Anne's Pentecost Sermon

Sermon by Anne Kennedy
Text: Acts 2:1-11
Pentecost Sunday, June 12th, 2011

June 12, 2011

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Alistair Begg on Christ and Culture

Here is an excellent sermon by Alistair Begg that will be a must hear for those who have been in the Christ and Culture class on Sunday morning. Pastor Begg deals cultural engagement through the lens of Christian servanthood...

Harmonizing the Resurrection Accounts Part 4: Shrinking Back in a Locked Room

Monday, May 4, 2009

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Sermon texts: Luke 24; John 20; 1 Cor 15:3-5

Two men leave Jerusalem on Easter Day, anxious, their minds full of rumors and reports of the Resurrection. Jesus meets them on the road, but he veils his identity. Walking alongside, he leads them through the Old Testament, demonstrating that his death and his rising again were foretold in Moses and the Prophets and finally, when they reach their destination, after he's revealed himself to them in scripture, they and invite him to dinner at their home where he reveals himself, he opens their eyes, at the breaking of the bread and then, suddenly, he's gone.

The men are stunned. The stranger is not a stranger. The Lord they believe dead has been at their side all day. I imagine they sit there for a few moments dumbfounded and then the whole day begins to make sense. Of course it was Jesus. “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”(32) Their hearts knew, their spirits knew, even if their minds did not that the Son of the living God was with them, leading them to a deeper grasp of the bible, to a clearer perception of God and his purposes, giving them reasons to believe what they had heard from the women, opening their eyes, letting them see that he is alive, see the reality of his resurrection—a familiar experience for Christians I think. This is Christ's work in each of us but like the two on the way to Emmaus often we do not see him not so much because he is veiled but because we, at least “I”, do not the attribute whatever growth, maturity, and depth of insight that I have to the Lord as I should.

In any case, that's where we pick up this morning...Luke 24:33. We'll also be looking at John 20 and 1st Corinthians 15, so you might want to bookmark those chapters so you can follow along.

Its early evening, dark by now. Few travel after dark, the roads are not safe, but this cannot news cannot wait. “They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem.”(33) Jerusalem is seven miles away, moving fast it's about a two hour trek—but its dark and its the hill country and the roads are not paved like ours so they probably make it back to the disciples at around 8.30 or 9pm.

Earlier that day, they'd left the disciples in a state of anxiety and despair—but when they arrive, even before they can get a word out, the disciples say to them:

"It is true!” What's true? The women's report—what we thought nonsense is true. “The Lord has risen and...” Something has happened between the time that the two left for Emmaus and their return in the evening to persuade the disciples and those with them that the women were telling the truth, that they were not imagining things. What was it?

Here we learn something that is often missed, “he has appeared to Simon."(34)

The New Testament provides no detail about this first appearance to Peter. Peter himself provides no detail. We do not know the circumstances—when and where Jesus met with Peter or what he said. We do know that Peter saw Jesus—either before Jesus joined the two on the road to Emmaus—early afternoon—or after he disappeared in the evening—We do not know.

Paul in 1st Corinthians 15:3-5 probably refers to the same appearance.

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter...”

Paul, like Luke—and Luke was Paul's missionary companion—does not mention Jesus' appearance to the women. He doesn't deny it but, like Luke, he's building a case—so he presents the strongest evidence, male witnesses. Remember the testimony of women in the first century, and I am trying to think of a proper analogy, was considered about as reliable as “hearsay” is in modern courts...it was considered somewhat worthless as evidence—inadmissible in the courts.

Paul also, if you'll notice, omits the two men on the road to Emmaus either because he doesn't know about it or because he wants to emphasize the role of the disciples. In any case, he puts the appearance to Peter first but like Luke, he gives no details.

I wonder, and we're just speculating now—not a good idea as far as exegesis goes but I'm going to do it anyway—whether Peter ever told anyone the details? Peter denied Jesus—called down cursed on himself in front of a girl because he was afraid. The others just deserted Jesus. Peter publicly lied about his relationship with Jesus and then deserted him.

And yet, Jesus comes to him first among the disciples—and meets him alone. We don't have any record indicating that Peter ever said anything or wrote any sort of account about the experience...perhaps he never spoke of the details, never told anyone what Jesus said or did because it was for him such a sweet but painful reunion—something too important for description. There are times, I think, in our prayers that Jesus meets us in this way—in experiences that go to our core, that are beyond words.

And we see again a picture of grace. Of the remaining disciples—not counting Judas—Peter has been the worst failure. He has fallen from the greatest and now he is the least. And Jesus comes to him first.

Afterwards, Peter tells the rest that the women were not speaking nonsense—that Jesus is alive. By the time the two from Emmaus arrive at 8:30 or 9pm, the disciples and those gathered have already heard the news.

So now, it's evening John tells us (20:19) that they are altogether—the disciples, the two from Emmaus, and Luke tells us (24:33) a number of others—gathered in one room—a room in what has probably been serving as a safe-house, a secret place where they could hide from the authorities. It may be the very same room where they shared the last supper. We don't know. The doors are locked, John tells us, for fear of the Jews (19).

Despite what they've heard from the women, from Peter, and now the two from Emmaus, they're not yet the bold apostles of the book of Acts. They're still fearful, still shell-shocked, still hiding. They're still behaving like accomplices of a criminal rather than messengers of a resurrected Lord.

We shouldn't look down on them for being afraid. Everyone is still against them. Everyone in Jerusalem still thinks Jesus was a fraud and a blasphemer. The “culture” of Jerusalem is hostile and the government actively sought their destruction.

We don't face even half the danger they faced that evening but we often match their fearfulness. People don't want to put us in jail yet—but as our culture becomes more hostile, more contemptuous, as people around us—friends, neighbors—grow impatient and even angry at what they perceive as Christian intransigence and intolerance, we too feel the temptation to shrink back, to feel somehow ashamed of our identity, to let the verdict of the culture against Christ lock us inside the room of church.

We don't worry so much about arrest or floggings, but I think a lot of us are afraid of not being liked or, worse, of confirming people's stereotypes about us. And that fear impacts the way we talk about Jesus. Sometimes, I think, in the name of “evangelism” we so tame Jesus and so conventionalize his message, and so silence his claims, and smoothe out his rough edges that the Jesus we talk about would never be crucified—never be rejected or despised.

In the face of an increasingly hostile culture, we begin to think of evangelism as “making people like Jesus”.

So we make "Jesus the mimic".

In the south, Jesus becomes the Republican who hates high taxes, government intervention, and liberals from Berkley. In the northeast, we make him the friendly social worker with a low carbon footprint who hates big corporations, isn't in the least bit concerned about abortion or sex, wants government sponsored free health-care for all—who unfailingly supports the social “justice” cause du jour—who's looking for ways to affirm majority opinion, conventional wisdom, established values—because this Jesus is one the world will receive and when they receive him they will also receive us, which is, I think, what we sometimes want most. But Jesus, the real Jesus as he is revealed in the New Testament is no more a Man of our times than he was a Man of his—He's just not. He is the Lord of Heaven and Earth--who rose victorious over death. He comes neither to affirm nor condemn, but to convict the world of sin and call the world to repent.

He changes hearts and transforms lives, brings and joy and salvation and resurrection but he does these things via the narrow pathway of repentance and sacrifice—the way of the cross—and it is His way and there is no other. So here is the dilemma for these first Christians huddled in the locked room and for us : We know this. We know Christ is Risen and that he is Lord but we face a city and a culture and a world bent on his death and, by extension, ours. So the temptation is to hide. “Yes” we say with the disciples behind our closed doors, we believe that Jesus is risen and is Lord but the people outside this room don't believe it and don't like him and if we speak to clearly they won't like us.

The disciples here, at this point, know the Lord is alive and they are excitedly talking about that fact amongst themselves (Lk 24:36), but they're afraid to unlock the door, because they've not yet come to the conviction that the risen Lord Jesus is Lord beyond the sanctuary of the upper room. They're not yet firm and solid on the fact that he is Lord of the Jerusalem streets, Lord in the Temple, Lord over the Romans, Lord over the Sanhedrin and Lord over the flagellum and the cross and death.

At some point after the arrival of the two from Emmaus, Thomas leaves. He was there when the two arrive because Luke tells us that all eleven disciples were present. But for some reason and we do not know why, as they are discussing these things, he leaves.

And suddenly, and both Luke and John indicate that it is a sudden sort of thing, Jesus is there. John's account is shorter than Luke's but it's obvious that both are giving accounts of the same event. John gives a first hand eyewitness account, his memory of the event. Luke gives us the event as he's investigated it and understood it from his research and interviews with those who were there. They fit together easily and well.

Luke says, “While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." John's account is almost identical: “when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" (20:19)

Some make too big a deal about the door being locked and assume that Jesus has walked through the door. And on the basis of that assumption say all kinds of weird things about the nature of the resurrected body—that it naturally has the capacity to walk through solid walls. I don't see that in either John or Luke. John says he “came” or “appeared” and “stood”. There's no indication that walked through the locked door. In Luke's account he appears as suddenly as he disappeared in Emmaus. There's a lot we can say about the resurrected body from these accounts but we can also say too much if we're not careful.

Luke tells us their immediate reaction (37). He writes: “ They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.” This, also, is a response that many make too much of. The disciples did not think he was a ghost because because he looked ghostish or opaque or because he walked through the door.. They thought he was a ghost because he was dead and now he's standing there in front of them and despite what they've heard, their minds go immediately to the thought: “ghost”

They do not have the New Testament to teach them the Doctrine of the Bodily Resurrection. They know the tomb is empty. They've been told about all the appearances so far, but things are happening quickly. They're not sure about how exactly these appearances are taking place. Is Jesus appearing as an apparition like Samuel did for Saul and the witch of Endor? There are clear hints in the accounts so far that his resurrection is a bodily physical one...the fact of the empty tomb the women clasping his feet, his hands holding and breaking bread, but these have all taken place in one day and in three different places. They haven't had time to put all of this altogether into a cohesive doctrine of the resurrection. So, suddenly, they see Jesus standing there. They're startled. They're frightened. They think they see a ghost.

Jesus speaks. We're still in Luke(37-39) “He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."

It's me, he says, Look and see and touch holes left by the nails in my feet and wrists. John tells us in 20 that he showed them the hole in his side. I am alive. I have flesh. I have bones. Look into my eyes and know me. I'm here with you.

We have to stop here...we'll pick the rest of this appearance up and move to Jesus' appearance to Thomas next week.

Application...prayer

Bishop Bill Murdoch's Sermon Delivered at Good Shepherd

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Text: John 2--the Cleansing of the Temple

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Pastor John Piper on the Nation's Economic Troubles

Sermon: The Bible and Experience--Mountaintops & the More Certain Word

sermon by Matt Kennedy

text: 2 Peter 1:16-21

Monday, February 23, 2009

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Imagine the things you'd want to tell your family, your children, your church, before you die. Peter's advice is found in verses 1-15. In particular in verses 5-8: “make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.” Peter wrote these words from Prison just before his death. He was killed in Rome during Nero's first persecution of Christians between 64-67 AD. If you look down at verse 14, you'll see that he knew it was coming. His advice is good but it may not seem all that remarkable: make every effort to be men and women of good character. Sound solid fatherly advice...advice that even non-Christian father's might give to their children.

But today's text begins with an important word that the NIV has left out. Verse 16 should read:

“'For' or 'because' we did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” Well what difference does that make? The “because” or “for” means that Peter grounds his fatherly advice in vv 1-15 in who Jesus is...live lives of obedience and purity not so you'll be men and women of character, not because it conforms with natural law or because its good to be good for goodness sake but because of who Jesus is.

Some look at Jesus' teachings and say, “Jesus teaches people to live responsibly, to do good to others; to feed the poor, take care of the sick, to be socially conscious. I like these teachings. If these teachings were followed universally there 'd be peace and brotherly love. And thats the most important thing, not who Jesus is but what he taught because his teachings resonate with all spiritualities and faith traditions and show us how to be at peace and have a peaceful world. Jesus' words, like those of Ghandi and Dali Lhama and Confucius produce fruits of peace and harmony. The ultimate purpose of spirituality after all is to make the world a better place—a nice place with nice people doing nice things and having a nice time.

That's not Christianity. For Peter, the sum or the foundation of truth and “goodness” is Jesus. He validates his teachings, his teachings do not validate him. Follow the teachings of Christ, not because they accord with what is good and with the universal teachings of other wise spiritual men and women—not because you want to be nice people and make the world a nice place, but because of who Jesus is.

To make this point Peter describes what event in Jesus' life? Why? What's so important about the Transfiguration? Jesus took John, James and Peter to the top of a mountain and there his appearance, his “figure” was transformed. Matthew tells us that “his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light”. Peter says, he was revealed in “majesty” and in the father's glory(17). Well so what?. Well Peter knew his bible. Turn to Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD; that's my name; my glory I give to no other.” Who's talking? God. God is a jealous God. He doesn't allow creatures or angels or prophets or teachers to be worshiped. He doesn't share his glory. So when Jesus was revealed in glory on the mountain what does that mean? Jesus is more than a teacher or an angel. He is one with God himself.

Peter saw this with his own eyes. He experienced it. “We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.” Jesus is not simply messiah, not simply a good rabbi or teacher, not a spiritual avatar showing us a path to holistic peace and harmony. No for Peter, he is the path, he is the truth, he is the way and his teachings are to be followed not because they lead us to some other good thing out there but because they lead us to him.

Now it seems that Peter takes a little detour to talk about scripture. The next verse, v19 is a difficult one to translate and I don't want to get too geeky here with the Greek, but there are two possibilities. The NIV has: “And we have the word of the prophets made more certain”. The problem is that the Greek text literally says “and we have more sure the prophetic word”...so other translations will say: “And we have something more sure, the prophetic word.” So what? The NIV has Peter saying that the words of the prophets...scripture...is made more sure by his own personal experience. The prophecies about Christ in scripture weren't quite certain enough until Peter personally saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain with his own eyes.

There are lots of Christians who believe experience is the measure of truth. There's no space or difference between their own inclinations and experiences and the voice of God. That's the sort of thinking that leads people away from Christ and into miracle ministries or to the occult or to psychics because these things are all very high on experience. I don't think that sounds like Peter. And the rest of this passage, as we'll see in a moment, from verse 20-21 is one of the strongest affirmations of the inspiration, supremacy, and inerrancy of scripture found in the bible. It wouldn't make sense for Peter to preface that by saying that his experience of Jesus makes scripture more certain. It sounds a lot more like Peter, a lot more like a first century Jew to say “my experience was a good thing and a fine thing, but even more sure, even more compelling, even more certain is the prophetic word... it reveals Christ far more effectively. Peter uses the words “prophet” and “prophecy” here in a general sense. He's not just talking about Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Everyone who speaks or writes God's Word is a prophet. So the prophetic books include all the books of the bible.

“You will do well” Peter says in 19, “to pay attention to it [the prophetic word] as to a light shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” What day is he talking about? What star? The star is Christ and the day is the day he comes back. So he's just recounted his amazing experience of the transfiguration, but instead of telling them to pay attention to that, he says pay attention scripture because scripture provides a far more certain word.

Peter knows the people to whom he writes, he know us, he knows that we're far more likely to pay attention to our own opinions and feelings, the opinions of our friends, to the latest book we've read or the newest thing on Oprah...but all of that is darkness. Pay attention to scripture, study it, know it, hear it read, attend to it while it is being taught, let it shape and form you because scripture is the most sure word from God about Christ. Scripture connects you to him because it is from him and it reveals him.

Some think task of the church is to make the scripture relevant. And in order to make the bible relevant, bible studies and sermons have to be about us. So people sit through them waiting for the pastor to say something that deals specifically with their personal situations in life' waiting to “get something out of” the sermon or the teaching. So rather than paying attention to the bible, we often pay attention to ourselves and casually peruse the bible, casually listen to sermons, like we might stroll down a cafeteria line picking up bits and pieces for our journey because its all about us. But Peter says here that Scripture does for us what the transfiguration did for him but in surer way. Scripture is God's revelation of himself, it reveals his glory and the glory of his Son Jesus Christ. And if you're interested in knowing Jesus, then every single word is relevant to you. If you want Christ, if your aim is Christ, if your love is for Christ, then there are no boring parts or unimportant parts or parts that you can ignore.

“Above all,” Peter says, “you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.”(20) Nothing in the bible came about by the the prophet making it up. That's huge...nothing you read in scripture is opinion or fairy tale or culturally conditioned oppressive patriarchal taboo. The bible was written by human beings but the content and the words they wrote are not merely human. “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”(21)

God is the source of scripture. But its not like a college lecture. He didn't just give a revelation to a writer and then let the writer take notes. I don't know about you but I can listen to a lecture and get all confused and get my notes wrong...so God went further. He “carried” the human writer along by the Holy Spirit. He watched over or superintended the process of writing it down. So the words of Peter are the words of Peter but they're also words that originated with God and have been carried along by the Holy Spirit. Many will say, the bible “contains” the Word of God but there are parts that are not from God and not altogether true. There are errors and contradictions and mistakes. There are the God parts...usually, “the parts I agree with”...and there are the Paul parts or the Peter parts...usually, “the parts that make me uncomfortable”...and since my feelings are the measure of truth, then these parts just can't be from God.

Peter is very clear here. You're free to disagree with him of course, but Peter says, the bible is fully and wholly God's Word. It originates with him and was superintended by him and so what? Well the reason all this is so important to Peter and it should be so important to you and to me is that because the bible originate with God and was carried along by God, the bible is the surest way, the primary way, the fullest way that God reveals himself and his Son and the surest way to know him. Scripture is God's self-disclosure so if you want to know God, if you want to hear the voice of Jesus Christ, you don't go to a mountain top or to a babbling brook or for a walk in the forest, you don't do astral meditation or physic readings, or astrology or the magic Sufi dances, you go to the book. And in the book you meet Jesus, the way, the truth the life.

Sermon: Leaving Home

Sunday, January 11, 2009

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Sermon: The "Christmas Spirit"

Monday, December 29, 2008

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sermon by Matt Kennedy

text: Isaiah 61:1-10

Soon after I became a Christian I became fascinated by “end time” prophesy. The book series “Left Behind” had just come out and everybody at my church wondered about whether we were living in the final days. How many have read the Left Behind series? Possibly the most difficult parts of scripture to understand are those that deal with the future. Revelation, for example, is John's inspired record of a vision given to him by Christ of things that would happen in his future. And at least some of the events he saw will take place in our future. He saw beasts, angels, dragons, plagues, a world war, fire shooting out the mouths of prophets...all kinds of images both beautiful and terrifying, some may be figurative, some may be literal. We just don't know. There are many who think they know and they disagree with each other and fight about it a lot. And that's just fine. The “end times” prophesies are manifestly unclear which means there is room for vigorous debate and discussion. In my view fighting over end-time prophesy is like fighting over tomorrow's weather. We know tomorrow will come. We know tomorrow will have weather. But we can't be definitive about it until it gets here. We know Jesus is coming back. We know there will be a resurrection of the dead and a final judgment. We know that he will establish his kingdom here on earth. But beyond that, we can't draw many firm lines. The Left Behind series presented one point of view about the end times based on one reading of scripture. There will be a seven year tribulation that begins with the rapture in which all believers will be taken up to heaven, bodily, in order to be protected from what comes next. Then the beast, the Anti-Christ will come promising peace and the world will love him, the Jewish Temple will be rebuilt on the Temple mount. Midway through the seven years, Anti-Christ will enter the temple and claim to be God and will be worshiped by all people, except for the Jews who will refuse and instead recognize Jesus as messiah. There will be world war. Christ will return. This viewpoint is called the “Pre-Tribulation” position. I don't agree with it, but it's not heretical and makes for a great novel. Left Behind sold millions of copies world-wide. One reason that book series sells so well is that so many Christians consider the present state of the world and wonder: How Long can the Lord let this go before he comes back?” We've been waiting 2000 years.

On Christmas Day, we celebrate another Day long promised by prophets. God promised Abraham that he would bring the light of salvation “to all the nations” through his “offspring” in 2000 B.C. Who was that promise pointing too? Jesus Christ. From Abraham to Jesus, people waited, longing for the promise. And they were as confused as we are about how, exactly, God was going to do it because the prophets of the Old Testament, like the apostles of the New, gave many different images and visions predicting what the future would look like. It was as easy for an Israelite to be confused about the first coming as it is for Christians to be confused about the second coming.

By time Isaiah began his ministry in the city of Jerusalem, in 740 BC, Abraham's descendants were divided. There'd been civil war in Israel and two kingdoms had been established; a southern Kingdom, called Judah, and a northern kingdom which took the name “Israel.” Israel established its capital in Samara and was ruled by non-davidic kings. The kings of Judah, reigning from Jerusalem were Davidic, descended from King David. During Isaiah's time, a powerful, expansionist empire rose the north called Assyria. Assyria, bent on bloody and unstoppable quest to conquer all the kingdoms between her and Egypt, had both Israel and Judah in her sights. Because the Israel rejected YHWH and worshiped Baal, God gave her over to the Assyrians; Israel was destroyed...its inhabitants dispersed. Judah, herself corrupt, rebellious and idolatrous, often led by wicked kings stood alone. That is the setting for Isaiah's ministry.

God promised a number of things to Judah through Isaiah. First. Judah would not fall to the Assyrians. They did not. Second, if they refused repent of their idolatry and wickedness, God would raise up a greater empire and give Judah over to it. Third, Judah would not repent. Fourth. Babylon would become great, destroy Jerusalem, and send the people of Judah into exile. Fifth after the exile, the people would return to Jerusalem and God's salvation promised to Abraham would finally come.

What kind of Salvation?

The answer to that question for Jews during Jesus' day was incredibly important.

Isaiah's first four predictions and promises had already come to pass. Only the fifth remained, the promise of God's salvation. As Peter tells us, people poured over the scriptures trying to understand the time to which the Spirit of God pointed and the kind or type of salvation he promised (1 Peter 1:10-11) And it was incredibly confusing because Isaiah, like John in Revelation, gives a number of apparently conflicting images of it.

God's savior, Isaiah says, will come in the form of a servant: Isaiah 42 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.(1). He will be a “light to the gentiles” (6). He will open the eyes of the blind and set captives free (7).

There's more about the servant in Isaiah 49. His words will be powerful, like a sharpened sword (2) He will gather the exiles and, as in 42, be a light to the gentiles (6) He will be honored by the nations (7) He will call the Lord's people back. The divided dispersed nation of Israel will be restored and united (8-26) and its enemies will be judged (26)

In chapters 42 and 49 Isaiah predicts a spirit-filled servant savior who comes with power and compassion; who restores what's been broken, heals the sick, gives frees prisoners, restores Israel, brings light to the Gentiles and establishes an era of peace. Notice that king language is not found in these chapters. The servant is not necessarily a king. He is a powerful servant sent to do God's will.

But in chapters 52-53 an entirely different sort of servant is described; a servant who is sent not with a powerful word, but to suffer. The “servant” is mentioned there in 52:13. “My servant will act wisely...” But what will happen to him? V3. “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.” And he's not suffering at the hands of enemies. Notice the “we” language in verses 3-4. “We” esteemed him not. There was nothing to attract “us” to him. His own people disregard the servant. But that is part of his call “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:2-6)

So on one hand Isaiah speaks of a powerful spirit filled “servant” will heal, free, restore and bring light to the gentiles. On the other hand a “suffering servant will come who will be despised by his people and die to atone for their sins. How can these descriptions possibly be fit together? The picture gets even more confused by yet another saving figure in Isaiah, the Anointed one...the Messiah. We meet him in Isaiah 11: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.”(1) a Davidic king will come. He, like the first servant, will be filled with the Spirit of God (2). The Spirit will give him wisdom and power. Unlike the kings of Judah, he will be obedient. His words will effect change. “He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth”(4) He will establish a kingdom characterized by justice for the wicked, help for the poor, and peace (4-9). The effect of his reign will be that the whole world comes to know the Lord (9). Nations will flock to him (10). He will gather the exiles Israel and Judah and restore the kingdom of David (10-12).

So will the promised salvation come at the hand of a spirit-filled servant who frees captives, heals the sick and binds up the brokenhearted? Or from a suffering servant, despised by his own people, condemned to die for their sins? Or from a davidic king who will establish God's rule worldwide?

In Isaiah 61 we find something that they may have overlooked. In Chapter 60, the Lord has been speaking, promising to be the light of his people when he restores and redeems them(19). Then in 61, an new unidentified speaker comes: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me”(1). He is “anointed”as a king is anointed. His words effect what they proclaim. They lift up the poor, bind the brokenhearted, free captives and release prisoners. He distributes both wrath and compassion. (2-3). He “plants” his people like oaks and brings them honor and not just joy but “everlasting joy”(7) because he will establish an everlasting covenant (8). He takes away ashes, mourning, despair (3) devastation (4), shame, disgrace(7) and iniquity (8)

This speaker, brings together the spirit filled servant who cares for the poor and sick, the suffering servant who takes away shame, despair, and iniquity; and the anointed king who reigns with justice. The images of God's salvation come together in one Redeemer. As Christians, looking backwards, it seems simple...But before Jesus, it wasn't so simple. Most Jews of Jesus day missed the significance of Isaiah 61 and latched on to one of the savior figures in Isaiah.

Who remembers what Jesus did with Isaiah 61? Turn to Luke 4:16-19. Jesus stood up in his hometown synagogue and read from this very text, sat down and said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."(21) I am the Spirit-filled Servant. I am the Suffering-Servant, I am the Sovereign King who will bring God's day of salvation. Can you imagine what it must've been like. 1^st century Jews lived longing for the fulfillment of the promise of God. And in their day, before their very eyes, the Promise personified walks in and gives the first reading. They tried to throw him off a cliff. They couldn't see it.

Isaiah in our text this morning reveals the right response to Jesus coming. Isaiah 61:10 is the response of delivered people to their redeemer. Israel, the church, all believers say, “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God.” that is how the people in Nazareth ought to have responded when the Servant King walked through the door. That is the “Christmas Spirit.” It is delight in the Lord, delight that he has in Jesus fulfilled the promises he gave Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets including Isaiah. Delight in the promise himself, in the person of Jesus beyond anything he can give you...a simple pure delight that Jesus is who he is and he loves you and has made his home here with his people and in your heart.

In Defense of Miracles: A Virgin Conceives

Sermon by Matt Kennedy (4th Sunday of Advent)
text: Luke 1:26-38

Monday, December 22, 2008

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Our gospel reading begins the middle of an ongoing story. Luke tells us in verse 26 that the events occurred, “in the sixth month.” In the sixth month of what? In the sixth month of Elizabeth's, Mary's cousin, pregnancy. Luke links the announcement of Mary's conception to Elizabeth's pregnancy. Why is that? Who was Elizabeth's son? John the Baptist. John was the last prophet of the Old Covenant. His mission was to go before the messiah, the Christ, to prepare for his coming by calling the people of Israel to repentance. His conception six months earlier than Jesus' is a sign illustrating his mission. He is to go before Jesus.

But that's not the only link between Elizabeth's pregnancy and Mary's. The manner of their conception was also very similar. What was special about Elizabeth's conception of John? Elizabeth was barren. Even if she were not barren (1:7), her age made childbearing, naturally speaking, impossible(1:18). And yet we read in Luke 1:13-18 that God sent an angel...who was this angel? Gabriel, the same who was to visit Mary, to tell Zechariah that his wife, Elizabeth would bear a son.

Elizabeth's conception was “natural” in the sense that she got pregnant in the normal way, but it was supernatural, it was miraculous, in the sense that God had to intervene to create the possibility of life where none existed before. John was a miracle baby. That is the most important link between Elizabeth's and Mary's pregnancy—both were the result of miraculous divine intervention.

Now when the bible speaks of miracles, some people, even some Christian people, start feeling uncomfortable. Seas do not part. Bread does not multiply. Water does not come out of rocks. Men do not calm storms. Dead men don't rise. Barren women past childbearing age do not conceive. Now when the bible speaks of miracles, some people, even some Christian people, start feeling uncomfortable. Seas do not part. Bread does not multiply. Water does not come out of rocks. Men do not calm storms. Dead men don't rise. Barren women past childbearing age do not conceive. How can modern people believe that the miracles recorded in scripture really happened?

If you're an atheist, then it is sensible to feel this way. Only God has the power to perform miracles and since you do not believe God exists, you cannot believe in miracles either. Perfectly logical. Wrong, but perfectly logical.

But there are many who agree that God exists and yet reject the possibility of miracles. A few years back Rabbi Kushner, wrote a book arguing that while God exists, and created the cosmos, and is perfectly good, the persistence of evil in the world means that God is unable to intervene in human affairs. Because if God does not put an end to evil when he has the power to do so then he cannot be called good. Since evil exists and is rising, God is feeble. There are no miracles, no divine interventions. He relies on us to make his world a better place. Many Christians share the rabbi's skepticism about miracles. Kushner provides a rational basis for it. But for many it's simply a case of disbelief. The calming of the seas, the resurrection, the virgin birth. It's just too much. Some of you might feel that way too.

If you accept that a creator God exists, it makes no sense to reject the possibility of miracles. Everything we see in the material universe exists because something else caused its existence. Babies, stars, cells, nothing pops into existence on its own. Everything that exists within the cosmos was caused by another thing. And nothing in the cosmos is eternal. It either had a beginning or has an end or both. Nothing in the universe has the power of self-existence.

The sum is no greater than its parts. If nothing within the cosmos has the power of self existence, it's irrational to believe that the cosmos as a whole is “self-existent”--that it just is and always has been or that it just popped into being. So the question becomes, how did it get here?

And the only reasonable explanation is that something self-existent, with the power of being, brought everything else into being. Whether through the big bang or what doesn't matter right now. Nothing comes out of nothing, so for anything to exist there has to be an eternal self-existent power source out there beyond time and space. You can call that thing whatever you want. We call him, God. Since the discovery of the big bang, many scientists, including, the once staunch atheist Anthony Flew, while rejecting the biblical accounts of creation, have come to accept the existence of some kind creator God because it is impossible to explain the existence of the cosmos without him.

But if you grant that God created, then you lose the rational basis for rejecting the possibility of miracles. If God, has the power to bring the universe into being out of nothing, then he has the power to intervene in the universe he's created. Creation ex-nihilo requires far more power than simply parting a sea or raising the dead.

So while you might still have an historical objection to Luke's account of Elizabeth's miraculous conception, you might argue that he got his facts wrong, but if you believe that God created, you've lost a scientific basis for rejecting it outright.

And there's really no historical case to be made either. There's simply no other credible primary source, no other historical record of John's conception, other than the New Testament. To argue that Luke got his facts wrong you've got to have another record from the time contesting what he wrote. There's nothing. So if you reject the miracle of Elizabeth's conception your doing it without any basis whatsoever in reason or in history.

Everything I've just said about Elizabeth's conception is also true about Mary's. Luke tells us that Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb without the benefit of Joseph or any other man.

Now if you watch the history channel or read a skeptical study of the gospels, you'll find lots of theories Mary's pregnancy. Some say that she was raped by a soldier. Others say she and Joseph had sex before they were married. Still others say that Mary was so wild that there's no way to know who the father was. All have one thing in common. They reject of the possibility of miracles. And that forces them to concoct some other explanation for Mary's pregnancy.

So you have learned men and women basing their careers on speculative guesses without a shred of evidence. People who chase UFOs and big foot have more credibility. They have eyewitness accounts and documentation. Skeptics about the virgin conception of Mary have nothing but blind, dogmatic, unbelief.

Having established that divine miraculous intervention is possible and that the gospels provide the only credible historical accounts of Jesus' conception, let's look more closely at the exchange between Mary and Gabriel beginning in Luke 1:30. We've already been told in verse 27 that Mary is a “virgin”. The Greek word is “parthenos” and the word means in Greek precisely what it means in English. A “parthenos” is someone who's not had sexual relations with a man. The point is made explicit in verse 34. Gabriel tells Mary that she will conceive and bear a child. “And Mary said to the Angel, How will this be since I am a virgin?” Your text probably has the single word “virgin.” But “parthenos” is not used here. The Greek reads, “How will this be since I do not know a man.”

Mary knew lots of men. She was betrothed to Joseph. That phrase, “I do not know a man” used in this context means, I have not have sexual relations with a man”. She was betrothed to Joseph. Betrothal was far more serious than engagement. It was a legal contract binding two people together. It was a binding promise, so sacred that it was considered adultery to cheat on your betrothed. You could be stoned for it. That, if you remember is the dilemma Joseph faced when he heard that Mary was pregnant. He thought she'd cheated on him until Gabriel appeared to him as well. But while you could not cheat on your betrothed it was considered fornication to have sex with your betrothed during the betrothal period. The biblical standard then as it is now, is that any sex before marriage or if you are married, beyond the marriage covenant, is displeasing to God and sinful.

So Mary, who is virtuous, saving herself for her marriage night, is confused. Is God telling her to break the biblical standard...how is she supposed to get pregnant? Listen to Gabriel in v. 35:
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” The power of the Most High, the power of the creator God is going to create again. God created the cosmos by the power of his word. He spoke and the world lept into existence. God created Adam from the dust of the earth and breathed life into by his Spirit. Now he creates Jesus, not from the ground, from the dust, but from Mary. Mary is Jesus mother. But his Father is God. Notice the “therefore” in this text, “Therefore” the child to be born will be called holy—the son of God. Jesus is fully God and fully human, but his humanity is specifically in view here. The question Mary asked was, how will I get pregnant, how will I a human mother, give birth to a baby without a man. And God's answer is that he will create a baby in the womb. God will cause th fertilization of her egg with human seed. Where does the seed come from? God creates the seed. The child is going to be “holy” because he is a new creation. God intervened in the process of human reproduction to create a human baby who is holy. Why? Why did he do this? For what purpose?

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

God interrupted the natural transmission of the sin nature to make Jesus “holy” in the very same way Adam was holy. But where Adam failed Jesus would be victorious. Where Adam sinned. Jesus would be obedient so that all who are now, because of Adam, under the curse of sin and death can through faith in Jesus, come out from under the curse and be found not in Adam but in Jesus Christ. The name Jesus means, God saves. God intervenes in human history directly to reverse sin and death in the person of his human and divine son Jesus Christ.

Maybe you can see another link with John the baptist here? God intervened in Elizabeth to bring about a natural pregnancy in a barren woman. John the baptist was sent by God, after Israel had been barren of prophets for 400 years, he was sent to a dead people who were not bearing the fruit God had called them to bear. So God brings a true prophet from a barren woman as a sign that he was about to bring life to his barren people. But Jesus came not only to save Israel, but to save humanity, a race in which every baby born is by nature turned against him

It was not enough to have a normal pregnancy and a normal baby. God reforged humanity in Christ. Jesus was conceived as a true human without spot or blemish. God's not interested in reforming the world. He's not just interested in nagging you into being a better person. He's making all things new.

Sermon: The Truth about Tithing

by Matt Kennedy

Monday, December 8, 2008

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Contrary to popular belief, tithing is not a topic that preachers enjoy. It plays into the stereotype that the church only wants your money. Some preachers focus on tithing because they know the fastest way to get rich is to tell people that Jesus wants their cash. Others are more sincere, they truly believe that God wants everyone to be wealthy and healthy. When Jesus says, “ask for anything in my name and it will be given to you” he means, they believe, literally, that whatever you ask for using the name Jesus, so long as you believe it, God is obligated to give. If you want a Pony, name it, claim it in Jesus’ name, and then God will give you a Pony. The only reason you might not get it is because you're not believing hard enough. If you have the faith of a mustard seed you could move mountains. Obviously the only reason you do not have a Pony, or that you are sick, or that you live in government housing is that you do not have even the faith of a mustard seed. See how this works? The preacher in the mansion and Mercedes must be a great man of great faith. The poor sick guy just needs more faith. And, of course, the sign of his faith will be giving a good portion of his cash to the rich preacher with the Mercedes and the mansion. You send me 200 dollars God will give you 2000 Dollars. This is the ‘prosperity gospel’ and it's a serious distortion of scripture. It ends up embittering people toward the church and toward Christianity in general. Scripture never says “give to get.” Christians are to give because God has given first; to Give for the love and the glory of God. God doesn’t promise profit, he does promise provision.

Before getting started, let's address three common mis-perceptions.

The first has to do with the common stewardship slogan: Give your “time, talent and treasure.” The slogan is not, “give your time talent OR treasure.” God provides all three so the biblical model is to tithe all three. What if God decided to give you time or talent or treasure? “ You could have lots of money and be dead. You could be alive with all sorts of talent but starving. Or you could be alive, with money, but physically paralyzed and brain dead. God graciously provides time, talent, and treasure. Out of gratitude, we offer him the same.

Second, the tithe is the God ordained vehicle by which the ministry and mission of the church, is sustained. From the very beginning of the Church (Acts 4:32-36) believers were called to bring money and possessions to the leaders of the church who distributed them “to each as any had need.” It is great to give to secular charity, but biblically speaking it’s not a true tithe. A tithe is specifically for the building the kingdom.

Third, the tithe is not one of those Old Covenant commands no longer valid under the New Covenant. There are some Old Testament regulations we no longer follow. Why do we follow the ten commandments and not the kosher laws? The only reason we do not follow kosher laws is because the New Testament explicitly in Acts 10 and Mark 7 tells us that they have been fulfilled in Christ. There is no passage of scripture explicitly overturning the command to tithe. In fact, in Acts 4 believers sold all their possessions and gave everything to the apostles. Paul, as he records in his epistles, goes from congregation to congregation collecting their offerings for the Church in Jerusalem. Yes, these are offerings, the word tithe is not used, but it is an example of regular abundant giving. I know there are some very good Christians who argue otherwise, but I cannot find the expectation to tithe superseded anywhere in the NT and so I don't see how we can set it aside.

So what it is a tithe and why it is important?

Let’s start in Genesis 4:2-7:

“Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.” (Genesis 4:2-4)

Why is God pleased with Abel’s offering and not Cain’s? Cain brought “some” of the fruits of the soil. Abel brought the “fat” portion of the “first-born” from his flock. Abel gave God his best. For us, “fat” is bad but if your life depends on getting enough calories into your body, fat is precious. Abel gave the fattest of his flock to the Lord. Cain did not. He gave a portion. A bit from what he harvested, keeping the best for himself.

Abel trusted that God would provide so he gave his best freely. Cain did not trust God. He provided for himself first and then gave the remainder to God. The author of Hebrews says that those who have faith do what Abel did. They give their first and best. They set aside time for worship and bible study first and schedule everything else around that time. It’s not I’ll go to church if there’s not a soccer game or I'll do bible study unless there's something good on TV. They commit to a ministry and make that commitment sacred--be it vestry, choir, or mopping floors, they consider service a service to Christ. They set aside their treasure before paying taxes and bills not after. They give the first and best to God trusting that the God who promises to provide will provide. And he does.

Turn to Deuteronomy 14:22-29.

“Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always…Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice….” (Deuteronomy 14:22-23, 26b-7)

This text defines tithe is a tenth. Note that Israelites were to eat their tenth in the presence of the Lord. The tithe is not a bill. It’s intended to deepen your fellowship with God. God invites his people to enjoy the fruits of his provision and blessing in his presence. “Eat it there in the presence of the Lord and rejoice!” Do you rejoice when you put your offering into the plate? Do you enjoy your time at worship and bible study? Do you enjoy your reading or acolyting? When you give anything to the church you lay it at the feet of Jesus Christ himself. It is an act of fellowship. You're saying: Lord I want to enjoy the best portion of my time, talent and treasure with you.

Let’s turn to Malachi 3:8-12:

""Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.”

Everything we have and enjoy is a free gift directly from God. When you tithe you are not giving God some of your hard earned money. You're giving back to God only a small portion of what he gives to you. Who do you think gives you the strength, intellect, skill, time, energy, and resources to earn the money you ear? God. Everything you and I have is ours because God graciously provided what is necessary to get it. God does not ask you to invest your hard earned money to the church. God calls you to give back 10% of what he has given. Giving none of it or giving only the leftovers is, in his eyes, a form or robbery. And there’s a cost. How many believers worry about money or time or having enough energy to get through the day? That’s not the way God wants you to live and if you live according to his standards he provides so that you don’t have to. God does not give you 1000 dollars every time you give him 100. But he replenishes what you expend in his service. If you give him time first, you will always have enough time for other things. If you give him your tithe first, you will always have money. If you give him your best effort, he will always provide strength for your other responsibilities.

“Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it…Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 3:6-12)”

When I am praying and studying scripture every day, I have enough time. When I let that commitment falter, there is never enough time. When I commit to pour out my best for the church, I find I had a lot more energy than when I think of my work here as a chore that I have to fit in around other things. You give God your first and your best, and God opens the floodgates. You don’t you’ll always be worried about money, overstretched for time and tired.

So a tithe: 1. comes from the first fruits or the gross of your time, income, and talent. 2. in monetary terms it’s ten percent. And 3. If you tithe your time talent and treasure God promises to provide all three in abundance.

Tithing is one of the most difficult and profound steps of faith a believer can make. If you’re not there yet, don’t feel like less of a Christian. I don’t know who tithes and who doesn’t. I don’t ask. That’s between you and God. But I do know that it’s brought joy and blessing to my life because it forced me to change my priorities. God doesn’t call for a tithe because he’s short on cash. He doesn’t need anything from us. He calls for a tithe because he knows that left to ourselves we’d put everything else in the world, money, schedules, sports, classes, careers, before him and he knows that when we do that, we’re not living in accordance with the way he designed us to live and so our lives spin out of control. God doesn’t need your money. He wants your heart.

The best way to build up toward a tithe is to start small. Make a commitment of your first fruits like Abel did. If ten percent is too much, start with 2 or 3 and take it from the gross. Commit to Church every Sunday. Find a ministry and commit to it. And build from there. God's promise is that you'll have what you need when you need it and as you see that his word and promise is true, your faith will increase and you’ll want to give more and more as God pours his blessings into your life.

Prayer.

Great Sermon on the 6th Commandment

Here is a fantastic sermon from Alistair Begg on the sixth commandment against Murder. Take the time to listen this morning. He discusses everything from suicide and abortion to gossip and slander:
here's the link

The Second Greatest Commandment

Sermon by Matt Kennedy

Text: Matthew 22:34-40 (part 3)

Note: the first 2-3 minutes of this audio are a bit choppy because of a faulty mike...but the sound gets much better after that.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Download "The Second Greatest Commandment" in MP3 format

Sermon: Loving God part 2: Working out Your Salvation

Monday, November 10, 2008

Download "Loving God part 2: Working Out Your Salvation" in MP3 format

Anne's Sermon from this Sunday

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Download "The Beatitudes: "Wellness" according to Jesus" in MP3 format

By Anne Kennedy

All Saints-Matthew 5

Open with me to Matthew chapter 5, beginning in verse 5.


‘Seeing the crowds’, because if you look up a few verses, the crowds had been coming fast and furious, ‘seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on a mountain and sat down.’ The Sea of Galilee is just off what was once the Great Trade Route of the middle east in the first century, the Via Maris, or way of the sea—a road visible from Capernaum and the house of Peter. So, on the one hand, you have the out of the way Sea of Galilee and its bustling, but, provincial, fishing towns and on the other hand you have a Very Strategic location. The whole known world, walking over that Road, would have heard of Jesus from people going by and could have walked over to see him, if they wanted.

Some went out of their way out of curiosity. On the information highway, its always nice to see that Latest thing, the Thing of the Moment. Jesus was the thing of his moment. Others came out of desperation. They were sick, or knew someone who was sick. The crowds grew and grew. Like an ER waiting room, or the Walk in at Flue Season, so inwardly tuned from pain and affliction, just coping with reality, they came and waited and hoped to be healed. The crowds became so great that Jesus went up onto a mountain. His disciples, fresh from being picked out of their boats and their lives, came to listen to him. The crowd filtered in to ‘listen in’ and find out what all the fuss was about.

When many people in the crowds of life think of Jesus, they vaguely like him. They profess, sometimes, to like his ‘teachings’ which we’re going to look at here. They don’t often like the people who follow him, that would be me and perhaps many of you here this morning. They might say that we are fanatical or that we have ‘corrupted the message’. Let’s look at this message, some of the ‘teachings’ of Jesus and see what we shall see.

Matthew says, in verse two, that Jesus ‘opened his mouth’. When God opened his mouth and spoke, the Word, the only begotten Pre-existent Word from before time and for ever, brought all things came into being. The Word, Jesus, has power. His words overturn the world.

Jesus opened his mouth and said, ‘Blessed’ or ‘happy’ or my own version, ‘Well’ as in, ‘it is well with my soul’. There is no good English word for what Jesus is saying. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’.


The poor in Spirit is the one who knows his or her need of God. For those of you who believe yourself able to get on without God, yours is the Kingdom of the Flesh, this world. Your reward is the pride of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps and trusting yourself to get you through this life. I hope none of you find yourself there this morning. No, the Poor in Spirit, the one who knows he cannot draw breath apart from the mercy of God, who knows she cannot eat except God provide bread, who cannot be saved unless God comes to earth, the poor in Spirit is poor in pride. Pride is a meager foundation; the World of the Flesh is a glittering glass bauble that will shatter in your grasp. If you think you are rich in yourself, you are deceived.

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’.


‘Mourning’ here is not just mourning over a loss. Those who mourn, in the time of Jesus, would have been anyone who was in need, material, spiritual, or in need of healing. Are you broken? Do you grieve over your own sin? Over a great loss? Over the waywardness of your children? If you look at Jesus and grieve, or mourn, or do not have enough, and then, and here is the key, do not rush in to fix it yourself, Jesus will be your comfort and your solution, your salvation.

‘Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit the earth.’


Jesus is not saying, blessed are the ‘mousy’ or ‘happy is the pushover’ or ‘blessed is the quietly speaking person who never causes offense’. Meek means humble, one not constantly standing up for their rights, or out to get what’s ‘rightfully theirs’. The earth, as it stands now, belongs most generally to the rich, the powerful, the good negotiator, the person with a little penny in their pocket who can cut a good deal. But, it will not always be so. The one who meekly, humbly throws his full self onto the mercy of God in all things, this person will ultimately, remarkably, rule the earth with Christ in glory.

‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied’.


God is righteous. He is Right about everything. He is perfectly just. He is good. If you are hungry for righteousness, for what is good and holy and true, your hunger will lead you to God. If you hunger for God and find Him, because if you seek him, you Will find him, all will be well, you will be in a good place, you will be blessed. The opposite bears out. If you are not hungry for goodness and truth and beauty, if you are caught in darkness and your soul doesn’t yearn for that which is greater than you, for God, you will not be well, you will be hungry, thirsty, tired, worn thin, unblessed, unhappy.

‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.’


Mercy is the centerpiece of the Gospel. God didn’t have to create us. When we sinned against him, he did not have to set into motion his great Plan of Salvation, beginning with Abraham, culminating with Jesus. He did not have to become a human being. He did not have to die in our place. He did, out of Mercy. What business do we have not letting each other off the hook?
If you, having been forgiven, do not turn around and show mercy, do not make every effort to understand and make excuses for, do not go out of your way to help someone who doesn’t deserve it, why should God go on being merciful to you? Forgive and you will be forgiven. Be merciful and you will be given mercy.

‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’


Like righteousness, purity is a characteristic of God. Jesus was pure, perfect, holy, he was the pure unspotted lamb required for sacrifice. There wasn’t anything wrong with him. He didn’t sin. And in not sinning, he wasn’t cluttered by the ugliness of grief, brokenness, rebellion, and trouble. Purity of heart and mind comes from hungering after and seeking God. Purity makes you an uncluttered person. Imagine that your body, soul, and mind are a wide room.


You can clutter up your room with many things—sin, busyness, gossip, rebellion, attitude, anxiety. Your windows become dusty and foggy; you cannot walk from tripping over some wretched problem. Purity of heart requires that you clear out all the junk. You confess your sin, you trust God and let go the anxiety and worry, you exercise mercy and grace towards other people, you do not allow the junk of this world to clutter up your mind. Then you will be, on a very practical level, better able to see who God is and to follow him, rather than tripping everywhere, or becoming distracted by the bright glittery junk all around you.

This is one reason why Jesus encourages us to become like children in order to better enter the kingdom of heaven. Not because children do not sin, or are not in frequent open rebellion against reality, their parents and God, remind me to introduce you to my children after the service, but because they haven’t had as much time to clutter up their lives with sin and trouble. The small child is best able to see God. That is why Sunday school is So Important for the littlest of our church family. Bring them here while they can still see.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.’


Peace is a necessary byproduct or side-effect of life with God. God is the ultimate peacemaker. He, through mercy, grace and power, overcame our rebellion and sin by dying for us, allowing us to make peace with him. This ultimate peace allows us to make peace with each other and with ourselves.

And finally, if you haven’t been paying attention, Here is where the World of the Flesh, which as been gradually tipping, blessing by blessing, is finally turned all the way over. Verse 10,


‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad.’

I imagine that the crowd, after this remark, began to thin. Jesus goes on, from this moment, to say many more difficult things to his disciples and all the people about divorce, lust, anxiety, fasting, anger. Most of the crowd, after being healed and eating all the free food, decided that the teachings of Jesus were too hard.

Not much has changed. Just about the whole world has available to it the Teachings of Jesus. Missionaries are everywhere. The internet is abundant with good information. You can find a free Bible, if you really want one. If you are curious or broken or hungry or tired or sick, Jesus will be of interest to you.


But it’s easy to be apart of the crowd, to have your hand out for a good thing, closing it again quickly against the sacrifice of yourself, your pride. That is what, I’m sorry to say, is at the heart of these few verses we have walked through together. The cost of following Jesus, of knowing him and being known by him, is your pride, yourself. I encourage you to count the cost. If you’re willing to give up yourself, your pride, the world of the flesh, I congratulate you, you are well, you are blessed, indeed you are Rich. You have gained the everlasting Love,


Grace, Mercy, Peace, Righteousness and Purity of the Kingdom of God.


Sure, the world won’t like you any more. You might be called a fanatic, or be passed over. Some, remembered on this day, have even been killed. But mortal death is a small measly price to pay for the perfect presence of God and the everlasting community of believers from every time, every place, every language, every nation who worships around the great throne, the throne of the Lamb who died so that you might live. Amen.

Love: The Impossible Law

text: Matthew 22:34-40

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

The question, Matthew tells us, was designed to “test” Jesus (35). It's a question that the Pharisees had debated amongst themselves for years. The Pharisees had identified several different passages they believed summed up the entire bible and various experts among them fought about which one was the greatest. They may have hoped to stump Jesus, get him to stumble over the scriptures, not have a ready passage in mind, or to say something that would reveal an ignorance of the sophisticated sort of theological debates that Pharisees had.

But Jesus answers simply, without hesitation. “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”

No stuttering, no hesitation. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, you can look it up on your own if you like, as the greatest law.

Jesus is the Word of God. All scripture originated with him, it is God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16). So when the One who inspired every single word in every single book of the bible identifies one command as the Greatest its a good idea to perk up and attend to what it means.

On the surface the command seems rather easy: Love God.

I do that. I have great affection for God.

I was in a debate with an Episcopal Priest who said the Great Commandment means that as long as you love God you can do anything you want; that Jesus replaced all commands with the Great command and if you follow it then you don't have to worry about following the rest.

In a way he was right. If you love God you can do whatever you want without breaking a command...but he was not right in the way he thought. The Greek word is used for love in this text is "Agape." Most of you know what agape is, but for those of you who don't, let's talk about it.

Most of us use the word love when we are talking about the way we feel about something or someone. We fall in “love”. We “love” friends. We “love” family. We “love” ice cream. We “love” movies. We use “love” in many ways but when we do we're almost always referring to our feelings about something or someone.

Agape does not refer to our feelings. To have agape means to will and act self-sacrificially toward another. If you have agape for someone you see that person's good, welfare, as having priority over your own. Agape may come with affection, but affection is not necessary to it. You can agape someone you don't like. You can, as Jesus commands earlier in Matthew's Gospel, agape your enemies. You can “act” sacrificially toward someone for whom you feel hatred. You can act with agape in every relationship.

When you get married, for example, and you promise to love your spouse, you are not promising to feel love for that person until death do you part. No one can promise to feel a certain way. You promise to agape; to set your wife or husband above yourself and to act in their best interest, even if it means your own sacrifice. Imagine a marriage where that is true.

You can feel agape, but you can't “just” feel agape. Agape requires action. So, from a biblical perspective, the husband who says “I love you” but never spends time with his wife or pitches in around the house or takes interest in what his kids are up to, may feel affection for his wife but he does not love her.

And likewise, the woman who says, “I love you” to her husband but spends time belittling him to her friends, disrespecting him, dishonoring him, undercutting his decisions at home, doing nothing to help make his life a little less stressful does not love, agape, her husband even though she may feel great affection for him. Agape is a love that is defined by action and is manifested in works.

Agape is the love that Jesus says we must have for God, a love that sets him above all things, not just in our affections, but in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Every faculty, every fiber of our being, is to be turned toward God in agape love. We are to will to please him in our hearts and that desire is to bear itself out in such a way that it shapes and defines everything we think, do and say.

And in this way that priest I debated was right. If you love God you can do anything you want. But if you love God you will only want to do what pleases him. Far from erasing the rest of the bible, to Agape God means to treasure his Word and seek with all your might to follow the commands that are there because his word is his self-revelation. He tells us what pleases and displeases him. You cannot agape God without seeking to do those things he desires.

Jesus said precisely this in John 14:16 “If you love me, you'll keep my commands” because obedience to God means making God's will your will and setting those other things you love including yourself beneath your love for him. Agape conforms all things to the will of God and what cannot be conformed or reformed, whatever interferes with holiness, obedience, and his call in your life, you'll want none of it. Instead, you will want him, you will seek him, you will hunger and thirst for his presence and delight in his law, he will be your pearl of great price for which you will be willing to sell everything you have.

When he's on the way to Jerusalem and the crowds have thinned and his disciples think they're going to the glorious crowning of Jesus as victorious messiah, he turns to them and says, if you would be my follower, you must deny yourself and take up your cross (Matt 16:24). We're not going to a coronation but to a crucifixion. If you love me you will follow. He meets a rich man (Matt 19) who asks “what must I do to inherit the kingdom of heaven?” who says, “I've kept all of the commandments since I've been a boy.” Jesus looks at him and loves him and says, give away everything you have and come follow me. Your money is your idol, give it up. He was saying to the man, “Love me with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your strength, and you will have eternal life.” What did the man do? He turns away. He cannot do it.

This is a hard teaching isn't it? It makes me wilt. I can't do it. If to agape God with all my heart, soul and mind, means that God must always be first in my life, and if that is what is required to have eternal life, then I don't know about you, but I'm with the rich man. I'm doomed. I can't do it. I can't even do it for a moment. I don't love God like that. I wish I did, but I don't. I want to but I'm powerless.

It is at this point that we come to the sharp end of the law. You read the psalms, psalm 119 for example, and the psalmist speaks about his love for God's law, that it is sweet as honey, a light to his feet, finer than the finest wine, but when I contemplate this greatest commandment, the one that sums up all the others, I'm overwhelmed with the sense of my own inadequacy. I despair.

But then I remember Romans 3:20.Turn there with me: “no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”

We're fallen people. God did not give us the ten-commandments in the Garden of Eden because we did not need a law there. We were naturally good. God revealed his law when we fell and he did first of all says Paul, so that we would see who we are and what we need. The law is given first not because God thinks we can meet the bar but because God knows we can't but he also knows that if he doesn't show us we can't we'll think we can. And if we think we can, we'll go through our whole life satisfied that there’s nothing wrong and that while we might have our moods every once in a while, we’re basically decent people and surely God will be pleased with us…and if we think that, we'll never do the one thing we must all do to escape standing before his judgment seat immersed in our sins, which is to repent and fall down and surrender our lives to Christ because Christ did what we cannot do. He, and he alone, fulfills the law. He is righteous, without sin. He loves his Father with his heart, mind and soul and strength.

And when you and I turn to him, despairing of our own ability to do what he commands, he loves you, he agapes you--not just as his creature as before, but as his son or daughter--he takes the burden of your sins off your shoulders.

Turn quickly to 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul writes, “God made him who had no sin [Jesus] to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” What does that mean? Does Jesus become a sinner in his nature and being for us? No. Jesus is the unblemished Lamb. But on the cross the Father set our sins on the Son. He imputed our sins to Christ and Christ died in our place to pay the eternal consequence for them so that when anyone commits his or her life to Jesus Christ, Paul says, his sins are transferred to Christ and Christ's righteousness, in the same manner, is transferred to the one who believes.

Does that mean that a Christian becomes righteous? Yes, in the same way that Jesus becomes sin. While Jesus is perfectly righteous he is considered a sinner, credited with out sins by the Father and in the same way, God sets Christ's righteousness on all those who believe. He imputes it, so that while we sin, we are considered by God...we are credited with keeping the entire law. I cannot love the Lord my God with all my heart and all my soul, and all my mind, but Jesus can and Jesus did and he did it for me and he did it for you.

The Law of God then, and this Greatest Law especially, is given first to cause you to despair of your own goodness and ability to please God, and then to drive you to Christ and once you are in Christ, you are free from the consequences of sin.

And when you see that, when come to that point, the bitterness of the Law is removed. The sting is taken away. The law no longer stands over you pronouncing your guilt. It becomes beautiful to the eyes. It is a light to your feet and a lamp to your path, sweet as honey from a honeycomb.

And, moreover, Someone comes to live in you Who gives you the power to do what you could not do before. But we will speak of that next Sunday.

end

Sermon: Do Animals Go to Heaven?

Monday, October 20, 2008

Text: Romans 8:18-25

Download "Sermon: Do Animals Go to Heaven?" in MP3 format

Carrie Moorhead: Contentment and Anxiety

Monday, October 13, 2008

Download "Carrie Moorhead: Anxiety and Contentment" in MP3 format

Carrie Moorhead the Staff leader for the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (the largest Christian student ministry on the Binghamton University campus) led Christian education this Sunday, discussing college ministry and preached the sermon above on the problem of Anxiety and Contentment based on Philippians 4

Sermon: The Uncomfortable Church

Sunday, October 5, 2008

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Text: 1st Corinthians 12:11-20

By Matt Kennedy

October 5th, 2008

I hate going to the DMV. If you’ve been here a while you’ll remember that for my first three years in Binghamton I was driving around with Texas plates. Partly that was due to the fact that I love Texas and couldn’t bear parting with my Texas driver’s license and plates. But mostly, it was due to the fact that I can’t stand the DMV. The long lines, the strange people, the unhelpful civil servants. You don’t see happy smiles at the DMV. You see blank stares. Or you see rage when someone waits for two hours only to be told that they don’t have the right paperwork. But there's one interesting thing about the DMV. If you want to drive legally you've got to go there. So at the DMV you'll find rich people, poor people, every ethnicity and color and background all brought together, unified as one body, by the need to drive legally in the state of New York.

Philip Yancey wrote that a congregation should, if she's doing her job right, look like the DMV. Rich people, poor people, respectable citizens, dropouts, people who know all about Jesus, people who’ve just met him or who are about to meet him all crowded in together every Sunday morning. Of course there should be differences. The unity of the DMV is a false one. You’re only there for a few hours at most and then you leave and you may never see anyone you saw there again. But the unity of the church is eternal. You'll never get away from the people sitting next to you. We're bound to each other forever.

This binding has nothing to do with how long we’ve known each other. It has nothing to do with how well we like each other. It is just a fact. Jesus lives in me through the Holy Spirit and he lives in you through the Holy Spirit. We are, therefore, related to one another spiritually—at the soul level. The believer you meet here for the first time is bound to you more closely than even your blood relatives who are not believers. Blood may be thicker than water, but the spiritual bond between believers is thicker than blood. Your blood passes away. You're spirit lives forever. Your blood connects you biologically to blood relatives temporarily. The Holy Spirit binds you to God and to all who are called by his name eternally. God knits our spirits together by his Spirit.

Let me try to illustrate what this feels like because I think we experience this sort of spiritual unity here in a visceral way but we may not recognize it. I slammed the car door on my fingers the other day. Before I did that I was perfectly healthy and feeling fine. When I slammed the door on my fingers, technically speaking, the rest of my body was still fine. My legs weren’t damaged, my face was fine, my toes, my internal organs…every other part of my body was just fine technically speaking, but at the same time pain ripped through all the way through me. Everything in my body and mind cried out with pain? Why is that? Because even though the parts of my body are distinct and separate they are not independent. They are deeply connected by nerves and blood vessels and all the rest. In the same way, believers in the Church, the body of Christ are bound together. What you do, what you feel, what goes on your life, has a ripple effect throughout the body. What happens here at Good Shepherd when someone’s marriage breaks apart? What happens when someone dies? What happens when people are fighting? What happens when people are gossiping? What happens when people leave? Every believer here feels the loss. Why? The Church is a body and you are bound to it. We are not only called to suffer when our brother or sisters suffer, we do suffer. You can’t help it. God has wired you to the body through his spirit.

“The body” Paul says, meaning the Church, “is a unit though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body.”

Paul is not speaking about water baptism. We’re not all bound together because we’ve been baptized by water. Look at that again, “For we were all baptized by One Spirit” Water Baptism makes you a member of the visible church, the church you can see. It can also do more. The Anglican Articles of Religion, Article 27 on baptism states that at baptism: “as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed...” But the “instrument” is not instrumental if it is never received “rightly” And how is it received rightly? Faith. Water baptism means nothing, nothing at all, if it is not preceded by faith if you are an adult or followed by faith if you were baptized as a child or infant. If you’ve not surrendered your life to Christ, then you may be a member of visible congregation by virtue of your baptism, but you're not a member of the invisible universal Church, the eternal Body of Christ, which is made up only of those who’ve surrendered themselves to him. It's only when that happens that you’re baptized or indwelled by God's Holy Spirit.

But when it does, you're immediately bound to a new family and it's a whacked out family. Look at the rest of verse 13:

“For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one family.”

The good news of the gospel is that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. And so Jesus’ last words before he ascended into heaven were not that his disciples were to hole up and make nice little white chapels for themselves and hire kindly pastors who'll say nice things every Sunday until they die, but that they should go out into all the world making disciples of all nations. This is why a visible congregation, a local visible manifestation of the universal invisible church if she's doing what she's called to do, should be a strange place, a chaotic place, a changing place. Some congregations specialize in stagnation. Change is uncomfortable so they expend a lot of effort to ensure that no one different comes and that everything stays just how they like it. That is not the New Testament model.

The New testament model for the church is the body and bodies change. The only time the body stops changing is when it's dead and the flesh rots away to the dry bones. The Church, the body of Christ changes too. It changes, but it never dies. The bible never changes, the truth never changes, but body that lives in the truth does.

Why? Because if we're proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ to everyone everywhere then God will add people from every imaginable background and experience to our body and this necessarily means change. If you took a snapshot of this congregation 6 years ago and compared it with the church today, you'd see a completely different body. Same truth, changing body. That’s good. The Church is a living body. If it is not adding members, then it is not changing and if it is not changing then it is dead. Dead things never change because they never grow.

Jesus commissioned his disciples to go out and make more disciples. At first the church was made up only of Jewish Christians. Then God commissioned Paul to preach to the Gentiles. If you think Good Shepherd has changed in the last 6 years, you should've been around back then. God was not content to have Jewish Christians just sit fat and happy in their synagogues. He wanted people from every family language people and nation. He knew very well that that would mean a lot of tension.

I think God has a great sense of humor. If you tried to pick a group of people the Jews despised more than any other, it was the Greeks. And so where does God sent the apostle Paul? To the Greeks and Greeks soon make up the majority of the Church. God loves to bring people into the same body who would otherwise be enemies. He does it on purpose. Not only does it bring him glory, revealing the power of the holy spirit, but I also think he gets a kick out of it. Several times now at Good Shepherd, I’ve seen people get saved and then a year or so later, their worst enemy walks through the door. “Well, Matt, I'm not sure I can come to this church anymore now that so and so is coming. I just can't stand that person and I'm not going to be able to sit in the same building. Its best for me and the church if I go.” I've had lots of conversations like that and if you feel like that this morning about someone here let me say, yes you can. In fact, if that person is a believer, you'd best stay and get used to him now because you're going to be with him forever.

God doesn’t want you to be comfortable in church. He doesn’t want to fluff your pillow. That's not why he puts his people in Congregations. He plants you in a fellowship, in a body, because he wants to make you holy, he wants to turn you and me from selfishness and and self-centeredness to the point where we put him first, others second and ourselves last and part of that means planting us long term in a congregation of people who are different, people who make us uncomfortable, people who are not like us so that we can learn to love, accept and forgive and to be loved, accepted, and forgiven, so that over time we'll learn selflessness and sacrifice and humility, and though we're different over time God will make us one body.

But if you bolt every time someone comes in who makes you uncomfortable, if you leave every time something changes, if you constantly hop around trying find a church full of people who look and act and think just like yourself then not only will you never break free of self-centeredness but you'll never be happy in heaven. Heaven, according to Revelation 5, is made up of “people from every tribe and language and people and nation.” I don't think that heaven will be full of people just like me. I might as well get used to that now.

God tries to ease us into it here on earth so that when we die it won't be all that great of a shock. A congregation that proclaims the gospel everywhere to everyone and makes disciples out of fall who believe will then necessarily be a weird, whacked out changing place with people who dress differently and act differently and talk funny. And naturally there will be a lot of tension. But then God adds to this divine comedy by commanding us to love each other like he loves us. And as we do the small congregation on earth begins to look more and more like the great big congregation in heaven.

Application

Prayer