Posted by Chris on November 29, 2009 under Sermons
2 Samuel 21-24
Two Stories
- David ignores God
- David sins
- God sends a disaster
- David responds – intercedes for Israel
- Others players (Rizpah and Araunah)
The Righteousness of Rizpah
- Joshua 9:15 – Pact with Gibeonites. Saul broke the pact
- David surrenders seven descendents of Saul
- Rizpah (2 Samuel 3:7) – Saul’s concubine, Abner’s concubine
- She has no power, but acts where she can
- She shames David into action and admitting the injustice
David’s Songs
- The Lord is My Rock
- Righteous Rulers vs Evil Men
- God’s Covenant and Unfailing Love
- David “enters into” the exodus with poetic language – he experiences it again.
The Threshing Floor
- Two Parts:
– The Census
- Counting the people is an assessment of strength
- Reliance on military power (see Psalm 20)
- Numbers rather than names
- Euphemisms of war and politics – doublespeak
- Where is our trust and confidence?
– The Altar
- The destroying angel is stopped at Mount Moriah (Abraham’s mountain)
- Araunah the Jebusite has a threshing floor there
- Will become the site of the Temple (1 Chron. 21:15)
Full Circle
- Hannah praying at Shiloh
- David praying at the altar
- Israel is saved through humbling themselves before God
- Our king is God alone
Posted by Chris on under Sermons
Read Jeremiah 32:1-17
If you were to line up all the amazing works of the prophets in the Old Testament, what would make it into the top ten? Certainly Elijah would lead the way with his contest against the priests of Baal. He doused his altar with water and yet fire from heaven incinerated it.
How about Elisha summoning the bears to attack the youths that insulted him. That’s not just Old Testament, that’s sort of Old West. Do not mess with Elisha!
Elijah and Elisha would occupy 60 or 70% of the top ten. How many prophets leave the world in a fiery chariot?
Isaiah would get on the board for his quotable sermons: “The virgin will have a child and you shall name him Immanuel.” “Prepare ye the way of the Lord” (yeah, John the Baptist was borrowing that). “They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.”
Prophets sometimes did things for shock value to make a point – they were embodying their message. Hosea married a prostitute to demonstrate how God was faithful despite the people’s unfaithfulness. It wasn’t a mock wedding – it was the real thing. Now that has to be on the list.
Then there’s Ezekiel and his strange recipes. “Cooking With Dung” – that could have been the title of Ezekiel’s other book. Of course he was trying to show what would happen when Judah was invaded.
Jeremiah buys a field. That doesn’t really seem like top ten stuff. Not even top 25 or top 50. But the purchase of the field may be one of the most significant prophetic acts in Scripture. It preaches even to us today.
The act is foolish on the surface. Who would buy a field that is about to be occupied by another nation? And why would Jeremiah buy a field if his message was that Babylon will take Jerusalem? That message even had him thrown in jail for treason. Is Jeremiah preaching down the value of the land just so he can get it at a bargain?
No, it is because Jeremiah has a vision of the future – God’s future – that is so compelling and real that it invades the present and changes the way he acts and the things that he does.
Jeremiah 33:14-16, The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”
Jeremiah believes – we might say that he knows – that the days are surely coming when the Lord will keep his promises. The invasion by Babylon, though it is horribly destructive, cannot change that future. God will restore the land. God will raise up a righteous king. The desolate city will be populated again and there will be feasting and celebration and life within its walls once again.
Jeremiah is not buying a field because he wants in on a ground-level opportunity. He buys the field because the future Jerusalem is the Jerusalem he sees now.
There’s a word for that. (I rediscovered it in a sermon by Lee Camp.) Proleptic: The representation of something as existing before its proper or historical time, as in the precolonial United States. The assignment of something, such as an event or name, to a time that precedes it, as in If you tell the cops, you’re a dead man. The future is so certain that we act now as if the future is the present.
This isn’t …
- Seeing potential – with potential, there’s something there. It just needs time to mature and grow. Jeremiah doesn’t buy the field because he sees the potential. What sense does it make to buy a field that is going to be seized by the invaders?
- Taking a risk – with a risk, you have a long shot of possibility. You can risk your money buying a lottery ticket. You could win. You probably won’t. That’s why it’s called gambling (Oh, wait, they don’t call the lottery gambling do they?)
- Showing heart with no hope of success. This isn’t the marathon runner who comes in hours behind the other runners because she won’t give up – even though she lost the opportunity to win. This isn’t the idea that finishing is more important than winning.
It is action based on a trust that God’s promises MUST be fulfilled. God must fulfill these. Promise of land and kingdom. The reality of these promises change the future and the present. It is living and behaving as if the future that MUST happen is now present.
And it might as well be. Because we know some things about the future.
- We know in those days that Christ MUST return.
- We know that in those days righteousness will win out. There will be no more sin. No more evil, in those days.
- We know that in those days no institution or government will stand. Everything will be placed under the rule of Jesus Christ. The properties that we value. The borders that we protect so fiercely, the customs that we cling to – in those days, they will all be leveled and only Christ will remain.
- We know that in those days the treasures we work so hard for and work so hard to insure and protect will all be worthless. Only the treasures of heaven will have value in those days.
Now, what if we started living like those days, are these days? (What fields would we buy?)
- Maybe instead of trying to build a church we would just be church. After all, that’s how it will work in those days. Why wait for the church budget or the economy to correct itself as if it were some organic entity apart from us. We had to adjust a line item in the church budget that means we cannot purchase food for Jack and Oscar and the office to give to those who need it. Do you think that eliminates benevolence? Do you think that Jack and Oscar are the only ones who can share food with the poor? Jesus said, “You feed them.” Just share what you have. That’s the economy of “those days.”
- Let us open our homes and share what we have. And not look to how much is in the budget. Let’s spend our wealth to make friends for the kingdom (Luke 16)
- We’ve cut the church budget but that doesn’t mean we have to gear up for a year of despair and poor-mouthing. How much does it cost us to sing? How much does it cost us to pray? How much does it cost us to give thanks? How much does it cost us to mentor?
- How much does it cost us to come around the Lord’s Table – (Aha! Got you now preacher – that is in the budget. Sure, but how did the early church handle it – they shared what they had).
- Do you know what motivated those disciples in the first generation to devote themselves to the apostles teaching, to pray, breaking bread, and fellowship? Do you know why they gathered in homes and eventually welcomed people who were once their enemies? Do you know why they gave up some of their cultural expectations (that they really thought were religious requirements) to welcome people who had God’s spirit? They did that because they really believed that Christ would return in their lifetime. And they lived like THAT DAY was TODAY.
What if today is the day Christ returns? Why aren’t we living like every day is that day?
Like that sealed document stuck in a clay jar for Jeremiah, we have the promise, the guarantee of better days. It is sinful for us to live like the best days are behind us. It is sinful for us to want to return to the “good old days.” God is bringing a glorious future our way – and if what God is doing is making us anxious, then maybe we’ve invested in the wrong fields?
Posted by Chris on November 22, 2009 under Sermons
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:15-17)
I’ve been trying to remember when I stopped thinking of Thanksgiving as just a holiday and more as an attitude.
Growing up, “thanksgiving” was the name of a day that we gathered with the extended family for a big meal. Not so impressive when you consider that we all lived within a half mile of each other. I do not recall any prayers being said or any particularly religious talk as we gathered around table. Nothing was too out of the ordinary. We just gathered and ate, played and joked. Sometimes the occasional relative would drop in from some far off state. And when enough of them showed up to bring their musical instruments and play tunes – that was special. When a relative presented my grandfather a bottle of German wine, that was special – very special when he allowed my cousins and me a sip without anyone else knowing. But I cannot recall that I or anyone else was aware of any special ceremony. We certainly didn’t stand on rituals.
We were God-fearing, but we weren’t particularly religious. However, there was a certain spirit required for our gatherings – even if we never used such language to describe it. Looking back, I would say that Grace was required and expected. We had all worked so hard to own property near each other and live together on our farm. It just wouldn’t have been proper to be anything less that gracious. So family tensions and worries were set aside. Discontent and disrespect were not proper – at least not for that one day. Though we may not have expressed our thanks in words and prayers, graciousness and gratitude was expected in everything we did. So whatever we did, in word or deed, he had to do it with the right attitude.
It’s not the details of our thanksgiving gatherings that made an impact on me. I don’t remember what year we had the best ham. I don’t remember the time we had dry turkey. I don’t remember if grandma ever burnt the rolls. I do remember that someone made pineapple sauce because it was a running joke about me liking it so well from that point on. It’s not the details that I remember, but I remember the spirit.
I share this with you so that we may hopefully reflect together on how thanksgiving needs to be more than a day. Thanksgiving need to be a spirit of thankfulness that leads to thanks-living. Thanks-giving should be our natural state. It must become the atmosphere, the climate, the background of everything else we do.
I hope you noticed that Paul encouraged the Colossians to worship and live with gratitude in their hearts to God. He mentions the details: teaching, counseling, singing songs, hymns, spiritual songs to God. But bracketing the details he mentions the spirit and the attitude that MUST accompany these details: “be thankful … with gratitude.” What good does it do to teach and counsel without heavenly wisdom? What good does it do to sing a cappella with grumpy attitudes and self-righteous pitch perfection.
Gratitude rhymes with attitude. Maybe that’s just an accident – but we’ll make a point of it today. Gratitude is the attitude of being thankful. It is the atmosphere that must permeate our Christian walk. If we try to manufacture it, then it certainly can seem artificial. We would rather cultivate it. Plant seeds. Nurture them. Let them grow and reap the harvest and give it to God. In recalling my family gatherings, I am thankful for the gracious spirit, but I think the roots might have gone deeper, the blooms might have lasted longer if we had been a bit more intentional about the basis of being gracious.
God has clever ways of getting us to cultivate gratitude. In Leviticus 22 he describes how we wants the people to bring him a thank offering. After all, when one truly reflects on God you want to let him know that you’re thankful. Mostly we like to keep that between us and God. There’s a special relationship there after all. God says he wants a thank offering – and in Leviticus that means some returning of the good things God provided. Say, a ram or a steer – livestock. But here’s the really clever part. God is only going to accept it if you eat it that same day. Why? Because if you are going to eat a whole animal, you are going to have to call in friends. When you are thankful to God, He wants you to share it. He wants it to form a gracious, thankful gathering. The offering will be consumed, but the gratitude will continue. Our thankfulness toward God becomes something we demonstrate by sharing and giving just as he did. We become more like him.
That’s what we are going to do this morning. We are going to bring thank offering. We’ve worked so hard to be together. We have been through a lot together. Christ has done so much to make us one. Let’s be gracious. Let’s be thankful. Let’s share it.
Cards: These are on the pew next to you. Take a minute and write or draw on them. Talk to each other. Help the young ones. Help the old ones. We are going to collect these and use them for the basis of congregational prayers. We may use them for bulletins, bulletin boards, videos. A harvest of thanksgiving. You don’t have to put your name on these. You can write or draw whatever you want. You are giving this to God, but then it is shared with everyone else (just like the thank offering). What ever you write, write it in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Pray …
THANKSGIVING
I am thankful to God because …
THANKSLIVING
I will show my gratitude by …
Now, you may bring your card to the people holding baskets. If you want to pass them all to someone on the outside of the pew, that’s fine. We are going to gather our offerings in a basket.
Posted by Chris on October 25, 2009 under Sermons
What do you hope for? – That your team will win, that this sermon will be short, that you won’t have the same argument around the supper table today, that your family could gather around the table. Do you hope that you will find a good job and marry the right person, or maybe you hope that for your children, or maybe you wish you could? Do you hope that you can make it through the day without a drink, a bad thought, losing your temper, or a visit to a certain website? Do you hope the economy will improve? Do you hope that God will return soon, or does that thought make you uneasy and you hope you can find a way that it wouldn’t?
Our inspiration and our mission, our hopes and dreams are influenced by the way we answer another question: What do you believe God is doing with the future?
Spell it out and then ask you to think through it with me … Mission, Hope, and God’s Plans for the Future are all connected in important ways. Bible speaks of the Day of the Lord with Hope.
What God is doing with the future …
- Revelation 7:9-12 – People of all tribes, nations, and languages: These are the things that separate us. We work very hard to preserve our tribe, our nation, our language (culture). We work very hard to hold onto something we cannot always keep. We work for a future that just may not happen the way we intend.
- Humans don’t have the ability to secure the future – we can shape it, influence it, impact it, but we cannot guarantee a particular outcome — this is why we hope.
- On 9/11 people of one tribe attacked people of another tribe. People of one language attacked another nation of people with many languages. The attackers believed that God was going to do something with the future – they believed that God was going to establish a great empire but wicked sinful nations that stand in the way have to be crushed. They knew what the other tribe hoped for and so they targeted that: hope in prosperity, hope in security, hope in strength/power.
- After the towers fell, hopes changed – We hoped that people would be found alive, we hoped that the enemy would be captured and killed, we hoped that things would return to normal. When things did return to normal, what did we believe God was doing with the future? Maybe he would give us some happiness? Maybe he would restore our fortunes? Maybe he would keep us safe? Maybe he would destroy our enemies?
- That’s normal – going back to normal means hoping that God favors your tribe, your nation, and that he speaks your language.
- But on the day that was not normal, maybe we saw a glimpse of God’s hopes. Maybe for a time, when we lifted our heads to the skies, and paid attention to one another, maybe then we saw what God is wanting to do with the future. Because people from different tribes, different nations, and different languages were all covered in ashes. They spoke of the same things: evil and repentance were spoken of, God was named, prayers were shared. We wondered if perhaps God had a different future worked out. It looked just a little like the scene in Revelation 7:9.
- But then we all went back to speaking our own languages, we put on the colors of our tribes, and we secured the borders of our nations. Once again we started to pray that God would bless our hopes – our hope for prosperity, for strength, for safety. And we didn’t bother to consider what God was hoping. We didn’t really spend much time considering his future – maybe because we had a glimpse of it and we knew that God’s future doesn’t always match up with our hopes.
This reminds me of a man named Jonah …
- God has a mission because God is working on the future. There is a wicked nation, full of evil tribes, and people who speak foul language. They offend God. And they offend Jonah too. Before God destroys this wicked nation, God wants Jonah to warn them, because God’s future hopes involve this nation changes its murderous, wicked ways.
- Jonah knows that, and that’s why he doesn’t want to do it. Because these people offend Jonah too. God has a mission that sees the future one way, but Jonah’s hope for the future doesn’t include that wicked nation.
- So Jonah refuses to get on aboard God’s mission. And he finds out that it is a tough thing to argue with God and try to avoid the hurricane force of God’s future and his mission. So Jonah does preach it. He warns the wicked city and tells them that they have no future in God’s future because of their evil ways. (And maybe he’s loving that just a little).
- And the wicked, wicked city changes their hope. Instead of hoping in their strength, their power, their prosperity, they hope in God and his future. And God forgives them.
- And this upsets Jonah. (Jonah 4) – Jonah would rather die than live in a future with people from that other tribe, that other nation, who speak a different language.
If we cannot see past our tribe, our nation, or our language, then we do not see God’s vision of the future.
If our hope is limited to our tribe, or just our nation, and if it can only be spoken in our language, then our hope is not rooted what God is doing with the future.
What we believe about the future will affect the way we live today.
- We believe that a day is coming when God will establish righteousness as normal, sin and its corrupting power will be obliterated – and so we want to hope for that day in such a way that we live like that day is today
- We believe that a day is coming when God invites all his children to a feast, a banquet and Jesus, our Lord, is the head of the table. Everyone there will be dressed for the occasion and there will be peace at that table – and so we want to hope for that day in such a way that we live like that day is today.
- We believe that a day is coming when God’s stored up wrath is poured out and emptied and wickedness and evil have been cast out. There will be no more fear, no more harm, no more worry. Atonement is complete and there is reconciliation between us and God and that means there must be reconciliation with one another, for God wills it. And so we want to hope for that day in such a way that we live like that day is today.
- But yes, we know that that day isn’t quite today – but we live for that day and that means we have a mission – a mission not for our own survival, nor for our protection or victory, rather a mission based on our hope in God’s future.
What do we hope for? What do we believe God is doing with the future?
It is time, past time …
Posted by Chris on October 18, 2009 under Sermons
2 Samuel 3:38-39
“And today, though I am the anointed king, I am weak, and these sons of Zeruiah are too strong for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer according to his evil deeds!”
The Sons of Zeruiah
Asahel
- Pursues Abner without mercy (2 Samuel 2)
- Killed by Abner (2 Samuel 2)
- Avenged by his brothers (2 Samuel 3)
- Counted among David’s heroes (2 Samuel 23)
Abishai
- Wants to kill Saul (1 Samuel 26)
- Kills Abner – revenge (2 Samuel 2)
- Wants to kill Shimei for cursing David (2 Samuel 16)
- Killed to get David water (2 Samuel 23)
Joab
- Commander of David’s Army (8)
- Kills Abner – revenge (2 Samuel 2)
- Involved in Uriah’s murder (11)
- Woman from Tekoa (14)
- Executes Abasalom (18)
- Chastises David in grief (19)
- Kills rival Amasa (20)
- Executed by Solomon (1 Kings 2)
2 Samuel 20:11-12
One of Joab’s men stood beside Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab!” Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the road, and the man saw that all the troops came to a halt there. When he realized that everyone who came up to Amasa stopped, he dragged him from the road into a field and threw a garment over him.
Sons of Zeruiah
- Commited to God and David
- Not committed to God’s ways
- Devoted but unjust
David to Solomon (1 Kings 1)
- He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.
Sons of Thunder
- Eager to do God’s work, but not in God’s ways
- On God’s side, but do not have God’s heart
- Willing to do harm for the sake of “good”
- Being Right vs Being Gracious
Posted by Chris on under Sermons
In the ministry of Jesus and in the first century church, people experienced God’s healing.
Luke 4:18-21 … “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”
Acts 3:6 — But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”
Healing continues in the church. In the name of Jesus, his disciples continue this ministry in his name and with his presence.
- It’s too bad that charlatans kept us from recognizing the importance of the work of healing in Christ’s name (Acts 7 – Simon the Magician)
- “We don’t want people to think we’re faith-healers.” Those faith-healers also preach in suits and ties. Do we stop preaching? If we stopped preaching and teaching because of bad preaching and teaching, that would be sorry. So let’s not stop healing because of a few eccentrics.
- Let’s expand our definition of healing and mission … it’s not just miraculous. Healing wasn’t the only focus of the miracles. It was a sign that the kingdom of heaven – a new reign – was breaking into our world. And that’s still the case today.
- You do not have to be in the medical, science field to participate in God’s work of healing.
- Body and Spirit are both the domain of the kingdom of God
- We do not command God’s power to heal. Even Jesus was limited in his power to heal. But likewise we cannot say that our faith is proportionate to our experience of healing. Once again, that is trying to command God’s power.
- Death has ultimately been conquered. The resurrection is God’s sign that all disease and death will ultimately be undone – that is his will. As Jesus said, we have experienced God’s favor in Him.
I don’t think we’ve truly left healing in the past as some odd artifact of a legendary age. Look at our prayer list. That’s a witness to our hope and faith that God heals. But how wide and how broad is our understanding of God’s healing power – the in-breaking of the kingdom?
All sorts of healing … James 5:13-18
- James is an early word from the Christian community. He seems to assume that there are godly responses to disease and sickness – and even sadness and sin. And he doesn’t chop these up into separate concerns.
- I find it humorous that “medical science” begins to accept that these issues are related. Thank God for physicians and counselors who administer wisdom and learning in combination with God’s principles.
- Christian leaders in ages past (including James) understood how sin, sadness, and sickness, and faith were intertwined and they prescribed treatments for the whole experience of illness and wellness.
- But please note: This can sound a lot like new age medicine or therapy that has no relationship or reliance to God’s Spirit whatsoever. Thos views are not wholly wrong, but they are missing the vital core of healing. James, Jesus, and the witness of Scripture always place God and his Spirit at the center of healing.
Some practical responses for the church …
- Stress, mental illness, depression, addiction – We have got to stop saying that these are not real. They may be difficult to understand and perhaps even debatable, but they are real. Whether we attribute it to an evil spirit, or brain chemistry, or a bad day – it is real. But it is also all within the power of God to manage. Honestly, is God anymore threatened by a demon than he is by serotonin levels?
- We also need to get beyond the unnecessary burden of shame that surrounds issues such as these and addiction. Do we speak the language of shame or the language of healing? “Wait, isn’t this enabling the problem?” Not at all. Was Jesus enabling the Legion of demons that possessed the Gerasene man when he asked their name? In ages past, Christians understood that naming a problem (or a force or a demon) was a way of overcoming it. Just as a diagnosis can be a first step to treatment, naming problems gives us the “handle” on them that we need so that we can place it in God’s care.
- Challenge to the church: Let’s stop being afraid of sickness and sadness. Let’s stop being afraid of the “sinners in our midst” and let us not be afraid to name truth and humbly work within God’s healing power to overcome them.
- Being a community of truth doesn’t simply mean that we hold all the right doctrinal positions. It means that we are authentic and we can speak truthfully to one another. We tell the truth about ourselves and one another and we speak God’s truth. The powers of addiction, depression, stress, and sin are fueled by lies. James is calling the church to speak the truth in song, prayer, and confession.
- We have got to stop despising weakness. Our culture glories in youth, strength, and power.
- This is why health care is such a major concern in our nation. On a big scale, we bought into the modern idea that through our own resources we can create a world in which no one gets sick and no one dies. It is the serpent’s lie that convinces us that we are no good if we are weak. It is the serpent’s lie that convinces us that we are less human if we are weak or sick.
- Let the church be a family in which our value is NOT determined by how healthy we are. I know that we find it hard to share our weaknesses (physical and otherwise) because we are afraid that others will treat us differently. We don’t want to be pitied. And in church we should not be pitied. (Rose prayed for me and my mom).
- Pain and weakness are not a sign of God’s disfavor. Tragedy and suffering is not a sign of God’s abandonment. (John 8) Nor is God always trying to teach us something. Sometimes we tell people who’ve experienced a horrible situation – “What is God trying to teach you.” Maybe God is trying to teach us (the questioners) something. Honestly, how often do we pray for people and want others to be well because we aren’t sure that we can bear their brokenness?
- We rejoice with those who rejoice and we suffer with those who suffer – but all have the same worth for all are created in God’s image. Think of how much healing would take place if we adopted this belief and practiced this belief more.
- We can show dignity and respect the humanity of one another (Mark 10) – Jesus asks the blind man “What do you want me to do for you?”
- Let’s be serious about healing the sickness of sin. Some of us feel illness in our mind, our heart, our bodies because of sin and broken relationships.
- Man goes to doctor and says, “It hurts when I lift my arm like this.” … Stop hurting yourselves.
- Do you need to reconcile with others? There is so much pain in our relationships with one another and the spirit of God can heal it. “But that’s not easy.” No, in fact Scripture says 1) it is hard, and 2) you need to do it.
- Do you need to reconcile with God? Maybe you need to have it out with God. Go ahead. But you will never be healed and whole if you do nothing.
Thomas Aquinas went to visit Pope Innocent IV. Aquinas was amazed at the trappings of wealth, gold and treasures. So the Pope commented to Aquinas, “Well, Thomas, I suppose the church cannot say as Peter did, ‘Silver and Gold have I none.'” Aquinas replied, “True, Your Excellency, but neither can we say, ‘Arise and walk.'”
What’s our message? Can we say “Arise and Walk”? Are we willing to be so bold? Is our faith in our own resources (silver, gold, science, human effort) or in the Spirit of God? Let’s be agents of God’s healing in God’s ways …
Posted by Chris on October 11, 2009 under Sermons
2 Samuel 12:11-12
“Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes …”
“… and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.”
Wise Woman of Tekoa
King David
Layers of Story
- WOMAN of TEKOA
- DAVID and ABSALOM
- GOD and HUMANITY
David’s Option
- Bring Absalom back to his land and house
- David will not meet with him – loss of favor
- Absalom resents this
Absalom’s Rebellion
- Absalom believes he is just
- David and his people go into exile
- Absalom follows shrewd advisors (16:21-23)
Absalom’s Capture (18)
- David orders Absalom to be spared
- Joab executes Absalom
- David mourns – depression
- David returns to Jerusalem – forgives (19)
Parable of Father and Sons
- Family or Justice
- Reconciliation or Destruction
- The Way of Jesus
Three Layers of the Parable
- Woman and her sons (parable)
- David and Absalom
- God and Us
- The Need for Reconciliation
Posted by Chris on under Sermons
If we are going to talk about mission, then we need to look at Luke 10.
- Jesus sent his disciples out to preach and proclaim the kingdom of God
- It was risky
- They relied on God’s spirit and maybe help from others
We often compare Jesus to a preacher, but what if he’s more like a youth minister?
- How old are these disciples? Some of them are probably in their teens.
- Some of them leave their parents behind
- Jesus was the traditional age to go into ministry (age 30, so we believe)
- Jesus wasn’t the approved age for a pulpit minister (35-45, married w/kids, 10 years exp.)
- These disciples were considered unlearned, bumpkins, zealots, rough
The Report of the 72 who were sent:
- Evil was sent running, and we didn’t even count on that!
- The defeat of evil is exactly what the mission is all about.
- Jesus says, “I saw Satan fall like lightning!”
Jesus’ response to the report
- Jesus rejoices!
- What is it that fills Jesus with joy?
- God has revealed the power of the kingdom to “little children.”
- Not the wise, the learned, the experts, the powerful, the mature, but to little children!
Why little children?
“Star Wars” (1977) – It revolutionized pop culture. After 1977, movies and TV changed. Merchandising became big business. No one saw this coming because Star Wars was considered a “kid’s film.” Even most of the people working on it thought it was a children’s film with robots, shaggy monsters and dark villains.
But the film was popular with more than just children and it has remained popular for over 30 years. Why? Maybe because this film touched on our very basic hopes to see evil defeated and good triumph. Something that we understand as kids.
What was it like before 1977? It was the same. We still believed in good and evil and heroic deeds, adventures to save the princess, the power of evil. It’s just that Lucasfilm figured out a great way to package that and market it.
How did the church lose its child-like imagination? How did we lose our basic belief and hope in the struggle between good and evil and the faith that good always wins?
- Maybe we’ve been too jaded by a cynical world
- Maybe we got involved in so many busy activities
- So many programs and preparations
We need to recover the imagination. We need to have the same imagination and child-like faith that sees simple acts and adventures of mission that knock Satan off his feet. We need to view the world again as a field where good and evil struggle. We need to rejoice that our names are written in heaven – not because God’s keeping score or because we want Jesus to save us a seat, but because God knows that he has some agents down here that he can call on when there’s a mission.
But we’ve all gotten tired and bored! We have become so busy! And it has made us bitter and proud!
Mary and Martha (Luke 10)
- Mary is captivated, but Martha is busy.
- At least Martha is inviting Jesus to hospitality. If it were left up to Mary it would never had been done!
- Jesus explains to Martha that she only needs one thing. Why doesn’t he tell her what the one thing is? Because if he did then she would work on it the same way she was working at hospitality. She would wear herself out, upset everyone else and get upset with everyone else. Even with the one thing, she would get bitter and burdened with responsibility.
- Let’s believe again that the world really can change – otherwise, why do we have a mission?
- Let’s believe again that demons and evil can be sent running and that Satan (the dark villain) has fallen from the sky like lightning.
- Let’s believe again that good wins out and let’s pledge to be on the winning side.
Posted by Chris on September 27, 2009 under Sermons
Reflection #1: University Church of Christ circa 1991.
There was a similar event every year at University Church of Christ in Abilene. At that event we just collected blue jeans. I recall as a young man how our preacher, Eddie Sharp, would come dressed in blue jeans and take his place at the austere pulpit in University’s old cathedral like worship center. It seemed wonderfully out of place. Here was this man in work clothes invading the holy arena of the pulpit.
But the impression was a positive one. It formed in me the notion that who I was on Monday-Saturday had to do with who I was on Sunday. It brought my worship life and my work life together. It made me realize that before God there was no casual side and formal side. It let me know that Sunday morning was not an isolated, restricted compartment to my life. I was shaped by that experience and I began to think of faith as something that had to do with action and service.
Reflection #2: How This Started.
Blue Jeans Sunday isn’t my idea. Not really. It isn’t anyone’s idea. It is a spirit. It is an emerging reality. Dare we say that God’s Spirit might have something to do with it? Let’s see, but if the events of today and the spirit that follows is anything like the growth leading up to this, then we all ought to be thrilled.
To start with, there was some discussion about how the Hope Chest needed donations of Blue Jeans before school started. A vague recollection of University collecting jeans made Karen and me think about that event and talking about it created some interest.
We put the event off (it was going to be “Jeans in July”). The Hope Chest board starting thinking about it, and they began to see the possibility of not just collecting jeans, but welcoming people to help stock them. And then the possibility of other work projects came to mind. Then someone suggested wearing blue jeans so we could work. And then it was suggested that the elders definitely should wear Blue Jeans. And this wonderful energy and creativity began to swell up. The sort of energy you encounter when people get interested in what God can do. And now the event really isn’t over. It will keep going beyond this day.
Reflection on Preaching
The jeans I am wearing today are the jeans I wore everyday at the worksite during our mission to Mexico. The joke on that trip was that I wasn’t “the preacher” that week. I was just a rebar-cutting, nail-pulling, wood-hauling worker. After all, what kind of preacher wears dirty jeans and a sweaty T-shirt? If I might differ, I humbly suggest that I did preach that week. Maybe I didn’t use words, but the actions preached and they served God’s purposes. Our work is also the kingdom of God.
There are so many of you here who are talented in so many types of works. I hope you regard your skills and service as valuable to the kingdom. Don’t bury those talents. Don’t disregard them. And certainly don’t be lazy in the kingdom of God – the mission is too important.
Reflection #4: Created to Do Good Works
What were you baptized for? Salvation, right? But what does it means to be saved? You were saved to do good works. Your baptism was your ordination to do good works. Work out your salvation. That doesn’t mean work for it. It means put it into action.
As you go along. Today we are aware of our mission and next month we will start praying for our mission works. The great commission of Jesus isn’t really “Go Ye.” That’s a bad translation. A better translation is “As you go on your way, make disciples.” We’ve focused on the GO part to the neglect of making disciples. And that has caused us to neglect being disciples. So missionaries and evangelists are the only ones who go. But that’s not what it means to follow Jesus. Being a disciple means baptizing and teaching as you go on your way.
As you go on your way today, you are going out to participate in good works. Those good works are works that glorify God, so that means that they worship him. As you go out today on your way you are going out there to find Jesus and join in with what he’s doing.
I want you to realize that when you are cutting branches over here, that you are worshipping God. Every sentence you write with a pen [on a greeting card] is worship to God. Every step of the walk [on campus] and every breath of prayer are worshipping God. Every box you move, every shelf you stack, every tire you wash worships God if you offer that as a joyous sacrifice to him and surrender it to his purposes. How is it worship? I’m glad you asked …
Reflection #5: Worship is Moving
Worship is active. It is a verb. One of the oldest definitions of worship is “the work of the people.” We can get so focused on worship being about us and serving our members. We can make our preferences the measuring stick of worship. We can come to the assembly and sit and wait for something we can get out of it.
I love the song that I learned on a mission trip to the Caribbean so many years ago. They sing, “You’ve got to move, you got to move – when my Lord he gets ready, you got to move!” And then they add in verbs … “You’ve got to preach.” “You’ve got to pray,” etc.
In most places in the world and throughout history, worship is much more active than we often regard it. The people don’t just sit. They gather. They bring the bread and wine. They serve it. They wait on tables. They talk to one another. They stand and sing. It’s not about being entertained; it’s about the work of God’s Spirit motivating people to do right.
We talk about a living God. Paul said that “In God we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28.) He was trying to translate the living reality of God to a bunch of philosophers in Athens who thought that God was far away. He was quoting their own philosophers. Intellectually, Paul was dressing up in such a way that he could relate to the world around him.
God is active and our world needs to see that. Now I ask you, how can we sit around idly and lazily in the presence of such a God? We ought to at least jump off our pew and bow down, yes?
Posted by Chris on September 20, 2009 under Sermons
Read Acts 6.
The first church conflict …
The Work of the 12
- Ministry of the Word (Apostles Teaching)
- Ministry of Prayer
- Ministry of Tables – (Service is a form of worship)
Faced With Problems – Why do they have problems? Why the conflict?
- Growth – The community is growing larger and the challenges of sustaining are getting tougher. Growth causes the groups to grow anxious.
- Culture Clash – Add to this anxiety the problem of cultural differences. All of these believers are Jews, but they have grown up over the generations in different cultures. The Hellenists are influenced by Greek culture, the Hebraic Jews have grown up in their homeland and preserved the old paths. Hellenistic/Greek believers would have grown up with a different language and a different outlook. They would have been accepting of cultural differences that the Hebraic believers would not. The Hebraic Jews probably looked down on the Hellenistic Jews because they believed that they were compromisers. The Hellenistic Jews probably considered the Hebraic Jews as backwards and odd.
- Need for Resources
- Why are the Hellenistic widows being overlooked? Maybe the Hellenistic believers aren’t giving like they should. If there was an abundance, then no one would be overlooked. This isn’t a managerial, administration issue. The problem isn’t in the delivery. It may be on the collection side. Leaders among the Greeks are needed to inspire sharing.
Arriving at a Solution
- Sharing Leadership – The 12 are not anxious leaders. They know that the church belongs to God and that Christ is completely in charge. So, the Holy Spirit appoints leaders (they’ve already tested that in Chap 1)
- Empowering Service – They are able to share their leadership. Moses shared leadership with judges. The kings of Israel were appointed by God’s spirit. Prophets were empowered to speak according to God’s spirit. Why do we assume its any different with the church?
- Giving Authority
- The 12 trust the 7. They share authority with them
- All authority in the church is in Christ. All authority is shared authority. This is God’s church.
- Authority is not a choke chain that reels the 7 in when they make a mistake. They are not holding a paycheck or excommunication over the head of these men.
Criteria for Leaders – So who do you give authority to?
- Holy Spirit
- Wisdom
The criteria are not men who have experience in food service. They do not need to be men who have been successful in their business and careers. They need to be people who are caught up in the spirit of God that has been the mark of leaders in the last 5 chapters. The fruit of the spirit will be obvious in their lives.
Also, they need wisdom – wisdom is a quality that has to do with doing the right thing. It is discernment. It’s different than simply keeping rules, holding to tradition (the way its always been done), or following policy (sheepwalking).
- It means understanding what’s really going. Wisdom = leading people to be more like Christ and do the right thing.
- Jesus had wisdom from God. He did the appropriate thing and the right thing. It didn’t always meet expectations of the hierarchy, the leaders of Israel or the religious elite, or the traditional. But it was rooted in God’s ancient wisdom.
Leadership …
There are not slots and stations in the church (i.e. a corporation or the military) One can move up when a slot comes open. These are organizations that focus on rank and function. The job is more important than the mission. One fills a slot (featherbedding). Different sorts of leaders are needed depending on the mission and the church is allowed the creativity to shape leadership to a certain degree to accomplish the mission. No, you do not need a pulpit minister to accomplish the mission. But as long as you do have one, then the goal must be to accomplish God’s mission. Not just to fulfill a set of tasks. There is a ministry of the word and a ministry of prayer and a ministry of service. Who does it and in what capacity is an open matter.
Outcome
- Unity — Unity is not simply making people happy. It is moving them through anxiety to God’s peace. Unity can be hard work. It doesn’t mean everyone agrees about every detail, but it does mean that there is respect rooted in the holiness of God. It doesn’t mean that there are never problems or conflicts, but it does mean that we believe in proposals that can benefit everyone and bring glory to God. (Rather than the “my way or I’m hitting the highway” attitude – they are not church customers. They are unified)
- More Growth – Notice that more people are being added to the church. That’s God’s work. When God sees a body of believers who can empower leaders who are wise and full of the holy spirit, when God recognizes a group that cares for one another and can work out problems, then he trusts them with “his kids.”
- Who do we trust with our kids?
- Who do we trust with our pets?
- More Leadership – The 7 are committed to the ministry of the table and they end up doing word and prayer. I think the 12 also served on tables, too.
- More Service – More leadership means more service (John 13) – the leader serves. If you serve, then you are a leader. You are teaching others.
