The Wise Men Were A Long Way Off

Matthew 2:1-4

Christmas Eve Meditation.

Tonight, I am thinking of the wise men and what they mean in this Christmas Story.

I don’t want to burst anybody’s bubble, but I want to talk about the fact that during the night of the Nativity, the Wise Men were actually a long way off.

There are too many miracles to talk about that night. So, I want to focus on the miracle that relates to them.

That night, when Christ was born, God lit up a sign that the whole Northern Hemisphere could see.

A Star appeared above Bethlehem. It had a miraculous quality about it, because it pointed the way to Bethlehem and it signified that a King was born.

As soon as this meditation is over, we are going to hear the music to my favorite Christmas Carol: O Holy Night.

The 2nd verse says, “Led by the light, of faith serenely shining…” and then it segues to “…a star gleaming…” and then “…here come the wise men…”

The implication is that on this Holy Night, the wise men appeared.

But on that night, they were a long way off.

They saw the star. So what did they do first? The next day they got out the ancient books that told them about the signs in the heavens. They probably found a piece of writing from the Prophet Daniel that told of a star appearing the night that the King of Kings would be born.

Then they have to plan a trip across a desert, they have to provision themselves, they have to open up the treasury and pick out gifts for this newborn King.

They make the journey across the desert, by now, it is a month, maybe two, maybe a whole year. And since they know that a King is born, they don’t go to Bethlehem, to a manger in a stable, but instead they go to nearby Jerusalem, to Herod the King and ask him to see his new child.

Herod is shocked, no child is born to his home but he puts on a front. He asks them when did the star appear? And they indicate that it was less than two years ago. But by the time they get there, that holy night had passed somewhere from a month, to two years before.

When the star appeared the wise men were a long way off.

And it wasn’t merely distance that had separated them.

They were far apart in so many ways.

But they came. Why?

What strange force brought them there?

Just like every culture, we believe that what we do in our culture is the best way to do things.

To worship this King, they not only had to cross geographical boundaries, but also the distance in religion, philosophy, ideology, and economics.

They gave that up, in order to worship something new to them.

They crossed the boundary of their faith, their culture, their society and the core of their beliefs.

They came a long way.

And that is wonderful. How did they know? No one really knows, but I suspect that they actually came from the area that was once Babylon and they read the writings of the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel. But they could have come from as far away as India, or China.

Somewhere, in that completely different culture, God left a witness to Himself and the coming of Jesus.

God overcame that obstacle in order to lead them to His Christ.

And they were willing to follow.

So the song says, “Led by the light of FAITH…” I would have thought that it would say led by the light of the star.

But these men overcame their differences in order to come.

To me, it shows the global nature of God’s redemption. God apparently didn’t care that they were pagans; He lit a light in the sky to draw not only the Jewish people to Jesus, but also to everyone, everywhere.

That is why the angels said: “This is good news for everyone” as Eugene Peterson puts it in the message: “Everyone, worldwide.”

Kathy and mom outdid themselves this year decorating the inside of our home for the holidays. The mantle has an angel overlooking it, with gold and silver ribbon, a Christmas spray that we bought here at the bazaar, with white, gold and maroon candles. The base of the fireplace is decorated with our own collection of nativity sets. It is very beautiful.

But mom was also thinking about the distance between the wise men and the Jewish people and how God made it clear in the nativity story that God was investing in the time and energy to reach out to the entire world.

Because sometimes, we can be right next door to someone and still be a long ways away. The geographical distance between the Wise men and the nativity was not as big as the other differences. And those differences can be just as great with a next door neighbor.

So, on the mantle, mom put a Menorah. She put it there because she has befriended out next door neighbor, a sweet, charming, intelligent, funny Jewish woman.

God bridged the gap between Himself and humankind when He came to earth as Jesus. He also bridged the gap between people groups who have at times been bitter enemies. God reached out and made the effort.

So the song says that the wise men were led by the light of faith. God gave that light of faith to draw everyone to Jesus. It is different in different cultures and if we can appreciate that difference, we can experience that peace He talked about.

Mom reached out and made the same effort with our neighbor.

Jesus truly is “the Prince of Peace.”

Let His peace reign in you as well.

What IS Faith, Anyway?

Text: Luke 1:39-55

Focus: Faith

Function: To call people to believe in Jesus.

Form: Storytelling

Intro:

It’s Christmas! Praise the Lord!

2000 years ago, God became a man and walked among us.

We look back through history and read these stories, some that are so incredible that they almost seem too hard to believe.

An Old woman gets pregnant by an old man, and a young woman, a virgin, gets pregnant and she knew no man.

(SHOW) The Christmas story is incredible.

It is incredible! It is incredible to the point that some people refuse to believe it.

They say: “perhaps the story was embellished until what was ordinary became what some people call a miracle.”

I believe that Jesus was born exactly as the Scripture says He was. I believe that He walked the earth doing all kinds of miracles and demonstrating incredible mercy to everyone.

I believe that after He did the Father’s work by giving us a visual image of how people are to live and treat each other, He did work on behalf of humanity and offered His life as a sacrifice for our sins.

I believe that He rose from the dead 3 days later to prove to us that the sting of sin, death, no longer has power over anyone who trusts Him.

I don’t believe it is just a story that was made up.

I know it to be true because when I prayed and asked Him to forgive my sins and come into my heart, I felt Him enter.

I believe it all.

And the fact that it happened 2,000 years ago makes it easier, not harder, for me to believe.

What if it were today? What if one of our young virgins suddenly and miraculously became pregnant? What if one of our older women suddenly and miraculously became pregnant?

What if it happened right here, right now?

I would have a hard time believing that it was happening to us, to me.

(SHOW) It is hard for us to believe that it has happened for us also.

I think of the greatness of God, and I think that that mercy, blessing, treasure could happen, but to me? But to us?

Their faith is expressed in the way they greeted each other.

They were ordinary women, just like us.

(SHOW) This miracle happened to ordinary people.

They weren’t famous, special, rock stars, sports heroes, actresses or nobility. They were nobodies and the most crucial event in history happened with them.

And they believed it.

They believed it was happening to them!

Elisabeth’s husband didn’t believe, and was struck dumb for 9 months –he couldn’t speak.

But Mary, Mary, treasured these words in her heart and gave herself over to the will of God.

There was only one person who could understand what she was going through. That was her wiser, older cousin.

So she visited and as soon as they met, another miracle happened.

Elisabeth, who was three months farther along in her pregnancy than Mary felt the baby leap for joy as soon as she heard Mary’s voice.

Then Elisabeth knew that the miracle was true.

And so they greet each other.

And this isn’t an ordinary greeting.

Elisabeth starts crying out in joy when she greets Mary!

I can picture it: the first thing that happens is Mary’s shock that this old woman was shouting out these words.

But it doesn’t scare her, as a matter of fact; Mary’s response is just as strange.

Mary answers her shout with a song: “The Magnificent.”

She sings this song about how God has pleased Himself with doing this miracle on someone who is insignificant, who is not a star, or a rich and important person. She sings this song about how this proves that God’s care, God’s family, extends to everyone.

She sings a song of faith in the mercy of God.

She sings a song about God coming to the least, the poorest, the most despised of humanity. God comes for everyone.

She understands that the reason she is chosen is because God does not give conditions of grace based on the popularity, power, success, good looks, education or wealth of any single person.

(SHOW) EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

She understands it and she believes it.

She believes that God loves her.

I go to the mall at Christmas time to do my shopping and I see the faces of people, and oftentimes I just smile because I see the people, regardless of wealth, skin color, education, good looks or whatever that Jesus came to save. When I am praying about it, I see them as individuals that Jesus loves.

It is easy to hope and trust in the fact that God cares for ALL OF MANKIND it is harder to trust that you, I, the individual, are special.

Mary and Elisabeth demonstrate great faith.

Faith. (SHOW) What is faith?

The author of Pumpkin Patch ministries says it like this:

(SHOW) Faith is reliance

"Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished."

He said: “For many years I had a problem with the word `faith’. I was never quite sure what it meant. Even to this day believers will speak of faith as if it were a divine quality of perfect trust. It is claimed that a person who possess this spiritual gift is able to accept God and his word without any doubts. I think it was this type of view that confused me, and I suspect that it confuses many others as well.

(SHOW) Faith is not “doubt-free” acceptance.

“If faith is a doubt-free acceptance of Jesus and of his word, then I don't have it. I often have doubts, I wonder about it all, I question the ground of my being. So, my faith is certainly not doubt-free.”

(SHOW) Faith is not just a “good bet.”

He says: “The other extreme is to see faith in Jesus as if it is a good bet. Having considered all the options in life, we take a punt on Jesus. I mean, if we are wrong we lose nothing, but if we are right we gain everything. Jesus is certainly a good bet, but the bet is not faith.

(SHOW) Faith is reliance on the revealed will of God.

“Elizabeth declares that Mary is blessed, not because she is somehow more spiritual, righteous, even sinless, but because she believes what God said. She went with what she was told, along with all her doubts, fears and questions. This reliance on God's word, this sticking to it, this firm resting on it, is what the Bible means by faith. Such a faith is saving faith. Faith is relying on what we hope "will be accomplished" in Christ our Lord.”

And it is personal. I don’t have all the answers, but I do understand something that is wonderful.

(SHOW) Jesus not only came for the masses of humanity, but He came for me and you.

CONCL:

Do you accept Him?

There is More to Christmas Than Hope!

Text: Luke 3:1-17

Focus: Repentance

Function: To help people see the justice of holiness instead of the sin of consumerism.

Form: Storytelling

Intro:

You know the story of how Mary went to see her cousin Elizabeth when she was pregnant.

• God sent her to see her. The two cousins were very far apart in age. Elizabeth was in her 80’s and Mary was somewhere between 14 and 18.
• God sent her to encourage her and God sent her to protect her from the gossip that people will automatically do when they have a reason to believe that there is a scandal.
• They both knew that what was happening to them was a miracle.
• God sent Mary to Elizabeth, a wise older Godly woman who gave her council, moral support and encouragement.
• It is a great picture of how things happen in the Church. It is a great picture of how things happen here at Bear Creek.

(SHOW) The story of John the Baptist.

So, Cousin Elizabeth has a baby boy born 3 months before Jesus is born. John the Baptist is what he is called.

He starts his ministry about a year before Jesus starts His ministry.

But John goes about it in an odd way.

He moves into the desert, joins a group called: “The Essenes” and lives a simple, sort of monastic lifestyle. Actually, the Essenes were this group of Jewish believers who believed in simple living. They sort of correlate to modern day Amish.

Most people think they are quaint, and odd. Most people notice an Amish buggy when it drives by, or they notice an Amish couple in the store. Because they are odd, they make great characters for movies.

But the thing is, because they are different, they are noticed.

And John the Baptist gets noticed. All of a sudden, God’s Holy Spirit comes inside of him and he starts preaching out in the desert.

And the odd thing is, people start leaving the comfort and security of the town, to go out into the desert and bear the heat to listen to this guy preach.

He becomes a phenomena. Everybody starts talking about him.

(SHOW) John’s message is a hard word of self-denial, repentance and the coming judgment of God.

It is not a message of hope.

And yet, this story of John the Baptist is included in scripture right along with the rest of the Christmas story.

What do we learn from that?

(SHOW) There is more to Christmas than hope.

That is a weird statement. It is a little shocking. The intent is to get our attention and consider what he is actually saying. I want to break down the real message, the way John the Baptist gets into the heads and the hearts of the people who flocking to hear him.

I would read this passage, especially when I was growing up and hear about repentance, listen to him calling them “a bunch of snakes,” and hear the words about the axe being laid at the base of the tree and the tree being cut down and thrown into the fire.

And then he says, that people aren’t born into faith, being part of a family that worships God doesn’t mean that you are automatically Jewish or Christian.

John is yelling at them and telling them to not act like they are godly, but to truly be godly.

And I have heard a lot of sermons about that concept. I would, and do, squirm in my seat and think about that bad thought I had, the way I leered -for a moment- at someone different from my wife, the way I laughed at a cruel or dirty joke. I would squirm when I haven’t succeeded in resisting sin, or harboring a grudge against someone, or listening to gossip, or worse, spreading gossip.

And the fear that I was not actually repentant would fill my mind and I would live in fear that somehow, after trying so hard to be a Christian, I would be one of the ones who was condemned.

And I want to make sure that this kind of preaching stays true to the scripture and honors the grace and hope freely given us by Jesus. That hope we celebrate at Christmas.

Because if that preaching merely uses fear, or misdirects holiness to some false standard of what it means to be righteous, then it is condemned in scripture.

Paul said, if anyone preaches a gospel different that what you first heard, they should be condemned for lying about God’s Word.

It was a problem then, and it is a problem now. Paul talks about it quite a bit in the book of 2 Corinthians. The church’s faith has been corrupted by preachers who claim a false authority, put them back into the bondage of legalism and keeps their focus off of Jesus and the things that Jesus preached as important.

At one point he points to preachers who falsify the moving of the Holy Spirit with mere preaching tricks that are designed to stir up emotion, mainly anger, as a substitute for the work of the Holy Spirit.

It is like they know how to feed on people who are so covered in shame that they submit themselves to abuse from the clergy.

Look at this verse: (SHOW) 2 Corinthians 11:20 You are even patient with those who order you around, or use you, or trick you, or think they are better than you, or hit you in the face.

Some people are attracted to that kind of preaching. And hopefully you are thinking, “Pastor, you seem to be getting off the subject of Christmas.”

I am not. I want to keep us focused on the true gospel and remember that there is more to Christmas than hope.

The more: John the Baptist is talking about  repentance.

(SHOW) Accepting and receiving Christ includes the necessary act of repenting.

Now, I am not about to stoop to the level of those charlatan preachers who know how to manipulate a crowd by shaming them.

That is not the way the Holy Spirit works.

But I do want to preach about repentance today.

To sincerely celebrate Christmas, to sincerely practice the Christian faith means that we become a people who have been changed by God. We make the choice to live our lives the way Jesus taught us instead of the way we were used to living.

(SHOW) Repentance is choosing to live the way Jesus taught us to live instead of the way culture teaches us to live.

Now John the Baptist’s sermons are more than what I do. John the Baptist was a prophet. He didn’t sit down and write it out, look up bible texts to make sure he is staying true to God’s word. He didn’t add his flavor, personality or even his own stories to illustrate his points.

He didn’t preach sermons. He spoke under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

So, when he called out the crowd for its insincerity, he wasn’t judging them with his own opinion or theology. No. God was speaking to them through him.

This isn’t the phenomena of those crowds that listen to preachers who shame and abuse them that I mentioned earlier.

These aren’t sick people who like to be abused.

These people are compelled to hear his words.

It isn’t emotional trickery. God’s Holy Spirit is burning these words into their heart.

John institutes a whole new practice for those ancient believers. He baptizes them. There is nothing in the OT scriptures that command baptism. It is merely hinted at in a couple of places.

And the people are flocking to him.

And God shows him that some of them are not sincere.

So here he is, the prophet who has captured the imagination of the whole nation. Many hear his message, repent and are baptized as a symbol of their repentance and commitment to actually live the Christian life.

(SHOW) The message of repentance is included in the Christmas story.

But because he is popular, another large crowd wants to look like the rest of them.

They are insincerely getting baptized.

• And God is calling them out.
• And they hear him.
• The word convinces, convicts them of their hypocrisy.

And in humility and sincerity, they simply ask him: (SHOW) “What is genuine repentance?”

If he preached that today, the crowd would cry out: “How do you know we aren’t sincere?”

Now I mentioned that repentance is changing your life to live the life that Jesus taught us. It means we turn away from sin and obey God.

And I am fascinated by the four specific things that John says.

Two of the things he says are to the whole crowd and then two things are to specific groups.

He isn’t outlining 4 rules as if that is all that is required, but his answers, both to everyone and to the two groups, explain the spirit of mercy behind true repentance. (repeat)

So, what does he say?

(SHOW) To everyone he says: if you have two coats, give one away to a poor person. If you have extra food, give it to a poor person.”

I have seven coats. Hmmm.

Remember, he is painting a picture of what repentance, righteousness, godliness, and true faith looks like.

He doesn’t say “go to church every Sunday, pay your tithe, sing the hymns, and stop cussing.”

These people were already doing that.

In all of his statements, (SHOW) His description of repentance has to do with their generosity, mercy and honesty.

The specific sin that he is talking about here that the people need to repent from is hoarding.

The warning is clear; the axe is laid at the tree to be burned in a fire.

Apparently, this is a big thing to God.

I was listening to “the Story” on NPR last Wednesday. A woman who grew up in Bulgaria was telling how before the Berlin wall came down; they would get up at 5 in the morning and get in lines at the local grocery stores. The whole family would go to different stores and wait until the stores opened at 8:00 in the hope that they would be able to purchase milk and bread.

She said that the people in line weren’t nice. Once the store opened, nobody was polite because it was a matter of survival.

I thought about those people waiting in line for survival and Black Friday here in America.

I know for many it is fun, and I am not going to condemn it. People can save a lot of money.

But let me change the title of the sermon a minute to put this statement into perspective: (SHOW) “There is more to Christmas than presents.”

Now, two weeks ago we saw that there is a good theology around the tradition of presents as it reflects the example of Saint Nicholas and God’s own gift to us in Jesus.

But John the Baptist is getting to the heart of people and saying, there is more to life than material things.

The next two items he mentions have to do with the way we do our work.

The first two were about generosity and mercy.

The second two are about mercy and honesty.

Mercy is included in both answers.

He answers the question from two specific groups. These groups were the ones that everyone else used to feel good about themselves by looking down on them as being terrible sinners.

The tax collectors and the Roman soldiers.

He tells the tax collectors to be completely honest and don’t cheat anyone. After all, the tax collector could fudge the numbers and make people pay more, pocket the difference. And if they refused, well, there was the Roman soldier standing there with his sword.

He explains this principle: (SHOW) A Christian society makes sure everyone gets a chance.

To the Roman soldiers: He doesn’t tell them to put away their swords and change professions. I am kind of surprised by that.

But he does tell them to be content, not to be cruel and to treat everyone else like they are human as well.

I wish John the Baptist could step into both houses of Congress these days and speak to the mean-spirited rhetoric that is going on.

He can’t but we can speak to our neighbors about what it means to be righteous and just. We can do it by example

John could remind them that “the axe is laid at the tree and God cares about how we as people live in relationship to generosity, mercy and honesty.”

So what do we do? Let us resolve to let the true Spirit of giving, generosity and hope be ours the whole year, not just the Christmas season.

For Unto US a Savior is Born!

Text: Isaiah 64:1-10

Focus: Our need for The Savior

Function: The gospel message.

Form: Storytelling

Intro:

I love the Messiah by Handel. The way God inspired Handel to weave together all those voices in different parts into such a beautiful harmony with, at 2:26 seconds into it, every thing stops very briefly for the trumpet. And then, in the last chord, if you are singing bass, you get to match the sopranos with this really deep bass note. But right before that, one preacher friend of mine describes it as “the pregnant pause” at the end of the Hallelujah chorus, where for one beat; everyone is silent and then the climax at the end. It is beautiful. The Hallelujah chorus is the most popular piece of the Messiah, but I also love the song, “For Unto Us a Child is Born.” It is a song describing the mystery of God’s plan to come to earth as a baby.

Today, we are going to look at that plan, but I want to change the title of the song that describes the mystery and say: (SHOW) “For unto US a Savior is born.”

Keeping with the theme of music, the scripture this morning is actually a song written by Isaiah. God inspired him to write these words and they are exactly what God intended to be written. But the inspiration of the Scripture is not some sort of automatic writing. The author’s personality, his human condition is also expressed in a genuine way through the writings of the scriptures.

Isaiah is writing this as he is asking God a question. He seems desperate for some help and some wisdom about the future. He is wrestling with his own theology, his own understanding of God. God answers him.

So, he begins this part of the song which actually starts in chapter 63 with a suggestion for God as a possible means to increase God’s popularity.

Imagine that: “God I got an idea for you!”

God’s people have turned their back on God. Isaiah figures that if God just “shows up” then they will believe and repent

He suggests that God demonstrates His power in an awesome way: Fire, Earthquake, Thunder. He wants God to “prove Himself.”

As if!

He doesn’t get an answer from God so: He comes to the conclusion that God will only show up on behalf of good people.

(SHOW) Does God only prove Himself on behalf of good people?

There is a problem with his theology at this point. The people need hope and they figure that God is too angry with them to give aid.

Here is the scripture from the text: (SHOW) “You meet those who happily do what is right, who keep a good memory of the way you work.”

The implication is that God ONLY meets…

This theology is a big part of the book of Job. Job’s friends believed that God couldn’t be “just being God” and allowing this to happen to Job. They have these rules, this set of regulations that God must follow. In that set of rules, only the wicked get punished and only the good are fortunate and prosper.

They have convinced themselves that the spectacular destruction of Job was divine intervention given to prove that he was evil.

So, almost the whole book is them explaining this to Job with the intention of wrestling a confession out of him.

(SHOW) By faith, we believe that the Good (God) will ultimately triumph over evil.

So, to these friends, their conclusions about God seem to make sense. It seems to be fair. People need that to be true to feel secure.

But we also know that the rain and the sun fall on both evil and good people.

And in the song, Isaiah comes around to a more accurate conclusion about God.

(SHOW) But how angry you've been with us! We've sinned and kept at it so long! Is there any hope for us? Can we be saved? We're all sin-infected, sin-contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags.

This passage is repeated several times in the New Testament.

So, Isaiah concludes that the problem must be that there is not a single righteous person in Jerusalem.

He says, every one of us has gone astray, all of us have sinned.

But then, it seems as if his understanding gets bigger.

He begins to think about the terrible power of God expressed in the first few verses and he comes to an important conclusion: Every one actually is a sinner. All have sinned. Even good people, compared to God’s perfection, even their best deeds and most noble accomplishments pale in contradiction to God’s purity.

In theology we say, it isn’t that God doesn’t want sinners in His presence, but His majesty is so great, sin must flee away.

Job finally experiences this. He is innocent of what his friends have accused him of. But when God finally does answer him, and HE sees God’s glory, he, the innocent man, says that compared to God, he is but a worm.

So here we are: People who are in trouble. And the prophet, God’s messenger is thinking to himself, if only God would pull off one of His mighty stunts to demonstrate His glorious power, things would be set to right.

The prophet thinks that if God does something fantastic, people will be awestruck, repent, and the nation will be saved.

But then he realizes that he too, even though he is the prophet of the only True God is a man full of sin. He points the finger back at himself.

His theology isn’t like Jonathan Edward’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

(SHOW) Isaiah never sees God as merely an angry dictator of the celestial highways.

He knows who God really is. He knows that God is the God of mercy and that His mercy always wins out over His judgment.

He knows that He is the kind of God that people can serve and love.

No. Isaiah 55, one of my most favorite passages, (SHOW) “1-2 "Hey there! All who are thirsty, come to the water! Are you penniless? Come anyway—buy and eat! Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk. Buy without money—everything's free!

He has this image of God, opening up His hands and giving it all away.

It’s a Christmas image.

So, Isaiah wants God to show up in a mighty powerful way and save His people.

But he realizes that it isn’t going to happen that way. He is aware of his sin and the sin of his fellow countrymen.

And so, (SHOW) he asks God this question: Can anyone be saved?

Now, let us flash forward 530 or so years to the nativity.

The people of Israel are still holding on to these promises God made through the prophet Isaiah.

And the prophet Daniel comes along 25 to 30 or so years after Isaiah and God also gives him a message and it is very specific. He tells them that in 483 years, God will indeed come again and establish His kingdom.

The Jewish people are holding on to this prophecy and it is fulfilled one lonely night, on a hillside, in a cattle barn, in a little village, with two simple people, a few poor shepherds and a whole chorus of angels.

Remember Isaiah desiring that God would show up with fantastic, majestic, glorious power to prove Himself to people who had abandoned faith in Him?

There are no flashes of lightning, no peals of thunder, no earthquakes or violent winds.

This is a glorious event though, the only time it has ever been reported and probably the only time it has ever occurred in the history of humanity. The Angels make a chorus and they proclaim Jesus birth.

But the fanfare, the “wow stuff” that God did when He brought the nation Israel out of Egypt is missing from the nativity.

Isaiah’s desire for a powerful show is missing from the nativity.

God does come to humanity. But instead of coming in that kind of power and might, He chooses to come as a baby in a manger.

Isaiah loves God and is His witness to a people who have forgotten to worship God anymore.

But Isaiah’s plan for God to reveal Himself in awesome power doesn’t come to pass.

Even at the actual coming of the Savior, the whole event is clouded in relative obscurity.

(SHOW) The only ones who witnessed the “wow stuff” that God can do are a few shepherds, and Joseph and Mary.

Why the contrast? We know from prophecy that Jesus is coming again. We know that then He will flash across the whole earth in a moment and that every eye will see Him.

We know that when that happens, the last trumpet of God will sound out. Everyone will hear it. God is going to do it.

His second coming will be like the one Isaiah hoped the first coming would be.

Why the contrast? Why a baby? Why not show off His awesome might?

Look at the text, I think we see why here (SHOW): ^8-9Still, God, you are our Father. We're the clay and you're our potter: All of us are what you made us. Don't be too angry with us, O God. Don't keep a permanent account of wrongdoing. Keep in mind, please, we are your people—all of us.

God, you are our Father. And, since He is the potter and we are the clay, He is sovereign.

All the way through this poem, the prophet under divine revelation from God pleads the case of humanity’s brokenness.

And He suggests how God could prove Himself.

God hears his prayer, but God answers in a much better way.

(SHOW) God does come. God does show up. But God doesn’t show off.

It is a momentous event. I have a friend who converted from being a minister in the Jehovah Witness’s church to receive Jesus as God, the Savior.

I am not going to bash Jehovah Witnesses here. As a Jehovah Witness, he was a good man. He was well disciplined, hard working and sincere about his faith.

He was like the people that Isaiah first talks about, when Isaiah said, “God only comes to good people.”

There are a lot of ways that Christianity has been mixed with something different than the gospel.

Most of those ways involve a religious system where humanity has to earn their salvation by their own works instead of the mercy of God.

So, upon the leaving of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses and joining the Beech Grove Church of the Brethren, he got to celebrate Christmas for the first time.

At first, he struggled with it because he had been told that it was merely a mutation of the pagan festival of winter solstice and it had its origins in witchcraft. He said: “It isn’t commanded anywhere in the bible.”

Technically he’s right. But, (SHOW) When Jesus comes on the scene, when Jesus comes into a heart; His promise is to re-create everything. When He saves us, He makes us new.

Jesus was making everything new for him. He was leery at first, and as the one who brought Him to believing in Jesus as God the Savior, I pointed to the nativity. I showed him that this indeed was a celebration worthy of a chorus of Angels. As far as we know, it is the only time God has done that. So, since it isn’t commanded not to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and the first Christmas was heralded by a band of angels, our Christmas celebrations, when focused on Jesus are genuine acts of worship.

And the guy responds by directing our Christmas play. He wept for joy at the meaning of the nativity and God’s plan to come to earth as a baby instead of coming in fearful majesty.

This man went through exactly what Isaiah does in this song. He first believed that God was hard, unsympathetic to human sinfulness and brokenness. His believed that God was indeed an angry God. And this man wept for joy when he understood that grace shown in the nativity.

(SHOW) We need a savior. We cannot save ourselves.

The best of us are nothing compared to God.

Isaiah makes it clear: We need salvation.

We need God to come and save us.

We need our hope restored.

And God didn’t come in terror, but He came as a baby. He didn’t want to scare us away!

That last verse: “God you are our Father” is so well illustrated in the nativity. God’s family is expressed. God’s humility is expressed. God’s mercy is expressed. God’s honor and love for humanity is expressed. God’s ability to understand just how hard it is for us to struggle against sin, disappointment, disease and oppression is proven in the nativity.

Isaiah begs for a Savior. And God gives him just what he begs for.

Only, God does it in a way that proves His mercy, love, compassion and willingness to heal and forgive us.

(SHOW) God remembers us. 500 or so years after Isaiah’s song is written, Christ is born!

And He saved us. Do you trust in Him?

Stand Up! Raise Your Heads!

Text: Luke 21:25-36

Focus: Advent preparation

Function: To help people embrace Christ instead of materialism this Christmas.

Form: GOK

Intro:

I can’t believe it is the first Sunday in Advent already! It always seems that I just get done remembering that the year is 2009 when all of a sudden, I have to get a 2010 Calendar.

Remember how long it took for Christmas to come every year? It seemed like forever. I have a theory about that, because it comes quicker and quicker every year. The older I get, the longer I have lived, the less of a percentage one year has is my life.

When I was 5 and waiting for Christmas, a year was one whole 5^th of my life. That was a long time.

But now that I am 52, that year between Christmases will be 1/52 of my life. So, the way that time feels between it is less of a chunk and so it feels like it comes quicker and quicker each year.

As those years pass by, and family holidays seem to measure the true successes of life, one begins to wonder about the future.

(SHOW) What about the future?

It is in the context of that, at Christmas time, that I want to look at this scripture.

That is exactly what Jesus is talking about to His disciples. He has just explained to them a prophecy that would soon be fulfilled. It actually happened in 70 AD. He tells them that this generation; those who heard His voice right then will not pass away.

And it happens just as He said it would. Before that generation passed away, before 40 years were up, Jerusalem was destroyed. The Romans had a particular policy: “When agreements are broken, punishments must be severe!”

The Temple was destroyed; almost all of the inhabitants were tortured to death. But before he destroyed the Temple, in order to offend the Jewish people, Antiochus, the Roman commander sacrificed a pig, which was an unclean animal according to the Jewish Kosher regulations.

Maybe you are thinking, Pastor, this is the first Sunday of Advent, it’s Christmas time, (SHOW) isn’t this a time for hope?

I want to preach about hope out of the midst of despair.

Jesus is warning God’s people about the coming destruction against them by the Roman Empire.

And He gives them a way to understand its approach. He illustrates it with the fig tree.

(SHOW FIG TREE)

He tells them this coming destruction will be just as obvious in its approach as the way trees grow buds, develop leaves and then the leaves begin to fall and the fruit ripens.

One preacher I read said it this way: “On the first day of advent, my Savior gave to me: A Parable about a Fig tree.”

It’s about looking for signs of His coming.

(SHOW) Advent is a time for us to look at the symbols of our own hope.

When we conclude this worship service, we will be sharing in the greatest symbol, the bread and the cup.

But we light the candles. The culture begins decorating their houses. The whole community adorns itself with bright lights, brilliant colors and greetings of good will, happiness and peace.

(SHOW beautiful Christmas scene)

We love Christmas because all of these signs build that expectation for the great day.

And every year, we hope for something wonderful.

The children hope they get the perfect present that they think will make them happy.

The parents can’t wait to give the perfect present that they think will make their children happy.

During the meal we hope. We hope the conversation will be happy. We hope the love expressed between family members will fill our hearts with this sense of peace.

So, I am struck by something in this passage.

Jesus is talking about this time of suffering that is coming on God’s people.

And this is a difficult Christmas financially for many people.

That first Christmas after my daddy died was hard to endure without his loving presence.

The presents, sometimes they brought joy, sometimes, they were a disappointment.

In the long run, the material things did not bring any real happiness at all.

Things do not make us happy.

Christmas has become the make it or break it indicator of our whole economy. It is the one thing retailers count on. It is the one thing manufactories count on in order to survive.

And at the beginning of this passage, right after He tells them of hard times, right before He tells them to look for the signs, almost in parentheses He gives a command to God’s people.

This is a command for those who trust in Jesus.

He says: (SHOW) Stand Up! Raise Your Heads!

I was struck by a scene from the Movie Schindler’s List.

The Jewish people again are subject to this kind of terror and persecution and a father is trying to communicate to his wife and children who are in another part of the camp when all of a sudden the commandant comes trotting by on his horse.

The people all stand and then bow their heads and avert their eyes. The commandant believes it is out of respect for his power, but the people know it is out of fear. If they don’t make eye contact with him, they won’t draw attention to themselves and that would be the safest way to avoid his cruelty.

But God, in the midst of this terror says to His people: “Stand up! Raise you heads!”

Why? Because God’s (SHOW) redemption is coming!

Matthew, Mark and Luke all record this sermon as Jesus is telling them not only of the coming destruction by the Roman imperials, but also of His own second coming.

His command: “Look Up…” is a command to keep our eyes focused on Him and have faith.

When He tells us His redemption is coming, He is telling us that God is coming to set things right. So trust Him. Look to Him.

He is telling us that His Kingdom will reign.

And the Kingdom of God is not a nationality, it isn’t America, it isn’t wealth or human power, but it His peace. This is a peace that reigns in spite of any circumstance.

I have to remind myself that the gift giving is an expression of love and can be a beautiful thing. But behind it all is His Love.

The decorations give us a chance to feel that warm fuzzy feeling at home, they make each and every house a place where a family loves and cares for each other. It is a good thing.

But I have to remember that (SHOW) Jesus makes this possible.

That command, raise my head and look for Jesus in Advent inspires me. It is a call to keep our faith in Jesus –good times or bad.

There was a great Christian who was very wealthy. He was educated enough to read, and rich enough to own a copy of scripture since before the printing press all books were copied by hand and expensive.

He began reading the gospels and was overwhelmed by all the passages where Jesus spoke about caring for the poor.

So he, on Christmas Eve, over the course of the next few years gave all of his wealth away by buying presents for poor families and leaving them at their houses.

His acts of generosity and example to other Christians became so widely known that the Church declared him to be a Saint.

You know Him, Saint Nicholas. We know him better by a Spanish rendition of his name: Santa Claus. He started the tradition of giving at Christmas.

Mary Taynor visited with me last Tuesday. She told me she had an image in her mind while she was praying. She had this picture of Santa Claus bowing at the manger, worshipping Jesus.

(SHOW Santa kneeling picture)

I think of how important the materialism of Christmas is to our economy and the fact that our economy needs a boost.

And I pray that retailers do well this year.

But I have to remind myself of something very important.

Jesus told God’s people, in the midst of Crisis, look up! Raise you heads! Look for Jesus!

Unfortunately, Santa Claus has become something different than this wonderful Christian saint. He has become the symbol of the materialism of Christmas. He is a necessary part of marketing.

But as I was thinking about that, I had this picture in my mind as well: Santa Claus bowing at the manger, worshipping Jesus.

I had this image of Christmas being first and foremost a time of worship about Christ Jesus who came to Bethlehem as a baby

We are reminded this first Sunday of Advent to look up, to look for Jesus for He is coming again.

Jesus reminds us to look up and focus on Him, no matter what, good time and bad. Actually He warns us: (From “The Message”)

(SHOW) "But be on your guard. Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for it's going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once.

We are reminded that it isn’t just about the gifts, the meals and the decorations. Those things are there to point to the most important thing. Jesus

Invitation:

Jesus said: That day will come like a trap on everyone.

This is serious stuff, it is important that we keep our heads looking up for Him.

Are You Like the One?

Text: Luke 17:11-19

Focus: Gratitude

Function: To help people see the ease with which we can forget gratitude.

Form: Story-telling

Intro:

I have a friend, a medical doctor who lives very simply. He dresses in old clothes that show signs of wear. He drives a diesel Volkswagen Rabbit that is older than John Hepner’s pickup. He has a modest apartment in Brethren Village, in Lititz PA. I used to work for a building company that supplies material to FORUM group. FORUM group was a retirement community that specialized in luxurious retirement living. They were the kind of place that only the wealthy people could afford. Retired Doctors and wealthy businessmen were their clientele.

But this doctor friend of mine would have never been able to afford such luxury and the reason is bears mentioning. He was a Brethren missionary, a medical doctor to India. At one time, Dr. Pfaltzgraff was considered one of the world’s renowned authorities on the dreaded disease of leprosy.

Leprosy, the dreaded skin disease of the bible. It was the Cancer, or the HIV of the times. There was no cure and if you got it, your life was ruined.

(SHOW) Leprosy was feared then, like Cancer or HIV is feared today.

The OT law said, if a spot occurred on your hand, or a lock of your hair, and the scalp underneath it suddenly turned white, you had to be evaluated by the priest.

After one week, if the spot disappeared, you were safe, but if it remained you had separate yourself from everyone you know and loved.

Lepers had to leave town. They had to wear ragged clothes so that they stuck out. They had to cover their mouths with a rag so that they couldn’t breathe on anybody. Whenever they saw a healthy person, they had to cry out that they were unclean so that people would avoid them. They could never hug their wives, husbands or children anymore. As a sign of their condition, they had to let their hair grow wild. They joined a community of people like them and watched each other as the disease caused fingers to fall off, and patches of skin to rot away and death.

By crying: “Unclean! Unclean!” they signified that there was something wrong with them. The culture assumed that their disease was a punishment from God because they had some terrible moral transgression in their lives.

The only way they could live was to depend on the mercy of others.

This group of 10 lepers were living on the fringe of their cultures. (SHOW map)

They lived right between Samaria and Galilee. You probably know that the Samaritans were hated by the Jews. It was purely a case of racial prejudice. Often, the Jewish people would cross the lake, walk down the East side of the Jordan River just to get to Jerusalem.

But not Jesus. Jesus always traveled through this land and loved these people.

So here are these 10 lepers, living in a community. 9 of them are Jewish and 1 of them is Samaritan. Their common suffering has brought them together.

And it is interesting that Jesus and His followers are even near them. This is the deserted place. It almost seems as if Jesus has chosen this route in order to have this divine appointment with them.

And remember, Lepers depended on mercy.

Their pleas and cries to Jesus are repeated: (SHOW) Keeping their distance, ¹³they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

Master, give me mercy. What a great prayer! It moves the heart of Jesus.

They probably know about Him. Earlier, Jesus touched a man with leprosy and the man was made immediately well.

This isn’t just them begging for food, but they are begging for a miracle.

They recognize who He is. Master! They cry.

Now Jesus is in a crowd of people. They are on the outskirts of a small village. The lepers know the law, they keep their distance. And Jesus, instead of going up to them, or inviting them into the circle of friends and onlookers merely answers them with a word.

Let me foreshadow the sermon a bit here, the real lesson in this is for the crowd, not the lepers.

I imagine He has to shout it back to them. “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

You probably know why He said this. Remember, if after one week the spot was gone, the person showed themselves to the priest and the priest pronounced them clean.

Jesus is telling them to show themselves to the priest.

Now, I am preaching on gratitude this morning and how much it is a part of our relationship with God.

And I want to say: (SHOW) Your singing, your giving, your sharing of testimonies, your participation in worship is a regular, ongoing chance to express your gratitude to God.

But, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk a moment about the faith exercised in this miracle.

Jesus instantly healed the earlier leper by touching him. I imagine these lepers were expecting the same: an instant healing.

But instead, He tells them to go, to start walking, to take steps of faith.

And the text says: (SHOW) “As they went, they were healed.”

Picture it, 1^st one step and nothing has changed. Then another step, it all seems the same. Then a 3^rd step and someone notices a little bit more energy. Then a 4^th step, someone else notices energy. Their spirits are lifted up and as they continue their journey to the local priest, they find themselves, gradually, step by step, getting better.

(SHOW) Sometimes, after we pray, we have to take action steps in faith.

10 lepers are healed. 9 are Jewish, one is a dreaded Samaritan. They were accused of being people who had muddied both race and religion with foreign wives and practices. They weren’t “pure” like the rest of the Jews.

But the 9 take the miracle for granted and return home.

Only the one, the one accused of being a pagan infidel expresses true, living, undying faith in Jesus.

So, after this miracle, only the one, the outcast, returns to say thank you to Jesus.

And immediately, Jesus asks the question as to where the other 9 were.

Now look at this. Jesus didn’t ask the other 9. He didn’t even ask the 1. He asked the crowd who was with Him.

He wants His followers to think about gratitude.

(SHOW) Jesus wants US to be intentional about thanksgiving.

It’s like He didn’t ask those outside the Church about how grateful they are; He asked those inside the church if there is a chance that they too, forget to be grateful.

The question is asked of the crowd following Jesus (not the 9 who didn’t come back).

The 9 got a miracle, but not eternal life.

(SHOW) Jesus is pointing out the contrast between those who pray only when it is convenient or they need something, and those who want to walk with Him in a loving, saving relationship.

It is the difference between being merely religious, and knowing Him.

The 9 didn’t get to know Jesus. They didn’t get to learn the lesson. Their lives went on, without God. God, for them, was just a temporary fix.

So the nine don’t even hear the question: “Why didn’t you come back to thank me?”

Apparently (SHOW) they spent the rest of their lives in ignorance to the treasure they passed up.

He’s not asking the 9, He’s asking the crowd. This isn’t a lesson about the ingratitude of the world around us. It’s a question for us.

So I wonder: What was the crowd thinking?

Were they thinking: “why is He blaming us, we’re right here?”

Did they point to the one who returned and say: “I don’t know, ask him?”

Did they say: “It wasn’t me?”

Or, were they thinking: “What if that had been me? What if I was suddenly torn away from my loved ones, forced to live in squalor in the wilderness with people who smell? What if I watched people I bonded with suffer and die? What if I had to humiliate myself by crying out that I am unclean? What if I had to depend on the mercy of strangers to eat? The only thing cool about it was they got to wear dreadlocks. And then, what if suddenly all that shame was taken away? What would I DO?

(SHOW) Would I be one of the ones who ran back to my home, continued on with my life, showed myself to the Priests and done my minimum religious duty and forgot what truly happened?

Jesus is asking those people that question. He is asking the people who are there, in the crowd.

I think about that. When something truly great happens here, like Rosalie Derringer singing a special, or when the praise team brings us into that place of devotion and we feel the arms of God wrap around us. When the liturgy brings out a sense of awe and the scripture moves us to justice and love and then I look outside and I see the cars passing by and I think, if only they knew what they were missing!

I realize they are like the 9 lepers who missed the real blessing.

Let me put it more simply.

He is asking the crowd; He is asking us: (SHOW) Jesus is asking: Are you going to walk with me?

Are YOU going to love me? Are YOU going to be grateful to me? Have I changed YOUR life, or am I merely a convenience to YOU?

This is a question of true discipleship and faith.

This last one. This despised Samaritan received not only a physical healing, but his faith restored him into a saving relationship with the Creator of the Universe.

Don’t Give Up Hope!

Text: Mark 12:38-44

Focus: Living by faith

Function: To help people trust God for the future instead of their own wealth.

Form:

Intro: There are a lot of takes on this passage. If one does research on it, it always falls into the category of Stewardship Sunday.

That’s a Sunday that some people dread because the Church emphasizes the importance of giving to God.

And, the passage speaks of how a woman, who is completely destitute gives all the money she has to live on.

But it first starts out with the religious people loving the places of honor when they appear to glorify God.

And then it segues into this woman’s gift which is used as an example of living sacrificially here on earth with our eyes fixed on the heavenly reward.

But that isn’t what strikes me this morning about this passage.

Instead of looking at the monies involved, I want to look at the faith of this woman.

(SHOW) God is calling us to live by faith.

In the story of this passage of scripture, apparently Jesus is near the offering box at the temple with the disciples.

He is giving them some lessons from what He sees.

They see the Religious people acting haughty as if they were more special than others.

Jesus points out their hypocrisy. He says: “They want to take the best seats of honor at the banquets. They want everyone to think they are the best.”

They see how when they pray, it is well rehearsed and it is a great show.

And Jesus points out to them that their faith is meaningless. He even implies that they are going to receive eternal damnation because although they appear religious, they do not care that if in their business practices poor people suffer.

And you know this: (SHOW) true holiness is demonstrated by our compassion instead of appearances.

So, I have covered the stewardship aspect.

Let us move on and look at the faith of this woman who gives everything she has.

(SHOW) Is her example of giving everything she has a command for us to follow her example?

Are we put to shame because we spend enough on ourselves to survive?

Of course, we all know that we all spend more than what we need to survive. Maybe a little bit more for leisure since we work so hard. So, what is this passage telling us?

Does God want every one of us to give away everything and depend on the ravens to feed us like God did with Elijah?

Is that presuming on God for a miracle? Is it testing God?

Let me refrain the story with a more modern example.

A pastoral colleague was telling me about how they had a family who had relatives who lived outside of the US.

This man had a difficult time making ends meet and it was their church’s privilege to support and love him. He brought a lot of perspective to them and they enjoyed their relationship with him.

One day, he mentioned to someone else that he had sent several thousand dollars to his overseas family.

That caused a bit of controversy in their reaction to giving to him. The pastor explained to the man that although he had a lot more money than his family out of the country, it costs a lot more to live here in the US.

The man was giving what he needed to live on to his relatives and then asking the church to help him make his own ends meet.

So, in a way, the church was supporting his overseas family.

And there was nothing wrong with that. The passage says that the wealthy gave out of their excess, while the woman gave all that she had to live on.

But I have to confess, it didn’t seem right to me that he was presuming on their generosity.

Isn’t that the way we feel sometimes when we help out some poorer people?

We wonder: are we encouraging laziness, irresponsibility or even funding their addictions?

We know that there are a lot of people who take advantage of those who are generous.

For myself, and me only, I would rather err on the side of generosity.

So, was the man foolishly taking advantage of God’s generosity?

Let us go back to this woman.

She gave all she had to live on. The amount given, the “widow’s mite” would equal about a fifth of a day’s wage. It was probably enough to live on for a few days.

If she had children, friends or others who were aware of her circumstances, would they have told her that she was foolish?

Remember, the wealthy were giving extravagant gifts, but those gifts came out of their excess.

This woman gave extravagantly because she gave all she had.

But what about it? (SHOW) Is it a foolish act of desperation or a genuine act of faith?

The widow gave everything she had.

It could seem like a desperate act. People would think her foolish.

But I don’t believe that is what was happening. Instead of giving up hope (in an act of desperation) she placed all of her hope in the Lord.

And look at it, the Pharisees would praise the rich for their bags of gold and excessive gifts, but their confidence was in their wealth.

The woman’s confidence was in God.

This passage exposes the core of where our own hope lies.

(SHOW) Is our confidence in God or in wealth?

Again, I am not asking these questions to shame anyone.

What I see in this woman is an unrelenting hope in God no matter what the circumstances.

She gave everything she had as an act of faith.

One could surmise that she since she was so desperate, one day’s worth of food, or two days worth of food, or a week’s worth of food was irrelevant because there was no hope for her beyond those two mites.

But this act of giving is her testimony, it is her witness, it is desperate cry to God to deliver her from her poverty.

We don’t know what actually happened to this woman.

We can guess that since Jesus praised her faith, she received an amazing miracle. But the scripture is silent.

What I find beautiful in this is that she was just like David facing Goliath. In the midst of impossible circumstances, she makes a public declaration that her confidence is in God.

Was that foolish? Was it presumptuous? Or is it the only choice we have?

I submit that compared to the wealthy who were giving extravagantly, this woman’s testimony isn’t about sacrificial giving of money, but learning to trust in God.

I mentioned two weeks ago when pleading for people to vote against the casino industry in Ohio that our first ministry was working in the Ghetto in Atlantic City, NJ.

I worked for a construction company, non-union, that paid a pretty small wage. We were in a situation where we were living from week to week, from day to day trusting God.

And God did some miraculous deeds to keep us solvent.

Then one day, the inevitable came and I was laid off from my job.

I remember Friday night, sitting at the dinner table. Kathy was pregnant with John, our third child and Philip and Candace were just 3 and 2 years old.

I was on the brink of tears, wondering how I would provide for them.

And my daughter looked at me with those big, pure eyes of confidence in her dad and said: “What’s wrong daddy?”

And just then the scripture hit me that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine and He is our daddy. I knew then that God would not let my children starve. And then, God’s peace went over me and I answered her: “God is giving me a new job; I just don’t know what it is.”

So God sent the blizzard of 81. The second casino in AC was not yet opened and housing was at premium. What was happening was that people were converting summer rental properties into year round residences. And all the plumbers here have probably figured this out already. The plumbing wasn’t adequately prepared for a cold snap and plumbing pipes burst all over the county.

A union plumber called me that night and said, “I hear you can sweat some joints.” That is a plumbing term for soldering copper pipe. I was a carpenter and thought he said something about moving some joists. So I said yes and he asked me to work that night.

I got to the shop and he handed me the keys to a plumbing truck and a whole stack of work orders to repair frozen pipes.

I worked for him for 3 weeks at union rates, double time since it was evening work and made more money that I ever made in my lifetime.

After the crisis was over, I found another job.

God does take care of our needs.

However, look again at the faith of this woman. She was content to trust in God.

Think about wealth and contentment.

Look at this scripture:

(SHOW) 1 Timothy 6:6-8: (The Message)

^6-8A devout life does bring wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough.

You see, this woman had her confidence in her relationship with God. It changes everything in the way she lived her life.

Wealth isn’t about pleasure, or having enough, it’s about contentment, peace and relationship with God.

Kings and paupers have both discovered this truth. And this is how we live by faith.

This woman didn’t give up hope in an act of desperation, she told God and the angels that her hope was in God when she gave her gift.

May we live in that same hope.

The Church in Heaven

Text: Hebrews 12:1-3, 22-24

Focus: Relationship instead of Judgment.

Function: To invite people into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Form: God Only Knows

Intro:

Today is All Saints Day

Praise God, last week we brought into the fellowship here at Bear Creek, Jim and Pat Shephard.

Today we are baptizing (baptized) Sheri Wine Benges in her desire to rededicate her life to Christ and join us in her Christian journey.

Although Church membership is not a biblical doctrine, the covenant to community has always been an integral part of what it means to be a believer.

There is a lot of meat; I mean solid spiritual food, in these verses read. I could preach several different sermons based on the theology underlying these principles.

But the Holy Spirit has led me this morning to talk about the nature of the Church.

I titled the message, “The Church in Heaven.”

Now in thinking about that, we could imagine something like the Notre Dame, Westminster Abbey, the Sistine Chapel, Saint Patrick’s church in New York City, the Crystal Cathedral, take the greatest image and architecture of all of that and then say, “it doesn’t even begin to compare with the image of the Temple of God in heaven.”

When I talk about church, and you know this already, I am not talking about the building.

The church is the body of Christ. The Church is the people who belong to Jesus. They make up many denominations, races, nationalities, and political ideologies.

You, if you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, and I are the church.

(SHOW) The Church is EVERYONE who has trusted in Jesus.

To get technical, we can’t really “go to Church” because we are the Church and everywhere we go, the Church goes with us.

Now, I am not so nit-picky about words to say that it was wrong to say: “Go to Church.” Because it is also an expression in our common understanding of the English language to mean that we are going to worship God in this building.

But here is a dimension about the body of Christ that you may not have pondered on. I don’t think I have ever heard a sermon on it. I know this is the first sermon I have preached about it in 24 years of ministry.

The Church is in Heaven as well as on earth.

When we leave this earth to go to our heavenly reward, we don’t leave the Church; we just get relocated to another group.

The neat thing about that group is that there will be no denominations, no segregation, no civil religion that anoints one country over another. Nope, we will all be one in Spirit, mind, theology, care for each other and worship.

So the author of Hebrews, in the twelfth chapter is striving to encourage Christians to remain faithful in the midst of good times and bad, in the midst of trials and tribulations, in the midst of poverty or wealth.

(SHOW) Keep your eyes focused on Jesus.

He tells us first; to be a part of the Church, keep your eyes focused on its founder, Jesus Christ.

In verses 1-3, we get this picture of God’s family, and if I can get familiar, we got Jesus, as our big brother who is the one who has gone before us and set a standard that is really high.

This isn’t like the classic story of the younger brother who went through school and didn’t live up to the expectations of his older brother.

There is nothing in shame about this.

But what we have is a man whom we have an awesome respect for that is clearly a great example that we strive to live up to.

Jesus set a very high bar for us and we’ll look at that as we finish this sermon.

But for right now, let us look at this great leader, this tremendous example that Jesus, our Lord and Savior set for us in context.

I love Hebrews Chapter 11. It is a chapter of faith. It tells the story of the great men and women of the faith who were amazing in what they did and accomplished.

He tells of Moses who gave up a Kingdom to follow God. And he parted the Dead Sea and delivered God’s people from oppression.

He tells of Daniel, who was faithful to God and when thrown into the Lion’s den for his prayer life, God shut the mouths of lions.

He tells of Gideon who rescued Israel against an army of 100,000 with just 300 men.

He tells of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who refused to worship the idol, were thrown into the fiery furnace and survived.

It is a great adventure. I tell you, if you haven’t read Genesis through Esther, then you have missed some really wonderful adventures. It is exciting reading (except for endless genealogies in 2 Chronicles).

He sums those books up in verses 32-38 of Hebrews 11.

Let us start by looking at vs. 32 through the beginning of 35.

(SHOW) Hebrews 11:32-35a: And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection;

We used to sing this chorus: “I got the Victory.” It was a great song about how Jesus helps us through every trial that we have.

It is a great thing that faith does for us. God cares about every situation and if we have faith, wonderful things can happen.

When he talks about the Church that is already in heaven, he is talking about these people who have gone before us as great examples.

It is easy to be a Christian when we read those stories of victory that those people experienced by faith in God.

But then look at the rest of verse 35 to vs 38:

(SHOW) …and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

This part doesn’t sound so good. Some were poor, some, unlike Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn’t get miraculously delivered from the wicked people, but instead they became Martyrs.

Did they have less faith?

No, the whole chapter is a litany of people who have gone on before us as great men and women of faith: people with faith to receive a miracle, people with faith to trust without.

I particularly like the end of verse 38 when he is talking about those who suffered in great faith: “People of whom the world was not worthy.”

With those who remained faithful even though they did not see blessings, but suffered.

That is the context of this command to consider the actions of Jesus so that we don’t lose heart and stop being faithful.

Jesus raised the dead, healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind. Sometimes, He miraculously moved from one location to the other. He walked on water. He turned the water into wine.

But he was also abandoned by His friends. He also cried out in terror the night before His crucifixion. He lost his cousin and His father.

(SHOW) This command to remain faithful is given to us in both good times and bad.

So, I want to talk about the theology of the Church.

That is exactly what it is. A whole supporting cast of people who encourage us, lift us up, enable us, lead us and help us until we too get to heaven.

Then, remember that this family, this body does not stop when we die.

We are in unity with those who have gone before us.

We don’t pray to saints here because it looks to Roman Catholic. But let us not throw out the baby with the bathwater on that issue.

(SHOW) The saints in heaven are rooting us on.

Jesus, when proving His divinity says, in John 8: 56-58: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He knew I was coming and was glad." The Jewish leaders: "You aren't even fifty years old--sure, you've seen Abraham!" Jesus: "The absolute truth is that I was in existence before Abraham was ever born!"

Now, I use this verse in theology to prove the Deity of Jesus Christ. The next verse tells us the leaders thought it was blasphemy and picked up stones to kill Him and that was one of the times that He just disappeared so that they couldn’t kill Him.

However, do you see the conversation He has with Abraham? He tells them that Abraham, their ancestor is in heaven and in heaven he is caring for his children. Abraham is both aware and excited about what is going on here on earth.

That is why the text says:

(SHOW) The Spirits of righteous men made perfect:

• We are declared righteous by Jesus Christ.
• But while we are here on earth, we are not yet perfect.
• Perfection (complete maturity in our Christian faith) will only come when we get to heaven.

God sees us as perfect, because He sees us forgiven through faith in Jesus.

We are declared righteous, but He knows we haven’t obtained perfection yet.

So, the passage is talking about the Church, the community of believers who are here both on earth in heaven as a group that God has given us to help us succeed in our Christian walk.

But we are called to press on to that prize.

Now the history of the Church has been less than stellar.

Too many times, the wrong thing has been done and people have been hurt.

Remember this:

(SHOW) Only Jesus was perfect.

We need to focus on His example.

When the Church loses sight of Jesus, it loses sight of everything.

We can’t look to a man, a denomination, a group of people and certain creed; we need to focus on Jesus Christ.

And look at the example He set for us and his endurance comes from these principles in the first 3 verses.

The example he asks us to consider is:

• (SHOW) For the joy set before Him
• He had hope in a reward
• He had confidence in God’s promise
• In other words, He lived by faith
• (SHOW) Endured the cross
• Only Jesus can die as a sacrifice for our sins
• But we are called to live for others, just as He did
• Make that happen in your home
• Make that happen in your business
• Make that happen in your school
• (SHOW) Despised the shame
• That doesn’t mean we have to like it
• I know He says, “consider it all joy…”
• I know the apostles rejoiced to be counted worthy to be persecuted for His name
• But that doesn’t mean that the pain of it isn’t real

So, we are called to live together in this community, this body, this family

We accept that some of us are weird, some of us are weak, some of us are strong, all of us have victory in one area

All of us have weaknesses in another area.

(SHOW) We live with each other in weakness and in strength

Making up our minds not to judge weaknesses in others because we have our own, albeit different weaknesses.

CONCL:

Come join this family

You Are the Man!

2 Samuel 12:1-7

Focus: The love of God which calls us back

Function: To help people understand that conviction is good and necessitates a Godly response.

Form: Narrative of the story.

Intro:

I have a wedding here Saturday night.

During the rehearsal, sometimes I do a bogus set of vows that deal with the command in Ephesians 5 for a man to love his wife more than himself, and the wife to respect her husband.

Instead of saying “I do” the man is instructed to say: “Yes, Dear!”

And the woman is instructed to say: “you da man!”

You da man! A phrase used to compliment someone on excelling at a task.

Did you know that the phrase is also found in the Bible?

“You are the man!?”

Here is the story,

The king has life and death power

The prophet approached him in such a way to win him

He tells him a story and asks his opinion

David gives a judgment

The prophet with all the guts in the world points his finger at David and accuses him of the wickedness.

However, David’s was a worse sinner.

Here is David’s story.

He was king of Israel and had everything his heart desired.

God blessed him.

With his wealth, David took his eyes off of God, and needed things to satisfy him.

Along comes Bathsheba, he has an affair with her, she gets pregnant, so he tries to cover it up and ends up arranging for her husbands murder and marries her.

Perhaps then, the worst thing possible happens.

He gets away with it.

Read the Psalms of David and see his absolute love for the Lord.

He understands a key Christian principle. (SHOW) “Christianity is not religion or dogma, but it is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”

When I read the Psalms, I see a guy who is truly happy because he seeks first the kingdom of God and God gives him peace.

Yet, he turned his back on the only source of joy and peace there is, to sin against God.

Worst of all. He THINKS he got away with it.

And because of that, he is depressed and scared.

Read Heb 12:6 (SHOW)

My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline, but don't be crushed by it either. It's the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects.

(Sit on the chair and act it out)

Miserable, because his sin hasn’t brought him peace, only problems.

(Stand)

I believe that many people are depressed because their conscience is so seared from sin and rationalization and there appears to be no consequences for their actions.

· Little kid at Church camp.

· they know they are loved and they are afraid because they need boundaries set for them

· those who deny the God live without peace because their lives have no limits.

· there is no purpose

(Sit)

Imagine the king, brooding, wishing the day would be over. And all of a sudden this prophet comes in.

Imagine the embarrassment “You are the man!”

“The natural response when someone confronts us is to deny the sin and to be angry at the accuser.”

But not David, and this is why He is a man after God’s own heart.

Read verse 13. (SHOW)

Then David confessed to Nathan, "I've sinned against God." Nathan pronounced, "Yes, but that's not the last word. God forgives your sin. You won't die for it.

David is relieved

1 that God cares about His sin because those who are not disciplined are not loved.

He knows that if He is convicted of Sin, and he repents, he is forgiven and he misses his relationship with God. That is why we are created, to have fellowship with God.

· if it isn’t there, you are miserable.

· And relieved that he can be forgiven.

· God does not send the Holy Spirit to convict us in order to leave us in shame.

· His Spirit comes to set us free.

· I have had dozens of people ask me if I thought they committed the unpardonable sin,

· If they are afraid of it, they haven’t committed it.

o woe to the person who never feels guilty for sin.

o woe to the Christian who is learning to harden their hearts against sin.

CONCL; Are you convicted or guilty about sin?

have you been sinning and getting away with it?

Jesus is here to forgive you.

please come

A Forgiving Priest

Text: Hebrews 5:1-10

Focus: Jesus the great High Priest

Function: To help the congregation understand grace better.

Form: Bible study

Intro:

In the movie “Schindler’s List,” Oscar Schindler is giving some of his philosophy of life to one of his friends and he says, “What every man needs is a clever accountant and a forgiving priest.”

Of course, he was Roman Catholic and the idea of a confessional was part of his religious practice.

And his reference is to a priest who proscribes little or no penance for his sins.

But I wrestle in my own life with the concept of “a forgiving priest.”

I don’t want to advocate an idea that we get a sort of “get out of jail free” card with respect to willful sinning.

But what happens to us when after we have accepted Jesus as Savior and made a promise to turn away from sin and then fall into temptation?

(SHOW) What happens when we sin?

I have met believers who have shrunk away in shame wondering why it didn’t work for them.

I have met believers who have become extremely legalistic, as if rules will keep them pure.

And I have met believers who have abandoned trying to be pure because the effort is just too hard.

Hopefully you know this verse (SHOW) 1 John 1:9: if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.

He will be true to Himself because we are now part of His body.

Even after we are saved, we still struggle with sin and the promise is, that if we admit it, He will first forgive us, and then begin working on delivering us from the foothold it has on us.

It isn’t easy.

Even pastors come to me and say, “Phil, I am really struggling with my thought life or an area of forgiveness or bitterness or some other temptation…” And I am thinking, “I should be coming to you. No matter how hard I try in my own effort, I fail.”

I am so glad this passage is in the bible, because it gives me the promise that even though God STILL has a lot of work to do in me, in us, He has established by His promises, by His word which is alive and active forgiveness when we fail.

But even then we have a hard time believing it. Most often, the difficulty comes because we think and expect better from ourselves.

So, the passage in Hebrews is here to prove how and why God does indeed forgive us.

Schindler didn’t need a forgiving priest, he already has one.

Let us look at (SHOW) Jesus, the great High Priest.

(SHOW –same slide) The Old Testament (human) High Priest was sympathetic to our sins.

• He understood the human condition and he forgave it.
• He was a sinner himself, so he needed grace.

And the author refers to Melchizidek. Melchizidek was the priest who Abraham went to after God helped him rescue his Nephew, Lot.

Look at (SHOW) Chapter 7: 1-3 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means "king of righteousness"; then also, "king of Salem" means "king of peace." Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.

Jesus is likened unto a High Priest who existed way before the formation of the OT law.

He is described as (SHOW) King of Righteousness and King of Peace

• Righteousness is justification of our sins before God.
• The priest confessed and thus carried away our sins.
• There are divine similarities in both Melchizidek and Jesus.
• Melchizidek had no human Father or Mother.
• Jesus had no Human Father.
• They were not priests of the OT law, but they were priests of a covenant where people are saved by faith in the mercy of God.
• Melchizidek is an eternal being.
• Differences also exist:
• We don’t read that Melchizidek was sinless.
• We don’t read that Melchizidek offered his own life as a sacrifice for sins.
• I believe that Melchizidek was a Christophony.
• That is the term for when Jesus appeared in the Bible in a different form than Jesus the Nazarene.
• Jesus appeared to Abraham right before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The text says that 2 angels and the Lord appeared came to visit Abraham.
• The Lord returned to heaven and the angels went into the city to rescue Lot.
• When Shadrach, Meshach and Abendego were in the fiery furnace, The Son of God was with them.
• It was Jesus who appeared to Moses in the form of the burning bush.
• He appears later on in the book of Revelation as the Lamb of God who was slain and was now alive.
• There are many more instances.
• The author of Hebrews wants us to know that this relationship goes on.
• What does that mean for us?
• (SHOW) What does it mean that Jesus is the great High Priest?
• Well, let us look at Jesus specifically as the great High Priest and see how He is different than an earthly priest.
• An earthly priest has sin. Jesus didn’t
• He is similar to the authority of Melchizidek.
• Melchizidek was a priest before the law was given.
• Abraham was saved by his faith.
• Jesus saves us by faith, not our effort.
• The emphasis is that faith delivers us.
• Melchizidek was both the King of Righteousness and the King of Shalom, the King of Peace.
• A King is someone who controls something.
• This king controls both righteousness and peace.
• Righteousness and peace are not earthly kingdoms.
• Righteousness and peace are concepts, human subjects under the domain of a ruler.
• But He controls both righteousness and peace.
• It is different from the human high priest who goes into the holy place on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and begs forgiveness from sins on behalf of the people in the presence of God.
• He begs God to make peace with His people.
• Jesus, being the king of that realm has the authority to give both righteousness and peace.
• (SHOW) Righteousness and peace are not in our authority to give or to earn.
• (SHOW –same slide) Righteousness and peace come to us as a gift from the King of Peace.
• They come as a decree from God.
• And although righteousness and peace is not an earthly kingdom, it does have a human population.
• In a few weeks, when we get to chapter 12, we will see this more clearly.
• But for now, we understand that this is the Kingdom of God
• It rules in the HEARTS of humanity and it joins heaven to earth.
• Abraham submitted to Melchizidek as his own king because of his faith in God.
• Our king is Jesus.
• Our Priest saves and forgives us by faith, not by our works.
• We know this in our head, but it is important to remember this in the way we live our lives.
• Let me unwrap this a little more:
• We teach the two Kingdom theology here.
• (SHOW) We believe that brothers and sisters in the faith are first members of the Heavenly kingdom, the Kingdom of God and second members of whatever earthly kingdom we are citizens of.
• That is why churches have often been sanctuary.
• Because the church building, in that sense is the “embassy of heaven.”
• In that sense, I am heaven’s ambassador, and you are heavens diplomats.
• That doesn’t mean you have diplomatic immunity from the laws of the Land.
• But it does mean that our first allegiance is to God’s kingdom.
• I think that there was a lot of backlash against Christianity in the last election because it seems to me that we have forgot where our first allegiance lies.
• Politics, health care, Presidential elections, Bail-outs, stimulus packages: All these things are temporary, what we do here in our Worship service is eternal.
• (SHOW) The impact that we make in the lives of people can bring them into an eternal, saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
• We are all soldiers in that eternal army.

Now, let us try to understand what it means to be part of the Heavenly Kingdom. What has the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace purchased for us by the price of His own blood?

Have you ever asked God the question why He didn’t just stay in heaven and offer a blanket forgiveness for everyone’s sins?

Agnostics, scoffers and also, people who are sincerely searching as the question: “why this bloody sacrifice? Is God’s power and sovereignty so limited that He couldn’t just offer a pardon from heaven?”

Folks, the image of the cross is terrible.

It seems to me that there is a simple answer to that question in this passage.

(SHOW) We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we were, but without sin.

There is no record of Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father beyond Jesus’ 12^th birthday. So He suffered the pain of the loss of his earthly father.

His childhood friend and cousin, John the Baptist, was murdered by an evil ruler. So He lost a good friend, at that time, he was probably the only person who understood His mission.

He was unjustly accused by hypocrites and condemned to death.

Even His own birth was shrouded in oppression and poverty.

In His most desperate hour, when He needed friends the most, they either fell asleep or abandoned Him.

His best friend Lazarus died.

No one got Him. He tried to preach, but He was alone. People just didn’t understand his perspective. He had to have felt alone.

The Bible says, tempted in every way.

(SHOW) Jesus understands…

So, He understood what it is to overcome lust.

He understands what it is to overcome the temptation to lie to make oneself look better.

He understands the temptation to listen to, and repeat gossip.

He understands the temptation to remain bitter at someone who has harmed you.

At one point, the Bible says that even His mother and brothers weren’t believing in Him.

He understands abandonment by family.

I don’t know if he ever suffered a cold, cut his finger, broke his arm while playing.

But Isaiah 53 states that His physical appearance was one that people would rather not look at. It implies that He was ugly.

He understood what if felt like to not be the last one called when choosing sides for a game.

He understood what if felt like to have people reject Him because He was not as good looking as someone else.

He experienced, in one way or another, every form of Human pain.

And, He offered a perfect sacrifice on our behalf.

He is a forgiving priest.

Have you received forgiveness from Him?