an Advent reading as does not speak overtly about Christ, it paints a joy-filled picture of what is to come. Just like God’s written word goes out from His mouth to speak to men’s hearts, revealing both our sin and His righteousness, so God’s Living Word would do the same and so much more. It is this living Word that the Apostle John wrote about in the first chapter of his gospel when he said, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God….and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, moving into our neighborhood” This living Word, Jesus Christ, is the source of true joy. To those who thirst for the good things of life but never being satisfied, to those who hunger for bread but only find everything else wanting, this Living Water, this Bread of Life offers all that our hungry and thirsty lives truly need. Jesus Christ embodies God’s heart and His desire that all men should turn away from wickedness and sin and seek only Him. God is not hard to be found, but always makes the first move. The reason why we can even seek Him is because He has sought us first. Our source of joy comes from knowing that God loves us. Nehemiah knew this when he said, “the joy of the Lord is our strength”. If we are honest with ourselves, very few things of this world can give us lasting joy. Yes, family, friends, warm memories provide us with happiness in the moment, but the source of true and abiding joy is only to be found in God and in a relationship with Him.

However, we don’t need to wait for heaven to experience it. For Ezekiel writes of God’s promise that those who come to Him, He will do heart surgery, replacing a heart of stone with one of flesh. It is with that new heart that we experience God’s love and joy to its fullest, on earth just as it is in heaven. God’s purpose in sending this little Advent baby, Jesus Christ, is so that He would draw us to Him and that in doing so, we would have joy in Him. May we have the joy and peace radiating from our lives so that all who would see us, even the mountains and the trees, would break forth in song and clap their hands because they know that we are God’s people, redeemed and loved.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father and the source of all joy, give us your joy this Christmas, even in times of heartache. Remind us that even in our hurts, You are faithful, even in times of sadness, that we can have joy because we have You. You provide for our needs and we love you because you first loved us, amen

“The past few weeks as we have journeyed through Advent, we have caught glimpses of God’s chosen one, His Son. We have heard Isaiah speak about how He will be a King like David, and yet His kingship will be like that of a Father lovingly ruling and protecting His children. We have listened intently as Micah gave us the location where this special one is to be born, and like His ancestor David, it will be Bethlehem. We remember as Jeremiah spoke about how this King would bring a new covenant, a new holy agreement between God and His people where He would write His laws not on tablets of stone but on our hearts so that we would know Him as intimately as He knows each of us.

 

And here in these two texts, we have an answer to the question of why would God even do any of this. Why would He continually remember His people, showing patience and kindness when they do not deserve it? Why does He still even today seek to draw men to Himself? Simply put, the answer is love. The Apostle John writes three words that are straightforward yet world-changing, “God is Love”. Although we often think of love as being a “soft” word, God’s love is more powerful than we can possibly imagine. For any of us who have had children we a close understanding. We love our children through their highs and lows, their ups and downs, and we rejoice with them when they are happy, and our hearts break when they suffer. We have a primal instinct to protect them from harm that drives us to lay down our lives unflinching. It is that love magnified that shows us God’s love for all of us. It is His love that refuses to surrender to evil. It is His love that changes us from seeking our own wants to now seeking to serve the needs of others.

 

God’s love is not simply words. When we look at the nativity, and especially when we look at the cross and empty tomb, we see God’s love. It is easy to love someone who is wonderful to us but much harder to love the unkind and those who we think do not deserve it. Yet this is what God has done and continues to do for us: love us when we are unloveable.

 

Prayer: Loving and merciful Father, thank you for a love that never quits, a love that gives us strength from day to day, a love that You did not just convey with words but with a Person, Your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray that just as You have loved us that we would show your love to others. Give us the strength not just to love with words but with actions. In Jesus Name, AMEN

“As we light the second candle of advent this season, we turn to the theme of peace. Peace is something that mostly everyone in the world wants, yet as we see everywhere, it appears that peace has eluded us and that we are only ever going to endure conflict, violence, and hate. We see this tension happening as close as individual family members with each other, neighborhoods torn apart by strife, and even nation-states marching to the drumbeats of battle. Peace seems like a word used only by the dreamers or the idealists among us. Yet, the Bible reassures us that peace is coming and has already arrived, yet that peace is not through an idea, a revolt, a political document, or social movement. Instead that true, relational peace, the peace that transcends all understanding has come in a Person. Isaiah looked forward to when this King of Peace would come, and the Bible affirms His peace would stretch all over the world. The One Isaiah looked forward to is the One we look back upon as we celebrate His birth on Christmas.

 

Not only did Isaiah tell us that this King of Peace is coming, but Micah puts this coming in actual historical terms. He pinpoints it down to a specific place, a most unlikely place, Bethlehem, “House of Bread” where one day the One who is called “the Bread of Life” will be born. We do not serve a God of peace who is aloof or only giving us nice words or ideas, but the Creator has taken on flesh and blood and has lived among us showing us the way of peace and giving us a foundation for that peace. The foundation is that we are all made in God’s image, broken by sin, but loved and cherished by Him and given the opportunity to have a life of peace with Him that starts now and continues forever. With this as our foundation, let us live lives that would display and spread that peace to all corners of the globe so that one day there will be peace on earth and goodwill to men.

 

It is Jesus’ birth, His example, His Death, and His resurrection that lay the foundation for true and complete peace; peace with God, peace with one another, peace with His creation, and peace within ourselves.

 

“Let us pray: “Dear God, bringer of the only long-lasting and real peace, just as you created the world in peace, we ask you would constantly shape and re-mold our hearts to be a people of peace. May we walk in your ways and live lives showing your shalom, your complete peace, through the power of the One who gave us peace with you through His death and resurrection, our Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray, AMEN

“We light this first candle of advent, the candle of hope, and as we begin our annual journey to the Nativity, let these Old Testament passages speak to us as never before. The original hearers of Isaiah and Jeremiah were facing hardships both as individuals and as a nation: invasion, captivity, and enslavement from other nations was a constant threat. As their world seemed hopeless, the people needed to hear God’s reassurance of hope. In Jeremiah, we find these verses as part of a larger letter sent to God’s people in captivity. Like a love letter stilling a troubled and worried heart, the proclamation is God’s merciful promise that even though they now find themselves with no temple, no home, and no country, His people still have Him, and He is their source of hope. God is saying to Israel, “fear not, they may take you away from your homeland, but they can never take you away from me. Live faithfully, even in exile, and soon, you will not only hear my words spoken, but just as my prophet Isaiah says, you will soon see my words of hope take on flesh and dwell among you. You will see that He is a King of Kings who rules with perfect justice, and that He will give you a hope and a future, that will finally end with absolute peace.”

 

These same words, although not originally written to us as Christians, still speak to us when we realize that we too live in exile, not away from another country, but away from our true home for which we were made. We look around our world, and we are tempted to believe that everything looks hopeless. War, poverty, immorality, and corruption seem to be the order of the day. Yet it all this bleakness, God has already sent the source of our hope and future, and this source is the One who speaks to us this Christmas and every Christmas. He is the root of Jesse. He is the One upon Whom God’s Spirit rests. He is the one who judges justly. So, as we come once again to a time where we celebrate the fact this King was born in a stable, let it stir in our hearts that God not only speaks the words of hope, but that His Son, who is our Living Hope, is coming again to take us out of our earthly exile to be with Him in His Kingdom, our true home.

 

Prayer: “Let us pray, Father of hope, who gives this precious gift in times of highest joy and deepest sorrow. In the midst of our broken and darkened world, grant to us your people a renewed sense of hope. When death plagues our lives, remind us of the hope that we have in your Son Jesus, the One who has conquered death and offers us the victory. May that hope resound in our hearts this Christmas and every year to come. AMEN

11/12/17-In Christ: Thinking Like a Christian

Below are the 4 major points of Christianity and all can be summed up in these categories

Creation

Fall

Redemption

Restoration

 

Creation (Genesis 1, 2)–God created all things, from all the stars, suns, and galaxies all the way down to the molecules, atoms, and quarks that consist them.

He made creation in peace and harmony-God simply spoke it into existence, and creation was ordered and tranquil.

God made man “in His image”-Both Adam and Eve were created to reflect God, to bear His image to the world, and to take responsibility to care for the creation God made.

What does it mean to be made in the Image of God?

Note: God had just made the animals.  Now he wanted to make an animal that was different.  One with a capacity to interact with the creation, and commune with Himself.

The Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)-all involved in the act of creation. This is important to remember. Because the three persons of the One Godhead were in a perfect loving relationship with one another, the gospel to mankind is the invitation to experience that loving relationship.

 

Fall–Long before John 3:16 was penned, God always loved the world

He created it

He was pleased with it.

Gen 1: 31-God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

It was holy, pure, clean and beautiful, so much so, He could walk in it, and be visible

What happened to change all that, is what some theologians call “The Fall”.

Now when we look at the creation of Man, it’s important to understand what authority God gave him, and what exactly God said concerning him, and it’s important too to note the context-Genesis 1:25

The problem of Choice.

 .. Love, Loyalty, Obedience

This is where the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil comes in-Gen 2:15

Temptation – Satan Deceives Eve

Satan’s empty promise-Gen 3:1

Result – Separation-Gen. 3:6-11; Jude 12; Eph. 1:1-2

Something else happened at the Fall.  The transfer of the Kingdom–Adam lost his crown-Romans 6:16

Genesis 3; Rom. 5:12-21-Evil-A wrong relationship or a non-conformity between our will and God’s will, (what we want does not match up with what God wants), and we end up in a kingdom of death

–The good things and desires that God gave us end up becoming ultimate things-where we get our value, our sense of self, our morals, everything.

–Once our wills are alienated from God our bodies are sure to follow, this is why we suffer pain and death-These are the results of the Fall

The Fall cannot be a moral parable or fiction and here is why-If so, then its effects-suffering and death are not historical either because a non-historical first cause can’t lead to historical effects. (i.e. no Fall then there shouldn’t be any evil in the world but there is)

–If the Fall didn’t happen, Christ’s atoning death on the cross isn’t necessary and is pointless!!

–If Sin is non-historical (mythical/fiction) then it does not need a historical cure (cross) and the crucifixion of Jesus DID happen in history.

 

Solution-Redemption-

How do we re-align the will and have forgiveness? Grace through Jesus Christ who purifies us from sin and sanctifies our minds and wills.

–The cross stands at the center of history-Grace is the Heart of the Gospel-Forgiveness is the Heart of Grace

Nothing we can do to merit it; Nothing we can do can save ourselves-Eph. 2:8-10.

Every other faith and religion had a leader. A leader who would commonly say, “I am not divine, but I can point you to God and give you the rules He wants you to live by.” We have to earn our salvation through good works.

Jesus says otherwise. He is God and says “if you want to know what God is like, look at Me”. He lives the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died and saves us by sheer grace.

All we do after salvation is settled.  We no longer have to work to gain God’s favor.  Our work now is to obey Him, and to do His will, and His will is to reflect Christ to others-Romans 4:4-5

 

Result-Restoration–

Jesus’ death on the cross was the final death blow to sin and the kingdom of Satan, giving us a chance to have life in the Kingdom of God. It is this freedom and joy that ought to motivate us to live this kingdom out “on earth as it is in heaven”.

This event is not only a one-time historical occurrence, it is also our pattern for living. We too take part in Christ’s death every time we “die to self”, meaning we live like Jesus rather than conforming to the “old pattern” of how we used to live.

We also take part in His resurrection because we too have “new life” given to us to obey God. We don’t have to do it on our own strength.

All of creation itself is slowly being redeemed because Christ started His great work and continues it through us.

One of the most probing and thought-provoking ideas is to ask “what does the gospel say about…..” If our faith touches every aspect of our lives (and it does) and we believe it covers everything, both private and public (it certainly does), then we ought to always live our lives asking “what does the gospel say about….”

So what does the gospel say about the big national issues, like the recent tragic shootings or potential war with hostile countries? What does it say about politics? Our economy? Etc.

–What does it say about issues closer to home? Like how we spend our money and time? How do we raise our children? How do we interact with the world around us?