Category: Sermons

New Hope Sermons

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Sing a New Song: Psalm 33

Everybody loves good news! I don’t know which we enjoy more: hearing good news, or telling good news to others.

The Psalmist who composed tonight’s psalm had great news for the people. God stood with His people and protected them in times of trial. Psalm 33 offers encouragement to believers facing times of trial. The God who created the universe continues to protect us and provide for us in our lives today.

Believers should praise the LORD for His faithfulness and love. vv. 1-5. The Psalmist begins with a command: “Shout!” The Hebrew word here refers to the joyous cry of the people at the sacrifice. This cry would ring throughout the sanctuary. Hebrew worship would frighten some of us today!

The Psalmist tell us why we should cry to the LORD: “Praise befits the upright.” The Hebrew word for “befits” actually means “lovely.” Believers should love to praise the LORD for all He has done for us.

The Psalmist is inspired to praise the LORD with every means necessary, including every instrument available in the sanctuary. The LORD deserves a new song because He constantly blesses His people. When we examine our lives and see how God has blessed us, each of us can sing a song that differs from everyone else. God blesses each of us in many ways.

We find the blessings of the LORD in verses 4 and 5. “The word of the LORD” tells us how we must live to receive the blessings of God. God’s work “is done in faithfulness;” God faithfully works to provide for and protect His people. God loves “righteousness and justice.” God calls on everyone to live according to His moral standard and to treat everyone fairly. Those who live according to God’s standards will one day see perfect justice before His throne. However, God’s “steadfast love” for His people will provide mercy for those who have confessed Jesus, His Son, as Lord of their lives.

Believers should praise the LORD for His Creation. vv. 5-9. These verses tell us about the character of God as well as about His acts of creation.

First, God is the Creator of everything. Nothing exists that He did not create. Therefore, everything we see — and also those things we cannot see — all have a purpose in God’s plan. You were created for a purpose.

Secondly, God is a God of order. God put the oceans where He needed them. It is no accident that modern science arose only in a Christian context. Of all religions, only the Judeo-Christian religion believes in a God who put order into the universe so that we can understand the universe through our observations. St. Paul tell us in Romans that God’s “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (1:20). The writer of Hebrews tells us that “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (11:3). By extension, we can trust God to act consistently out of love on our behalf. God never forsakes His people.

Lastly, God’s power evokes fear from those who recognize it. We are right to fear such a God as the One who can create this universe. We are right to fear Him — until we come to love Him as we recognize Him as our Redeemer. Jesus demonstrated God’s ultimate love for us on the cross of Calvary. Jesus also demonstrated God’s ultimate power by His resurrection. No one but Almighty God can bring the dead back to life.

Believers should praise the LORD for His sovereign rule. vv. 10-15. Throughout Israel’s history, other nations threatened her existence. The Psalmist recognized that no nation could threaten God’s people without His express consent. Furthermore, this consent came only when the nation disobeyed the commandments. The nation who chooses God as their LORD will receive the blessing of His protection and guidance.

This point cannot be over-emphasized in today’s events: God raises nations, and God destroys nations. The wisest counsellors cannot overcome a nation God blesses. We must constantly seek God’s blessing on the nations of the world by praying for our leaders. Regardless of your nationality, we are commanded to respect our leaders (cf. Romans 13, 1 Peter 2). Rather than grumble about your leaders, pray for them instead.

This lesson continues in verses 16-17. God is unimpressed with human military strength. God overthrew the chariots of Egypt (Exodus 14). God destroyed the army of Assyria outside Jerusalem (2 Kings 18-19, Isaiah 36-37). Babylon should have been impenetrable, but the Persians conquered it in 539 B.C. This conquest came in spite of Babylon’s immense walls: they were 11 miles long, 65 feet wide, and 85 feet high. Yet, the Persians went under the wall by diverting the Euphrates River.

Does God still work this way? Of course He does. When God decrees that a nation will rise, the nation will rise. When God decrees a nation will fall, the nation falls. We must pray fervently that God will continue to preserve our nation. However, we should also take comfort that God uses nations for the purpose of establishing His people and protecting His believers.

Believers should praise the LORD for His loving protection. vv. 18-22. The LORD constantly provides for those who “fear Him” and for those who “hope in his steadfast love.” Bad things happen to believers in this world; sin’s consequences touch us all. However, nothing can happen to us that God cannot use for His purpose in life. Nothing can happen to us without God’s knowledge. Even in times of intense trial, “our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.” His “steadfast love” never leaves us.

Conclusion

Look at your life. Remember everything God has done for you. Remember every situation where God has worked to preserve you. Remember that God created you for a purpose! Doesn’t God deserve a new song? Doesn’t He deserve to hear your praise? Just as importantly, doesn’t someone else need to hear you praise the LORD who cares so deeply for you? Sing a new song to God for all He has done in our lives.

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Sermon: Go, and Bless

Go; Bless

Scripture reading: Romans 4:1-17.
Sermon text: Genesis 12:1-3.

Cowards never cross into Canaan.

I grew up to the strains of Sacred Harp music. I clearly remember my great-grandfather and mother singing one of my favorite Sacred Harp pieces, “It’s a Mighty Rocky Road.” The song describes the road of life as the “rocky road,” the road that will take believers to eternal life. Those who choose to travel the rocky road must obey God every step of the way, even when it seems the path makes no sense.

God can take us to new places of blessing when we obey His call in our lives. God called Abram from the comforts of Ur and commanded him to go to an unknown land. When Abram obeyed the command, God blessed him beyond his expectations. God also blessed all humanity by keeping His promises to Abram. Jesus, the divine Son of God, came to earth as a direct descendant of Abram.

We know Abram better by another name he received later in his life. You probably know him better as “Abraham,” the name God gave him after he demonstrated his faith in God in Genesis 15. (God renamed Abram (which means “exalted prince”) to “Abraham” (“father of many nations”) in Genesis 17:5). I’ll refer to him as “Abram” in this sermon to maintain scriptural accuracy.

We know the dates of Abram’s life (2166-1991 B.C.) and the cultural context in which he lived. Abram lived in Ur during the last golden age of the Sumerian civilization, which lasted from roughly 2100 to 1900 B.C. During this time, the Sumerians achieved a level of sophistication unknown to most humans in history. Ur boasted indoor plumbing, paved roads, and other amenities we consider “modern.” We need to remember these facts because the memory eliminates a common excuse I hear today: “God wouldn’t take me away from all this and put me somewhere more primitive.” If you hear this line from someone, you can reply, “Just ask Abram.”

In 2091 B.C., God spoke to Abram and told him, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God commanded Abram to leave more than just the lifestyle he enjoyed in Ur. God also commanded Abram to leave “your kindred and your father’s house.” God called Abram to leave everything and travel to “the land that I will show you.” Abram received no clear destination, giving him no choice but to rely on God for directions to his destination.

God then made Abram a series of promises if he obeyed the call. “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” At this time, Abram and his wife Sarai (better known as “Sarah”) had no children of their own. In fact, Sarai had already turned 65 when Abram received his call. Yet, God promised to make a “great nation” of Abram. This implied that Abram and Sarai would one day have children of their own.

God also promised Abram that He would “make your name great.” Abram could already claim a great pedigree. His family descended directly from Shem, Noah’s godliest son. Abram could look into his ancestry and see many men who had made a name for themselves. God now promised He would insure Abram’s inclusion in that list.

Next, God promised Abram, “you will be a blessing.” Actually, in the Hebrew text, this reads more like a command itself. God commanded Abram to bless all those he would meet on the journey. The book of Genesis records how God used Abram to bless many people in the land of Canaan.

After promising these blessings, God then made a promise of protection to Abram. “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.” When you look at Abram’s life, you can see how God fulfilled this promise. Many Canaanites befriended Abram because he enjoyed the protection of God. The people who aided Abram received great blessings.

On the other hand, those who tried to oppose Abram found themselves removed from God’s blessings. Genesis tell the stories of kings who opposed Abram or who tried to take Sarai from Abram. Without exception, God cursed every one of those kings forced them to turn to Abram for relief.

God made one last promise to Abram in His call: “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Abram may have wondered how God could use him, a Semite leaving civilization and going who knew where, to bless all the families of the earth. God gave no details, only a promise that obedience would lead to blessings for all humanity. As Adam’s disobedience had cost humanity a relationship with God, Abram’s obedience would play a role in restoring that relationship.

Abram traveled the rocky road to Canaan, wondering where God would take him. He arrived in a land filled with pagans whose religion required child sacrifice and who fought each other on a regular basis. The people there quickly discouraged the cowards. At times, Abram wondered if God knew the rocky road. At times, Abram wondered if God understood the dangers of the rocky road. At times, Abram wondered where the road would lead him. The song reminds us: “His soul shall ascend where Jesus is, to be there forever blest.”

This brings us to the greatest road ever traveled. Jesus, the Christ, descended from Abram through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob. Jesus traveled the rocky roads from Galilee to Jerusalem, knowing a crucifixion — a lynching — awaited Him at the end of the road. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of the world. On Easter Sunday, Jesus rose again from the dead, defeating sin and death. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, God fulfilled His promise to bless all nations through Abram.

Jesus’ death and resurrection empowers God’s work in the world today. Following Jesus’ ascension into heaven, God sent the Holy Spirit into the world on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit calls people to believe in Jesus’ sacrifice and victory. The Holy Spirit also set the Church on the road to evangelize the world.

We receive our first call from God when we sense the Holy Spirit’s convicting power in our lives. At that moment, we realize our separation from our Creator and that we cannot remove the separation on our own. Jesus, the divine Son of God and Abraham’s Descendant, said to His disciples, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Like Abram, we must obey God’s call when we sense the Holy Spirit leading us to believe in Jesus and confess Him as Lord of our lives.

Once we believe in Jesus and confess Him as Lord, He then sends the Holy Spirit into our lives to lead us and guide us on the rocky road of life. The Holy Spirit guides us through Bible study, through prayer, and through corporate worship.

Many people say, “I don’t want God to call me away from what I know.” These people really mean, “I don’t want to give up anything for Jesus. I want to go to heaven without leaving anything here.” It doesn’t work that way. When we confess our allegiance to Jesus as Lord of our lives, we relinquish to Him full control over all we have and all we do. As our Lord, Jesus may exercise His right to command us whenever and however He chooses.

Those who obey the call of God find that the promises of Abram still stand. God still protects His people, but He also uses our sufferings to bear witness to Jesus, to strengthen us, and to prepare us for the glorious eternity He has prepared for us. God still uses His people to bless the nations of the world. St. John the Evangelist wrote that he saw people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” engaging in eternal worship (Revelation 7:9).

As I’ve worked on this sermon, it has occurred to me that people sometimes want to backtrack on the road. Some people look back wistfully to a “golden age” in which everything worked perfectly. For those people, I have news: Ur doesn’t exist. The Church still lives! We have outlasted civilizations, nations, and philosophies. We have journeyed longer on the rocky road than kingdoms and empires. We, the people of God, have no right to go back; we must press forward, in spite of the perils and danger. Again, cowards will never cross into Canaan!

As we travel this life, we’ll travel rocky roads. Those roads will take us to a unfathomable depths and exciting heights. We’ll often find ourselves realizing that we’ll never see the results of the stops on the journey. At the end of the road, we’ll experience the fullest completion of the promises God made to Abram centuries ago. In that eternity, we’ll enjoy the blessings of the journey with God as we experience true joy and peace in the presence of our Jesus, our King and Guide on the journey of life.

Sacred Harp: Rocky Road

I’m enlisted on this road,
I’m almost done traveling,
Enlisted on this road,
I’m almost done traveling,
Enlisted on this road,
I’m almost done traveling,

I’m bound to go where Jesus is.
My soul shall ascend where Jesus is,
To enjoy the peaceful home of rest.
I’m bound to go where Jesus is,
And be there forever blest.

It’s a mighty rocky road,
I’m almost done traveling,
A mighty rocky road,
I’m almost done traveling,
A mighty rocky road,
I’m almost done traveling,
I’m bound to go where Jesus is,
And be there forever blest.

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Sermon: Welcome to Grace

I’ve noticed that few Evangelicals really understand grace. This sermon, I hope, helps us to receive it — and, just as importantly, practice it. — JA

Welcome to Grace

Scripture reading: Psalm 119:33-40.
Sermon text: Matthew 5:38-48.

The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were “gods” and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him — for we can prevent Him, if we choose — He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot not imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back on God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said. — C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, IV.ix

We all have our favorite passages of Scripture. We love reading where Jesus tells us, “Let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1), “I with you always” (Matthew 28:20), or (probably our favorite) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). We love these passages because they give us hope and comfort.

Then, we encounter the other passages, those we had rather avoid. Even the most devout believers will occasionally read something that convicts them and challenges them to do something they had rather not.

Today’s passage covers a set of verses most of us don’t want to hear. Few of us want to hear Jesus say, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” and I’ve heard more explanations for “be perfect” than I can count. Interestingly, almost every explanation I’ve heard of this passage — except for the explanation in the C.S. Lewis quote above — tries in some way to say, “Jesus didn’t really mean it.”

We’ll get to that passage soon enough. However, we need to realize that Jesus’ words today give us far more hope than any of the comforting passages I’ve already mentioned. Christian, I have great news for you: One day, you’ll become the perfect image of God He created you to become —

And you will owe it all to grace.

Jesus opened this section of the Sermon on the Mount with a reminder of Moses’ teachings regarding justice. “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’” Most of us today have heard this saying, usually when uttered by someone praying (or hoping) for God to put holy smite on someone who just wronged them in some way. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone use this phrase in a rational moment; it usually appears in the heat of the moment and at a decibel level approaching that of a jet engine.

We think of this kind of justice — often known by its Latin rendition, lex talionis — as cruel. Why should someone want to render exact payment like this in a justice system? It helps to know the history behind this version of justice.

In the ancient Mesopotamian world of tribes and clans, before the state assumed the role of arbiter in crimes, at least one member of every family served as the “blood avenger” who enforced the peace between families. If someone murdered or wronged a family member, everyone expected the blood avenger to avenge the murder or injustice. Lex talionis prevented the blood avengers from exceeding the bounds and inflicting more punishment than necessary to avenge the crime.

Jesus began with the Mosaic injunction of lex talionis and then redefined the law to describe God’s ideal: “Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” What did Jesus mean?

We must understand that Jesus did not refer to a judicial system. Instead, we must remember “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). If our true enemy does not exist physically, then we cannot treat other humans with disrespect; we cannot wish vengeance on others if we love them as ourselves. Even as we work to end injustice, we must do so without descending into vengeance.

This leads us to Jesus’ more difficult teaching: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’”

“Wait,” you say; “I can do this!” Of course we can. We love to love those who already love us. Anyone can hate his enemy, the one that despises you and seeks your harm. I can always manufacture “warm fuzzies” for those I love, and I don’t have to work at all to viscerally hate my enemy.

Then, Jesus gave His interpretation. “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

That hurts. It turns out Jesus expects us to love our enemies as much as we love our neighbors. It seems Jesus really means this “love” thing.

I don’t know if I can do this; in fact, I don’t think I can do it on my own. I have no problem loving those who love me, but to love those who hate me? Why did Jesus say I must love those who work to cause harm to me?

Jesus said this because He did it; He lived as He expects us to live. Jesus lived among sinful humanity, in spite of our hatred and rebellion. Jesus loved even those who killed Him. Jesus never met an enemy He didn’t love, and we had best thank God for that love; that love led Jesus to die for our sins and rise again for our salvation.

In short, welcome to grace.

By grace, Jesus died to save us. By grace, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). We had rebelled against God, but Christ died for us anyway. By grace, He calls us to believe in Him as the Holy Spirit draws us to the cross for salvation.

In Jesus’ teachings, we see how He wishes us to treat one another. God knows the injustices we inflict on one another, but He still loves each human, so much so that He offers grace to us instead of condemnation and judgment. Because God has loved us, we come to love each other so much that we do not insist on our own rights, but we willingly forego our own rights for the good of others.

Do you see the implications? If we treat each injustice as an opportunity to minister to everyone around us — even our oppressors — we begin to open avenues to proclaim the gospel to those who mistreat us.

These teachings may sound incredibly difficult to us, but Jesus’ next words seem impossible: “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

I’ve heard a lot of interpretations of this verse. Some people want to interpret the Greek word “teleios” as “mature” so it sounds more as if Jesus didn’t mean “perfect,” but given the rest of the sentence, this doesn’t work. We can’t see a holy God as merely “mature.” (The Message sounds even worse: “Grow up,” as if God ever displayed juvenile tendencies.) No, Jesus said “perfect,” and He meant it.

Only Jesus Himself ever lived a perfect life, and perfection didn’t save Him from death. Why would Jesus expect perfection if no one has ever attained it? I can see at least 2 reasons why Jesus would seem to do this to us.

First, let’s go back a few verses, to the sermon text from two weeks ago, where we find these words: “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” The scribes and Pharisees had tried to reinterpret holiness to mean adherence to their traditions rather than adherence to the spirit of the Law. The zealous protecting of the Jewish Law by the Pharisees had degenerated into legalism, so much so that the Pharisees demanded obedience only to the letter of their laws.

Legalism never works, no matter what day it rears its head or what group expounds it. If you’re expecting God to owe you a favor because you keep someone’s set of laws, you’ll find yourself in deep trouble. None of us will ever attain salvation by obedience; we will attain it only by grace, by coming to Jesus for forgiveness of our sins and spiritual rebirth. “You must be born again,” Jesus said to one of the foremost Pharisees (John 3:7).

Secondly, and more importantly, I believe C.S. Lewis accurately described the salvation lifestyle in the passage I quoted earlier. God loves us, but holiness defines God’s nature and character. God cannot and will not tolerate sin. We serve a holy God. Out of love, God forgives us of our sins when we confess Jesus as Lord, believing in His resurrection (Romans 10:9); out of love, God then adopts us into His family (Romans 8:13-17).

Then, by grace, God begins perfecting us. As Lewis puts it in the same chapter of Mere Christianity:

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of — throwing a new wing here, putting on a extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

Christian, I believe we can read this passage and instead of despairing at our imperfections, we find we can take comfort and hope from Jesus’ words. God will perfect all His children. No, we won’t like it; yes, we’ll experience pain in the process. We will, however, find the ultimate result worth everything we experience in this life.

In the meantime, we find we must live to a higher standard than the world’s. We must understand that our every action can help someone to immortal joy with our Creator. We must understand that when God said, “Love your neighbor,” He meant it, even if loving our neighbor brings us harm. We must work in this life to fight injustice. We must work now to spread the gospel so that everyone around us will one day, in a new creation, experience the perfection God has prepared for all of us. God has shown us grace, and He expects us to demonstrate grace to others on a daily basis.

Christian, I give you words of comfort: We live in grace. We live in hope. Through the grace of God, we have received forgiveness; through His grace, we can show grace to others. This week, live in grace in such a way that, when others ask why you love them, you can say: “Join me in grace.”

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Sermon: What Must I Do?

Scripture reading: Matthew 5:1-12.
Sermon text: Micah 6:1-8.

“Tell me what you want.”

Perhaps you’ve heard those words in an argument. Perhaps you’ve used those words in an argument. Few things can spark a conflict like ambiguity, especially when those arguing debate their expectations of one another. I’ve heard people say, usually in sheer exasperation, “Just tell me what you want.”

As strange as it may seem to us — or, perhaps not so strange — people have, on occasion, said the same thing to God. I’ve noticed that most people who want to know God’s expectations really want the bare minimum of His requirements. Human nature apparently drives us to demand in frustration the minimal expectations of God. We want to make Him happy with us, either to escape judgment or to keep Him satiated.

Let’s face it. Most of us, at some time or another, have demanded God to tell us His exact expectations so we can get Him to leave us alone.

In our more honest moments, we’ll all admit we’ve felt this way. We fear God’s judgment, so we want to make sure we don’t cross the line between happiness and fury. On the other hand, we often want to surrender to temptation to do something, so we want to know just how close to the line we can get without triggering punishment.

This mentality, unfortunately, dates back to the Garden of Eden. Even the chosen people of God, the Jews, demonstrated this mentality. Today’s sermon text both demonstrates humanity’s tendency toward sin and also God’s true expectations of us. I would love to tell you that we’ll find the exact line we can toe, but instead, God gives us freedom to live fully in His pleasure.

The prophet Micah began his ministry a few years before Isaiah in the eighth century B.C. He prophesied to the Southern Kingdom of Judah, as did Isaiah. While the king in Jerusalem mostly remained faithful to God, the people had wandered into idolatry and disobedience of the covenant of Moses. The book reads like a judicial indictment that culminates with today’s passage. In this passage, we clearly see the expectations of God for humanity.

The passage opens with the convening of a court: “Hear what the Lord says: Arise, plead your case,” the Lord said. The word for “plead” here literally means “to fight.” God would give Israel an opportunity to express their dissatisfaction with their God.

God called witnesses to this debate: “Plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel.” Humans, with our short lifespan, would not qualify as witnesses. Only the mountains and hills, those features next to which humans appear as whispers, could serve as faithful jurors in this case.

God went straight to the point. “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!” God wanted to know what He had done to exasperate the Jews. How had He mistreated them to cause them to reject Him as their God?

God made a powerful argument that He deserved Israel’s worship. “For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.” When Israel needed to remember the care of God for His people, they could begin by remembering the Exodus. God had redeemed His people from the greatest superpower on earth at that time. No one would have believed the Egyptians would allow Israel to walk away from the burdens of slavery, but God had intervened to rescue His people and send them from Egypt to establish a nation. God had given “Moses, Aaron, and Miriam” to the people to lead them on the journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

God reminded them of an incident on the way to the Promised Land. “O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him.” You’ll find this story in Numbers chapters 22-24. Balak, king of Moab, had hired Balaam to curse Israel. Instead, God had used Balaam to bless the nation and prophesy of Israel’s greatness in the centuries to come.

Did this reminder of their history bring Israel to repent? Did this walk down “Memory Lane” cause the Jews to remember their love for God and turn back to Him in gratitude for His blessings and grace?

Unfortunately, the Jews persisted in their idolatry and greed. The Jews stubbornly insisted on living according to their interpretations of God’s law, in spite of the consequences. The Jews had no intention of returning to God and obeying the covenant; they decided to persist in their sins. Instead of repenting, the Jews insisted they had done nothing wrong. The fault, they declared, lay with God; He hadn’t told them what He expected of them. “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?” they piously said. “What will please you? What do you want? Tell me what you want!” Did God want “burnt offerings” of “thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?”

The Jews revealed the level of depravity they had reached with their next statement: “Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

Of all the idolatrous practices of the pagan Canaanites, nothing elicits more revulsion than child sacrifice. The Canaanite god Moloch required child sacrifice. In contrast, Moses had specifically forbidden child sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:31). The sacrificial system required the Jews to sacrifice animals, but it prohibited child sacrifice.

An outburst like the one in Micah deserved a response, and God answered. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

I know we say things in the heat of an argument that we wouldn’t ordinarily say. I’ll not deny my personal guilt. And yes, I’ve debated and argued with God. Anyone who reads the Psalms will find plenty of laments and outbursts as the psalmists try to goad God into acting for His people.

Still, this passage reminds us of something. We can raise our complaints to God, but we cannot make excuses to God.

God told Micah’s audience what He expected, and the same expectations apply to us. “Do justice.” We must act rightly with everyone we meet, and we must work to guarantee justice in our society.

“Love kindness.” God didn’t put a caveat on this command that limits kindness only to our fellow citizens, or to fellow Christians, or to people of our race or language. “Love kindness” applies to everyone God puts into our paths.

“Walk humbly with your God.” This command brings us back to Epiphany, the proclamation of Jesus in our lives.

Humans don’t like humility. I don’t like humility. The list of mortal sins begins with the original sin: Pride. Pride caused Adam and Eve to desire to “be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Pride caused Cain to kill Abel. You can trace every injustice, every crime, every genocide, every problem we face in our society to pride. Pride creates a rift between us and God, and only Jesus can heal the rift.

Jesus came into the world as a baby. You can’t find a more humbling and helpless way for the Son of God to enter humanity. Jesus never ruled a nation; He never wrote a book; He never sat on a throne.

Instead, Jesus walked humbly with God. He spent time in prayer with His Father. He spent time in the Scriptures. He spent time among other people, even those the religious elite considered the dregs of society. (Don’t worry; He spent time with the religious snots, too.) The longest set of His teachings in Scripture tells us what He expects of us, and you can summarize it with 3 commands: “Do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Then, the only crown Jesus ever wore bloodied His scalp as the Romans rammed the crown of thorns on His head. He suffered the most humiliating death known to humanity as He hung naked and helpless on a cross. Like all people, Jesus had to submit to death.

The story doesn’t stop there! Jesus rose from the dead, conquering sin and death for us. Now, we can turn over our pride to Jesus, and He accepts us into a family of faith. We come to Jesus, confess Him as Lord, and believe in His resurrection (Romans 10:9).

Our walk with God begins with that confession. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit, God Himself, into our hearts so He can help us do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. The Holy Spirit directs us in life so we’ll meet people who need justice. The Holy Spirit directs us to people who need someone to show kindness. The Holy Spirit reminds us of our need to walk with God through worship, prayer, and fellowship with other believers.

I believe the Church must work to bring justice, kindness, and humility to our society. We cannot site idly by while others face injustice, regardless of their race or region. We must show kindness to others and serve them humbly. Only then will they see Jesus in us.

This week, I urge you to demonstrate the qualities of God in your life. Christian, I call on you to do justice for the oppressed and downtrodden. I call on you to love kindness and show kindness to all those you know and meet. I call on you to demonstrate humility to others. Serve God by serving those who need you so you’ll hear the words of Our Father Himself: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

Go forth, and serve God by serving others. Love God by loving others. Proclaim Jesus in your life that others will know what God expects of us.

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From a Series on Galatians: Standing Strong

Delivered at New Hope Baptist Church, 10 July 2016.

Note: The nation mourned the 5 Dallas officers killed at a Black Lives Matter rally on Thursday night, 7 July 2016. A sniper killed the officers as they protected the protestors. The protestors ran from the gunfire while the Dallas police and Brent Thompson, a Dallas DART officer, ran into danger.

Scripture reading: Galatians 2:1-10.
Sermon text: Galatians 2:11-21.

Alton Sterling.

Philando Castile.

Brent Thompson.

Lorne Ahrens.

Michael Krol.

Michael J. Smith.

Patrick Zamarripa.

Seven names, representing seven lives lost this past week.

One lived as a convicted felon with a rap sheet that extended back over a decade.

One served a cafeteria in a school; he had memorized the names and food allergies of over 500 children.

Five served Dallas as law officers, killed as the nation tried to process the killing of a man pulled over for a broken tail light.

On Friday, as I attempted to work on this sermon, I posted a Tweet: “As a bi-vocational pastor, Friday and Saturday serve as sermon prep. Right now, my heart’s too heavy to write; I can only pray.” Then, I revisited the sermon I preached on 1 May 2011, the Sunday after the April 27 tornado that devastated our city. On that Sunday, in that sermon, I said something that applies to our situation today:

“Proclaim the gospel.”

You can learn elsewhere all you want about the situations we mourn today. You can watch videos, read biographies, and pore over detailed accounts. If you’re so inclined, you can turn on your television and listen as foolhardy, paid, partisan pundits bloviate and pander to their fans.

Here, in this service, in this sermon, you’ll hear the gospel that will change lives, that can heal societies, and will comfort us with the promise of an eternity marked by peace and immortality.

Today, St. Paul’s message to the Galatians holds special poignancy. I promise you the Apostle didn’t have situations like this week in mind. Instead, he wrote to fractured congregations thrown into turmoil by people so focused on their own issues that they missed the larger picture.

Today’s sermon will focus primarily on one verse from the sermon text. I’ll reference the other verses as I focus on this verse: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

St. Paul faced the problem of Christians who arrogantly taught that grace alone could not save a person’s soul. These people taught that the path to salvation ran through Judaism. They taught that only Jewish converts could receive the grace of God. Therefore, grace relied first on a person’s conversion to Judaism, not on a confession of allegiance to Jesus and belief in His resurrection.

St. Paul steadfastly insisted that God’s grace came through Jesus alone, through faith in Christ’s atoning work and resurrection alone. The Holy Spirit indwells everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord, believing in His resurrection (Romans 10:9-10). Every person who makes that confession becomes a part of the Bride of Christ through Baptism and participates in the life of the Bride: Worship, study, fellowship, and encouragement.

I suppose you agree with me so far. I suppose you think that the confession of Jesus ensures your eternal life, so you have no reason to worry about anything else.

If you think so, you’ve missed an incredibly important part of the Christian life. In fact, I’ve come to believe you’ve completely missed the point of salvation.

Jesus talked about the “Kingdom of God” and commanded His disciples to carry the news of the Kingdom of God everywhere they went. For most of Church history, Christians also believed it their duty, their privilege, to bring people to salvation and thereby change their families and communities into examples of godly living that would exalt Jesus and, in the process, lift others from sin.

That hasn’t happened in the America of today.

We’ve allowed racism to divide Christians along racial lines and prevent Christians from ministering to others because of their skin color. We’ve considered ourselves too good to go to certain communities, and we’ve allowed fear to prevent us from ministering to other areas of our communities. We’ve discriminated and mistreated others and ignored Jesus’ clear command to love our brothers and sisters. In this decade, we’ve reaped the results of our mistreatment of ethnic, racial, and sexual minorities.

Now, we sit on the precipice of social collapse. If you’re here today, your response to this sermon will determine the world your children and grandchildren will inherit.

I want us, for a moment, to ignore the pundits. I wish to heaven that everyone in our nation, especially Christians, would turn off the talk radio and TV for a week and devote ourselves to prayer instead.

To put it bluntly, this past week has convinced me our society needs the gospel more than ever, so much so that I believe our nation has reached a crisis point unlike any in my lifetime. Church, if we continue to waste energy on our petty differences, our arrogant judging of others, and our proud, dogged insistence on getting our way, our nation will fall from within.

The time has come to state our sides. If you call yourself a Christian, choose worship. Our fellow citizens need to see Christianity at work, and they’ll look to our sanctuaries to determine who they’ll watch.

“OK, John,” you say, “I’m here, in this sanctuary. What do you want me to do, and how will you use this passage to prove it?”

I’ll state it boldly: Black lives matter. Blue lives matter. Gay lives matter. Immigrant lives matter. Lives matter, and the gospel alone will change them, and they’ll not find the gospel anywhere if they don’t see it here. Stop with the excuses, and let St. Paul tell us how we’ll change our society before our nation collapses.

For one thing, the Jews considered themselves the most law-abiding citizens of the Roman world. They kept the Jewish law to near perfection. The Pharisees ratcheted the observances several notches above the typical Jew. Yet, Paul intermingled with the Gentiles. Even more surprisingly, he didn’t expect the Gentiles to keep the Jewish law.

Today, we sometimes judge people because they don’t live to our standards. Honestly, I think my standards work better than others’. However, I cannot hold others to standards I can’t meet myself, and I cannot ostracize myself from others because they do not live to my standards. I must remember “I am crucified with Christ.” Christ lives in me. Christ lived to perfection, yet He chose to live among humanity. I, too, must live with others and seek to bring others into my life, especially those who disagree with me or who fail to live as I wish.

This especially refers to worship with believers. I don’t care if you agree with someone on every issue or not; you must worship with other believers. St. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ.” In his way of thinking, St. Paul saw the crucifixion as the history-changing event that made possible the joint worship of Jews and Gentiles in a body that transcended laws and race. If St. Paul could worship with a Roman occupier, I can worship with people with whom I disagree. If St. Paul could worship with born-again homosexuals in Corinth as God changed their lives, so can I (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). I can worship with people regardless of race, political party, sexual orientation, or anything else we’ve used to divide ourselves from other sinners. I, a sinner saved by grace, will worship with sinners who need to hear the gospel that leads to salvation, and I will worship with sinners who have received the gospel for salvation. I will continue to preach against the sins listed in Scripture because I have no authority to change God’s mind on sin. However, I will love every sinner God brings to this congregation. I will preach grace to all, and I will accept everyone who accepts the grace of God as my brother or sister in Christ. Those who claim who say with St. Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ,” must unite in worship and proclaim the gospel of Christ. Let’s get the sinners into the church, and then let’s love them as God changes them into godly believers who carry the gospel in their lifestyles.

There’s another thing that I see. When St. Peter — the Rock on which Christ built the Church, the first bishop of Rome — withdrew from fellowship with Gentiles, St. Paul called him out in front of the entire congregation of Antioch. St. Paul told him flatly that he had sinned by withdrawing from worship and fellowship with his Gentile brothers and sisters in Christ.

To the world, worship defines us as Christian more than anything else we do. When he first converted to theism, C.S. Lewis began attending worship to the horror of his fellow academics at Oxford. He wrote in Surprised by Joy, “As soon as I became a Theist I started attending my parish church on Sundays and my college chapel on weekdays; not because I believed in Christianity, nor because I thought the difference between it and simple Theism a small one, but because I thought one ought to ‘fly one’s flag’ by some unmistakable overt sign.”

As with St. Paul, today, I take my stand: I will no longer tolerate the excuses of anyone who willingly refuses to worship with Christians. You need the Church. You need to humble yourself and learn to deal with other sinners. You need to hear the gospel, you need to worship with sinners, you need to confess your sins before God, and you need to hear the teachings of the Church through Scripture. If you think you’re too perfect to worship with us, then find a church as perfect as you so you can worship. If you’re willing to accept that you live by grace as we do, then join us and help us reach our communities for Christ through worship and service.

I have one last thing to say. This nation has a chance, at this moment, to turn from violence and fear and walk forward in faith and grace. We, the believers in Christ, serve in a Body that has outlasted nations and that will outlast every human civilization. We have the benefit of 2,000 years of history to help us through this time of trial. If we want the United States to continue to exist, the Body of Christ in America must live crucified lives. We exist as an eternal body, built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, Our Lord. We must lift the banner of Christ above the banners of nationalism and partisanship. We must see the gospel as more than a life-changing event in a person’s life; we must see and enact the gospel as the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. We must serve as salt and light in our families and communities (Matthew 5:13-16).

New Hope can’t change the nation, but we can change our families and communities, and faithful worship will play a key role in that process. We will begin that process today by standing strong, together, united in faith; united in our confession of our sins and the forgiveness we have received through Christ; and united in our love for one another. The time for pettiness has passed; we have no time for arrogance and gossip. Our nation will rise or fall on the faith of families and communities. Beginning today, New Hope will forgive each other, love each other, worship together, and follow St. Paul’s words: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

People of God, live by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave Himself for you. Live by faith in the Son of God, and love those He has loved and for whom He gave His life. Stand strong in the love of God and resist all attempts by the godless and powerful to separate us from one another. Join us in service in our congregation and let’s turn our part of our nation “right side up” through the love of Christ.

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Sermon on Romans 7: “O Wretched Man”

Fourteenth Sunday of Pentecost
Series on Romans: O Wretched Man!
30 August 2009

Scripture reading: Romans 7:1-12.
Sermon text: Romans 7:13-25.

“Heaven is not the goal; it’s the destination…. The goal of Christianity is spiritual transformation into Christlikeness.” Todd Hunter, Todd Hunter, Bishop-elect for The Anglican Mission in the Americas, founding pastor of Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Costa Mesa, CA, quoted in “Christianity Today,” October 2009

When I read this, quote I thought it fits exactly the words of St. Paul in Romans chapter 7. Transgression and rebellion; justification; grace. As we’ve read St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, we’ve read his explanation of human rebellion against God; how God used Abraham to bless the nations, first through the nation of Israel and then through Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God; and, that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are justified before God and have peace with our Creator. For many people, the question after our justification becomes, “Now what?” When we receive grace from God instead of justice, should something happen in our lives? What happens next?

St. Paul had already explained to the Romans that the Law of Moses had guided Israel in its own covenant with God. Unfortunately, many Jews mistook the Law as a means of separating themselves from other nations rather than as guide to their calling as a holy nation. The Law that should have distinguished God’s people instead led to their condemnation when they broke it.

In chapter 7, St. Paul continued his discussion of the Law and its shortcomings. Many Jews in the early Church continued to adhere to the Law and tried to insist that Gentile believers do so as well. St. Paul gave his readers great news: When we died to sin through our faith and baptism in Christ, we also died to our obligation to the Law. Although believers may continue to struggle daily in a sinful world, we rest in the assurance of our new lives in Jesus Christ.

St. Paul opened this chapter by building on the argument of chapter 6 by reminding his readers of Christian freedom from the human bondage to sin: “The law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.” Since we have died to sin as signified in our baptism. St. Paul switched to another example of freedom by reminding his readers of the law regarding marriage. “A married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.”

St. Paul had to reach beyond both Jewish and Roman law to Jesus’ teachings regarding marriage. Both Jewish and Roman law made provisions for divorce, and in both cultures divorce was quite easy for husbands. However, women under Jewish law could not divorce at all, a restriction Jesus extended to both sexes (Matthew 5, 19). Under Jewish law, a woman was bound to her husband until one of them died.

The same applied to those under sin. As St. Paul had said in chapter 6, only death freed one from slavery; now, he reminded his readers that only death freed a woman from marriage. Once Christians have died to sin, we “belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”

Using another example, St. Paul turned to the legal codes familiar to those in the Roman Empire. According to St. Paul, “While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.”

Every civilization recognized the necessity of rules to enforce human civility and established some sort of law code to reign in human passions. Law gives us boundaries to guide human relationships. Law gives us freedom as long as we remain inside those boundaries, but stepping outside those boundaries leads to consequences.

The Mosaic Law provided for more than mere guidelines for human relationships and obligations; it also established the rules of Israel’s obligations to God. The Law was not “sin;” instead, it served to define sin for a holy people. St. Paul used the example of covetousness — desiring what someone else possesses — as an example. “I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” St. Paul continued by saying, “So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

However, the Law could accomplish only so much. The Law could define sin, but it could not enforce the attitude behind the actions. The Law could define proper worship, but it could not enforce the faith of the worshipers. The Law, in other words, could not overcome the human tendency to sin. Every human ever born has fought this tendency; only one Person has successfully overcome it. “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.”

The next passage of verses remains a difficult passage for interpreters. Most of the early Church Fathers believed that, in verses 15-25, St. Paul used a common Greek technique to describe the unbeliever’s quandary with sin: A desire to do the right thing, but failing. The early Church Fathers held that Christians would never face a fight with sin such as described by St. Paul.

St. Augustine, however, finally recognized another possibility, one now accepted by most Western interpreters of this passage. His own experience, as well as the experience of every Christian in history, provides us with the justification to allow this passage to speak as St. Paul wrote it: Christians constantly face a fight with sin. This passage describes a common problem with the Christian life, one I believe Hunter elegantly addresses in the quote I used to start this sermon.

St. Paul admitted that at times, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” How many times have we faced this issue? We know what we should do in a situation, but we find ourselves doing the opposite and hating ourselves for it. St. Paul admitted, “ I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”

What’s the problem here? Hasn’t St. Paul said in the previous chapters that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ? Hasn’t he stated we are justified before God through our confession of faith in Jesus as Lord and our belief in His resurrection? Hasn’t he gloriously proclaimed us dead to sin?

Yes, to all these questions! However, we must realize that our spiritual lives still begin and exist in a physical context. “If I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” This is no excuse for our behavior, but it does recognize the fact that Christians are physical beings, with all the desires and passions that come with the physical body. A born-again believer still faces issues with hormones and body chemicals. We must learn to overcome these instinctual urges.

It bothers me to hear someone say, “Just repent of your sins, be born again, and everything in life will be all right. You’ll never have to worry about that bad habit again. You’ll have heaven to look forward to, where you’ll never fight sin again.”

Yes, it’s true that, in the new Creation, we’ll never face sin again. However, as Hunter said, heaven is a destination, not a goal; Christlikeness is the goal, and no one reaches that goal without a serious battle with the sins that beset us (Hebrews 12:1). We pray every week here at New Hope, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation.” We all continue to sin in this life even as we fight it.

I love the way C.S. Lewis describes the power of temptation and repentance:

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is…. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later…. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist” (Mere Christianity, Book 3, ch. 11).

I don’t know about you, but I take great comfort that Christ knows the power of temptation. It helps assure me that He understands — and, because He knows I am not yet Christlike, He knows I will sin. He knows that I well understand St. Paul’s lament: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

So what do we do when we sin? “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Jesus, the One who understands the power of temptation and who died for our redemption from sin, promises forgiveness to all who confess their sins and turn to Him for help.

C.S. Lewis also beautifully describes the help Jesus gives when we fall:

You must ask for God’s help. Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being given. Never mind. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us toward is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again…. It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection (Mere Christianity, Book 3, ch. 5).

I love the way Father Hunter concluded his interview:

“In most of post-World War II evangelicalism, we asked people to cross a finish line. So it went: apologetics, apologetics, apologetics, then, okay, you get it now, you need to make a decision, and you get to go to heaven when you die. What I’d prefer to see is apologetics, enculturation, saying the prayers, and then you come to a line, but it’s a starting line: Are you ready to become a follower of Jesus? Can you now see the big intention of God for the earth and what He was doing through Christ and Pentecost and creating the people of God? Are you willing to join that family and take up that family’s cause through following Jesus?”

It’s not a question of if we’ll fall; we will. However, we’re already in the race, and Christ, through the Holy Spirit, promises to help us cross the finish line. When we fall, call on the One who knows the power of temptation and, through His resurrection, promises us eternal life in a Creation where sin and temptation will never haunt us again.

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Sermon: “Now What?”

12 August 2012

Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:17-24.
Sermon text: Ephesians 4:25-32.

“Now what?”

I saw the latest Bourne movie on Friday night. Following a thrilling motorcycle chase that involved spectacular stunts and ended with a horrific crash, the hero and heroine sailed off into the South China Sea on an old boat. My daughter, who really likes neat endings, expressed her frustration: “Now what?” What happens to our intrepid couple? Do they survive? Do they marry? Do they stay under the radar of the government agency trying to destroy them? We won’t know until someone produces the next Bourne movie.

I’ve noticed that over the past few decades, many Christians haven’t answered this question any better than the writers of the Bourne movies. We’ve focused our attentions almost solely on the salvation of those around us to the point we conduct special services, host special events, even write special prayers for people to repeat after us, all in the hopes that others will be born again. I still remember reading about one poor soul who said he was saved 4 times while walking across the quad at his university because he repeated a sinner’s prayer with 4 different evangelism groups on his way to class.

Don’t misunderstand me: I see nothing wrong with evangelism. In fact, I encourage it. However, any focus can become an obsession, so much so that we forget the rest of the picture. Salvation involves more than spiritual freedom and deliverance from eternal condemnation. Salvation involves a lifestyle that, when properly lived, brings joy to the Christian and conviction to unbelievers. The joy experienced by believers should flow out of their lives into the lives of everyone around them, convicting them of their need for salvation and drawing them to the only place they’ll find it: The cross and empty tomb of Jesus, Our Lord.

Following his call for church unity around the gifts of God to the Church — those God has called to serve the saints — St. Paul shifted gears in his letter to the Ephesians. St. Paul began describing the lifestyle the Ephesian believers should demonstrate in their society. Some of the qualities we read here appear in other works of philosophy in the ancient Greek world. None of these qualities would have appeared totally foreign to the Ephesians. However, the ability to live by this lifestyle would come only by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, whose presence in the Christian would shine through the characteristics we read in the Scripture reading and sermon text for today.

St. Paul began by telling the Ephesian believers, “You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.” Here, St. Paul adopted the term “Gentiles” to denote unbelievers. Ephesus boasted the world-famous temple of Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt and of fertility and childbirth. The Greeks and Romans in Ephesus would have worshiped an entire pantheon of deities, with each deity overseeing a specific area of life. According to St. Paul, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” The pagans remained separated from God because of their ignorance, but many of them refused the truth of Christ because of their hard hearts.

St. Paul continued by saying, “They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” Almost every ancient civilization witnessed sexual immorality of some sort. Repeated exposure to immorality both lessens the inhibitions to participate and increases the temptation to participate. Every civilization has eventually had to confront the damage caused by immorality. Never forget the lesson of history: Immorality demands a heavy price.

St. Paul then reminded the Ephesians, “But that is not the way you learned Christ!” The Ephesians didn’t learn of God in immoral pagan temples; they learned of Him in the Jewish synagogues. Then, when St. Paul came to Ephesus, he first visited the city’s synagogue and preached Christ to the attendees there. After the synagogue threw out the Christians, St. Paul taught the believers in the hall of Tyrannous (Acts 19:9) for 2 years. Throughout the Roman world, Gentiles disgusted with the immorality of their pagan religions had found their way to the synagogues, drawn there by the righteous lifestyle of the Jews. St. Paul didn’t take these Gentile “God-fearers” back into immorality; he brought them farther away from it through a living relationship with a living Christ.

Instead, St. Paul said, the “truth is in Jesus,” who called Himself “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). As the truth of Jesus permeated their lives, the Holy Spirit would help them “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.” The Ephesian Gentiles had once lived in spiritual death, but St. Paul had already written that Christ had “made alive” all who believed in Him (Ephesians 2:4-7).

I believe St. Paul’s next words tell us plenty about how the Holy Spirit will transform us. He had already written to the Romans, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). Now, St. Paul told the Ephesians “to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Salvation does not instantly change us; rather, the Holy Spirit begins “making new” our minds.

Renewing our minds involves a new mindset, a new mentality. This involves a process of carefully selecting what we put into our minds. This also involves a conscious effort to use our minds to accomplish God’s plan for our lives. Many people seem to believe that the salvation lifestyle does not involve any mental preparation. God wants us to develop our minds for His glory. When we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our minds, He also guides us into “true righteousness and holiness.”

Believers will “put away falsehood.” Because we are “members one of another,” we will “speak the truth” with one another. The truth may sometimes hurt, but it will always strengthen us and guide us into righteousness.

The salvation lifestyle also helps us learn self control. “Be angry and do not sin,” St. Paul wrote; “do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” Few things bring shame on a person like a bad temper. No family wants a reputation as quick-tempered. Few things “give opportunity to the devil” like a temper tantrum. Few things give proof of the Holy Spirit’s transforming power like control of our anger.

St. Paul then turned to other practical issues in the Christian life. He told the thieves to “no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” Christians should perform “honest work” so we can help others. We should also encourage others to work for this purpose as well.

According to St. Paul, we must also prevent using “corrupting talk;” the words we speak should “build up” or encourage other people. The media today constantly spread words that belittle or discourage others; some people go through their entire lives without hearing an encouraging word. We should seek to build up other people with our words; every word we speak should remind others of their true worth before God, who created them in His image.

We must also “not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” We should bring joy to the Holy Spirit. We bring joy to the Spirit by avoiding “bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander;” our words will bring joy to the Spirit. Also, we should “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Can any of the actions we read here show Jesus’ work in us? I think of all the actions listed by St. Paul, forgiveness ranks as the action most needed in our world today. We will always face the temptation to resent those who harm us, but we must forgive them as Jesus forgave us on the cross. Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:24). God, who is “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4), has forgiven us of our sins and adopted us into His family (Romans 8:15). If our holy God can forgive us, we must forgive others.

This may sound like a lot of things for us to do; this sounds like a long “to do” list for Christians. I have great news for you! Jesus told His disciples the key to keeping all these actions: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:27-39). When we keep these commandments, we will naturally fulfill St. Paul’s instructions to the Ephesians.

To everyone who has asked the question “what now,” I have the answer: Love. Love, as Christ has loved us; love, and we will naturally speak wholesome words to one another. Love, and we will do honest work so we can provide for others. Love, and we will exercise self-control so we do not offend others. Love, and we will prepare our minds for the work of God in the world.

Love sent Christ to the cross and through death to a glorious resurrection. Love will bring us through the trials of this life to the eternal joys of a new heaven and new earth, a creation in which we’ll never have to wonder what comes next.

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Sermon for Good Friday: Behold Your King

Sermon text: John 19:1-37.

I’ve read sci-fi and BYTE Magazine author Jerry Pournelle for years, both as a science fiction buff and as a computer geek. Several years ago, someone started a discussion on Jerry Pournelle’s site regarding the question: Is it good for emperors to go into battle at the head of their armies? Someone pointed out that in the history of our Republic, only 2 of our presidents — George Washington and Dwight D. Eisenhower — have fought in battle, and both of them fought prior to their elections. We have never witnessed a U.S. president personally leading our forces in battle during a war.

This is a good thing, because the record of kings/presidents/ emperors in battle is not very good. Shakespeare wrote of several, but two of the most noteworthy both died: Macbeth and Richard III. There’s a good reason to keep your leaders away from a battle. Battles are deadly, and people in the front tend to get shot at first.

On the other hand, soldiers tend to fight harder for leaders willing to accept the same risks their troops face. In ancient Rome, rare was the emperor who didn’t come up the ranks of the army. Almost no emperor could rule without the title Ave Imperator, which designated someone as worthy to lead the armies of Rome. I think we all remember the reception President Bush received in Baghdad at Thanksgiving. The very fact the president was willing to risk flying into Baghdad, even though the visit was short, greatly motivated the troops stationed there. It also did some good for morale at home to see our President cared that much for our fathers, sons, and friends in Iraq.

We’ve all heard the Church compared to the army of Christ. We know Christ is our head; through the Holy Spirit, He gives the orders, we follow the orders. This setup works really well, as the growth of the Church from fewer than 200 to more than 2 billion today attests.

But the Church has succeeded for one reason: Our King was willing to shoulder our risks, even though it killed Him. Literally.

The Scriptures tonight demonstrate the twisted humor of Pilate and the Romans. In the preceding chapter (which I encourage you to read), the Jews have accused Jesus of declaring Himself a king. Pilate, after questioning Jesus, decides the charges are false and decides to release Him. To elicit the Jews’ sympathy, Pilate has Jesus whipped; the Roman soldiers, hearing this man has called Himself a king, taunt Him. “Hail, king of the Jews!”

But then the Jews play their trump card: “if you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend.” They knew Pilate was on the hot seat with Rome for his treatment of the Jews and the trouble it caused. Caesar wanted everything quiet in the East, and Pilate wasn’t exactly helping attain this goal. Pilate faced a choice: risk the Jews’ accusation making its way to Rome, or crucifying an innocent man. Ever the pragmatist, Pilate chose the latter, but not before getting one last dig at the Jews: “Behold your king!”

By this point, Jesus looked like anything but a king. Isaiah had prophesied saying, “his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.” To call Jesus “king” was the ultimate in ironic cruelty. Or so Pilate thought.

I once received a Good Friday e-mail from the Practical Christian Life list. I’ll quote from it here:

In those terms, we may say that God has paid his dues, has earned the right to talk to us about suffering because he has endured it with us. He endured not only physical pain, but the torments of doubt and uncertainty and fear. In the Garden of Gethesemane, waiting for the soldiers to come and arrest him, he was clearly in great distress of mind. Some people think that this shows a character flaw — that a truly great man, or a truly wise man, would say, “I never worry about things I can change, and I never worry about things I cannot change,” and so would not have been bothered by the prospect of torture and death. I reply that a man who did not let such things bother him would have very little to say to the rest of us.

And I take comfort in this; I take comfort in the fact that my King was not just bothered by the prospect of torture and death; He was terrified of them. He knows my fears; He knows the temptation to run and hide, to try to weasel out of trouble. And He faced it and won.

I found this passage in C.S. Lewis’ Letters to Malcom Chiefly on Prayer:

The beginning of the Passion — the first move, so to speak — is in Gethsemane. In Gethsemane a very strange and significant thing seems to have happened.

It is clear from many of his sayings that Our Lord had long foreseen His own death. He knew what conduct such as His, in a world such as we have made of this, must inevitably lead to. But it is clear that this knowledge must somehow have been withdrawn from Him before He prayed in Gethsemane. He could not, with whatever reservation about the Father’s will, have prayed that the cup might pass and simultaneously known that it would not. That is both a logical and a psychological impossibility. You see what this involves? Lest any trial incident to humanity should be lacking, the torments of hope — of suspense, anxiety — were at the last moment loosed on Him — the supposed possibility that, after all, He might, He just conceivably might, be spared the ultimate horror. There was precedent. Isaac had been spared: he too at the last moment, he also against all apparent probability. It was not quite impossible…and doubtless He had seen other men crucified…a sight very unlike most of our religious pictures and images.

But for this last (and erroneous) hope against hope, and the consequent tumult of the soul, the sweat of blood, perhaps he would not have been very Man. To live in a fully predictable world is not to be a man.

At the end, I know, we are told that an angel appeared “comforting” Him. But neither “comforting” in sixteenth-century English nor “ennischuon” in Greek means “consoling”.  “Strengthening” is more the word. May not the strengthening have consisted in the renewed certainty — cold comfort this — that the thing must be endured and therefore could be?

Again, this fact comforts me, strengthens me: that Jesus experienced that which we all face as we carry out His orders. For at the moment that Pilate sarcastically declared, “behold your King!”, Jesus was on the verge of winning the greatest battle ever fought. Within a matter of hours, Jesus would win victory over death. Not even the Roman emperor could even attempt to fight death.

What do you face tonight? Fear? Behold your King. Uncertainty about life? Behold your King. Are you waiting for God to answer your prayer, but you’re afraid of what the answer will be? Behold your King.

Christians everywhere tonight have heard the words, and I urge you to look to the cross, witness Jesus’ sufferings, and take the words to heart: “Behold your King.”

Sources:

“Empire and Battle,” available online: http://www.jerrypournelle.com/mail/mail302.html#Empire. Site copyrighted by Jerry Pournelle, 2004.

Isaiah 52:14.

James Keifer, “A Good Friday Meditation on an Unlikely Text.”

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Sermon: “Go; Bless”

Scripture reading: Romans 4:1-17.
Sermon text: Genesis 12:1-3.

Cowards never cross into Canaan.

I grew up to the strains of Sacred Harp music. I clearly remember my great-grandfather and mother singing one of my favorite Sacred Harp pieces, “It’s a Mighty Rocky Road.” The song describes the road of life as the “rocky road,” the road that will take believers to eternal life. Those who choose to travel the rocky road must obey God every step of the way, even when it seems the path makes no sense.

God can take us to new places of blessing when we obey His call in our lives. God called Abram from the comforts of Ur and commanded him to go to an unknown land. When Abram obeyed the command, God blessed him beyond his expectations. God also blessed all humanity by keeping His promises to Abram. Jesus, the divine Son of God, came to earth as a direct descendant of Abram.

We know Abram better by another name he received later in his life. You probably know him better as “Abraham,” the name God gave him after he demonstrated his faith in God in Genesis 15. (God renamed Abram (which means “exalted prince”) to “Abraham” (“father of many nations”) in Genesis 17:5). I’ll refer to him as “Abram” in this sermon to maintain scriptural accuracy.

We know the dates of Abram’s life (2166-1991 B.C.) and the cultural context in which he lived. Abram lived in Ur during the last golden age of the Sumerian civilization, which lasted from roughly 2100 to 1900 B.C. During this time, the Sumerians achieved a level of sophistication unknown to most humans in history. Ur boasted indoor plumbing, paved roads, and other amenities we consider “modern.” We need to remember these facts because the memory eliminates a common excuse I hear today: “God wouldn’t take me away from all this and put me somewhere more primitive.” If you hear this line from someone, you can reply, “Just ask Abram.”

In 2091 B.C., God spoke to Abram and told him, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God commanded Abram to leave more than just the lifestyle he enjoyed in Ur. God also commanded Abram to leave “your kindred and your father’s house.” God called Abram to leave everything and travel to “the land that I will show you.” Abram received no clear destination, giving him no choice but to rely on God for directions to his destination.

God then made Abram a series of promises if he obeyed the call. “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” At this time, Abram and his wife Sarai (better known as “Sarah”) had no children of their own. In fact, Sarai had already turned 65 when Abram received his call. Yet, God promised to make a “great nation” of Abram. This implied that Abram and Sarai would one day have children of their own.

God also promised Abram that He would “make your name great.” Abram could already claim a great pedigree. His family descended directly from Shem, Noah’s godliest son. Abram could look into his ancestry and see many men who had made a name for themselves. God now promised He would insure Abram’s inclusion in that list.

Next, God promised Abram, “you will be a blessing.” Actually, in the Hebrew text, this reads more like a command itself. God commanded Abram to bless all those he would meet on the journey. The book of Genesis records how God used Abram to bless many people in the land of Canaan.

After promising these blessings, God then made a promise of protection to Abram. “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.” When you look at Abram’s life, you can see how God fulfilled this promise. Many Canaanites befriended Abram because he enjoyed the protection of God. The people who aided Abram received great blessings.

On the other hand, those who tried to oppose Abram found themselves removed from God’s blessings. Genesis tell the stories of kings who opposed Abram or who tried to take Sarai from Abram. Without exception, God cursed every one of those kings forced them to turn to Abram for relief.

God made one last promise to Abram in His call: “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Abram may have wondered how God could use him, a Semite leaving civilization and going who knew where, to bless all the families of the earth. God gave no details, only a promise that obedience would lead to blessings for all humanity. As Adam’s disobedience had cost humanity a relationship with God, Abram’s obedience would play a role in restoring that relationship.

Abram traveled the rocky road to Canaan, wondering where God would take him. He arrived in a land filled with pagans whose religion required child sacrifice and who fought each other on a regular basis. The people there quickly discouraged the cowards. At times, Abram wondered if God knew the rocky road. At times, Abram wondered if God understood the dangers of the rocky road. At times, Abram wondered where the road would lead him. The song reminds us: “His soul shall ascend where Jesus is, to be there forever blest.”

This brings us to the greatest road ever traveled. Jesus, the Christ, descended from Abram through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob. Jesus traveled the rocky roads from Galilee to Jerusalem, knowing a crucifixion — a lynching — awaited Him at the end of the road. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of the world. On Easter Sunday, Jesus rose again from the dead, defeating sin and death. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, God fulfilled His promise to bless all nations through Abram.

Jesus’ death and resurrection empowers God’s work in the world today. Following Jesus’ ascension into heaven, God sent the Holy Spirit into the world on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit calls people to believe in Jesus’ sacrifice and victory. The Holy Spirit also set the Church on the road to evangelize the world.

We receive our first call from God when we sense the Holy Spirit’s convicting power in our lives. At that moment, we realize our separation from our Creator and that we cannot remove the separation on our own. Jesus, the divine Son of God and Abraham’s Descendant, said to His disciples, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Like Abram, we must obey God’s call when we sense the Holy Spirit leading us to believe in Jesus and confess Him as Lord of our lives.

Once we believe in Jesus and confess Him as Lord, He then sends the Holy Spirit into our lives to lead us and guide us on the rocky road of life. The Holy Spirit guides us through Bible study, through prayer, and through corporate worship.

Many people say, “I don’t want God to call me away from what I know.” These people really mean, “I don’t want to give up anything for Jesus. I want to go to heaven without leaving anything here.” It doesn’t work that way. When we confess our allegiance to Jesus as Lord of our lives, we relinquish to Him full control over all we have and all we do. As our Lord, Jesus may exercise His right to command us whenever and however He chooses.

Those who obey the call of God find that the promises of Abram still stand. God still protects His people, but He also uses our sufferings to bear witness to Jesus, to strengthen us, and to prepare us for the glorious eternity He has prepared for us. God still uses His people to bless the nations of the world. St. John the Evangelist wrote that he saw people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” engaging in eternal worship (Revelation 7:9).

As I’ve worked on this sermon, it has occurred to me that people sometimes want to backtrack on the road. Some people look back wistfully to a “golden age” in which everything worked perfectly. For those people, I have news: Ur doesn’t exist. The Church still lives! We have outlasted civilizations, nations, and philosophies. We have journeyed longer on the rocky road than kingdoms and empires. We, the people of God, have no right to go back; we must press forward, in spite of the perils and danger. Again, cowards will never cross into Canaan!

As we travel this life, we’ll travel rocky roads. Those roads will take us to a unfathomable depths and exciting heights. We’ll often find ourselves realizing that we’ll never see the results of the stops on the journey. At the end of the road, we’ll experience the fullest completion of the promises God made to Abram centuries ago. In that eternity, we’ll enjoy the blessings of the journey with God as we experience true joy and peace in the presence of our Jesus, our King and Guide on the journey of life.

Sacred Harp: Rocky Road

I’m enlisted on this road,
I’m almost done traveling,
Enlisted on this road,
I’m almost done traveling,
Enlisted on this road,
I’m almost done traveling,
I’m bound to go where Jesus is.
My soul shall ascend where Jesus is,
To enjoy the peaceful home of rest.
I’m bound to go where Jesus is,
And be there forever blest.

It’s a mighty rocky road,
I’m almost done traveling,
A mighty rocky road,
I’m almost done traveling,
A mighty rocky road,
I’m almost done traveling,
I’m bound to go where Jesus is,
And be there forever blest.

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Sermon: “Come Together”

“I believe in one holy, catholic, apostolic Church.” — Nicene Creed

Delivered at New Hope Baptist Church, 24 January 2016.

Scripture reading: Luke 4:14-21.
Sermon text: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31.

A friend of mine from divinity school unintentionally launched a firestorm this week when he quoted St. Cyprian, a martyr of the third century A.D. St. Cyprian wrote, “He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother” (“Treatise 1, On the Unity of the Church”).

It didn’t take long for the usual “I don’t need a congregation” crowd to swarm around the post. You know what I mean: “I don’t need to go to church because of the sinners there.” “I don’t dare go to that church because of the hypocrites.” “I behave better than the people at church, so why should I go?” Let’s not forget one of the favorites: “I can worship just as well at home (or in the woods, on a body of water, etc.) as I can in a building with those people.”

I have a simple answer to those objections. “He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother.” No one can muster an acceptable excuse for withdrawal from the body or for refusal to support the body.

The Apostles wouldn’t accept excuses.

The saints and martyrs wouldn’t accept excuses.

I won’t accept excuses. I’ll go further: If you can go to Walmart on Sunday, you can make it to church on Sunday.

Every believer needs a church. Every believer needs to attend worship, even with the sinners and hypocrites. (More precisely, I’ve never met a perfect person. Everyone needs a church with sinners and hypocrites so he’ll feel at home.)

The author of Hebrews wrote, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25). When I stand with St. Cyprian, I stand with Scripture.

St. Paul knew about separation from the Body of Christ and its consequences. He had seen the wreckage caused by dissension in the church; he had witnessed the results as Christians argued over minutia while others quit in disgust. The Corinthian church had excelled in dissension before St. Paul wrote his letters. In case you wondered, St. Clement, Bishop of Rome, wrote a letter to the Corinthians in c. A.D. 96. The reason? Dissension. Old habits die hard, as the saying goes.

In last week’s sermon text, St. Paul had discussed the reasons for God’s gifts. St. Paul wrote, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7). As I wrote last week, “God will give you the gifts He needs in your congregation.” In this week’s sermon text, we find the reasons why God expects us — yes, expects us — to work within the context of the Church in general and our congregation specifically.

First, God constructs a congregation as a body. The Psalmist David wrote, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13-14). St. Paul wrote, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”

God calls all people to salvation (John 3:16-17) and desires all people to believe in Jesus (2 Peter 3:9). When people confess Jesus as Lord and believe in His resurrection, the Holy Spirit joins them to the Church. “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit begins working within us and guiding us to find other Christians. I’ve never met a new believer who didn’t seek for a congregation in which to serve and grow. An international friend told me of the difficulties he experienced trying to find a congregation who would accept him; he persisted until the congregation realized he had truly become a believer in Christ and hadn’t shown up at their door as a government spy.

A congregation doesn’t consist of only one person. “For the body does not consist of one member but of many.” One person alone cannot perform the work of a congregation, nor should he try. “If all were a single member, where would the body be?” A functioning congregation will draw people into its body and help them find places of ministry within the body and community.

St. Paul also taught that every member bears a gift worthy of respect. You’ll find no unimportant members in a congregation. “But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” Pride leads people to desire power or prestige within a congregation. The Holy Spirit who leads us to the congregation will use the congregation to mold us and bring us closer to Christ. As we draw closer to Christ, we’ll see ourselves compared to Him and humble ourselves before Him. We’ll seek to serve each other humbly, to submit to one another, and to uplift one another as we exalt Christ.

Lastly, St. Paul taught that we need each other. We’ve all heard the saying, “Misery loves company.” St. Paul wrote, “If one member suffers, all suffer together.” Christians help one another through times of suffering and trial. We help each other. St. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

As we help one another through our burdens, we’ll lift each other, especially when joyful events occur. “If one member is honored, all rejoice together.” Again, I’ve often seen pride cause resentment when people see the attention shift to someone else. Humility helps us rejoice in the success or blessing of others, giving us joy even in the midst of trials.

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it,” St. Paul wrote. Yes, God has “appointed in the church” people with special gifts and responsibilities. However, those gifts and responsibilities do not bring honor to the person; they bring honor to God. Those given gifts and called to these responsibilities must use them to bless the congregation, not themselves, and they must use them to bless the Church.

For unbelievers, I call you today to believe in Jesus, confessing Him as Lord and believing in His resurrection so you may receive the Holy Spirit and follow Jesus into eternal life. Don’t fall for the old “I’m better than those hypocrites” line. We know our faults and failures. We also know our standing before God: Justified and forgiven through the blood of Christ, living in hope of eternal life through Jesus’ resurrection.

For believers, I call you to follow the desire of the Holy Spirit and join the congregation to which God has brought you. I call on members of this body to use our gifts to bless our congregation and our communities. I call on us to proclaim Christ through our faithful attendance, through our love for one another, and by our love for those God brings into our lives. I call on us to come together to bless one another and bless everyone we meet. Let’s suffer together, rejoice together, and fellowship with one another, showing the world that God our Father loves the Church, our mother. We have our flaws, but through the grace of Christ, we’ll carry on until Jesus returns for us and takes His Body into eternal rest.