A Sword Will Pierce Your Soul – Pondering Cultural Lostness

Biblical Texts: Luke 2:22-40, Romans 1:18-32, Psalm 34:4-8
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There have been a string of national and then local tragedies. Unfortunately this sermon is something of a continuation of one just two weeks ago. I never meant for there to be a continuation, but events experienced called for it. In the middle of joyful events – like Christmas – as Simeon will say to Mary, there are swords to the heart.

I reviewed that sermon from Dec 16th a little, and I think it is the proper response for an individual. And one individual, ourselves, is all we can actually control (the fruit of the spirit of self-control – Gal 5:23). But that sermon left something unexplained or unexamined. What about the collective us? We ask questions like “what have we become?” And that question comes off the lips of a man who in no way has become what he is pondering, yet he supplies the “we”. It is another form of the “why?” question – why do such atrocities happen, one that actual betrays a developed conscience in that responsibility is placed on the right people. If we are asking “why me”, that individual question is not something that God tends to answer. But, if we are asking collectively, “why us” or “what have we become”, then I believe God has given us an answer, through St. Paul in Romans 1.

The first sin is forgetting or abandoning God. A trespass of the first commandment. From that trespass come all the others. Sin is both the cause of our troubles and the judgment. When we abandon God, He hands us over to our sins. When you are looking at a larger culture, that can get very evil very quickly. And if Paul is right (which I believe he is), the end point of that isn’t just sins but a collective culture that gives approval to their practice (Rom 1:32).

Why have we become a greedy, violent, lustful, callous, warlike and spiritually barren people? Because we have collectively abandoned the fear of God. And He has handed us collectively over to the rot of our collective culture.

What is the gospel? First, Simeon’s song. My eyes have seen your salvation/That you have prepared in the presence of all peoples/A light for revelation to the Gentiles/And the glory of your people Israel. God has sent a savior in Jesus Christ and we have seen his light. God doesn’t make false promises, and today is still a day of grace. Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near. Second, our hope is not in this flesh or this collective people. Our hope is in the resurrection and the New Jerusalem. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them (Psalm 34:7).

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The Powers That Be

Biblical Text of Sermon: Mark 1:21-28
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So, if you are not from a pentecostal denomination, when was the last time you heard a sermon about powers and principalities or demonology? There is probably a good reason. Denominational pastors are by and large an educated lot (often over-educated) and talking about spiritual forces just seems “icky” and doing so feels like sacrificing any respectability. The educated world is thoroughly materialist in philosophy and to preach on the “powers” means a thorough-going super-naturalist stance depending solely upon revelation (unless the preacher has had a mystical experience and then its still revelation for the hearers and no longer biblical but personal). Add in the fact that popular understanding of the powers is summed up in Halloween and The Exorcist part 18, and you just kinda pick a different text. Or worse you preach on the exorcism text and explain it away through various “they just weren’t that bright” mechanisms.

But the gospel according to Mark just doesn’t allow that. If you are going to preach on Mark, you have to come to terms with the powers that be, because that is who Jesus is to Mark. Jesus is the one who breaks the backs of the powers. Jesus is the one sent to put away that greatest power – death.

And right there I think is the intersection with the modern world. Even though we are materialist in philosophy allowing smaller spiritual forces to hide, death doesn’t hide. We try to hide from him. We do our best to move him out of our sight. And the materialist will try even at funerals to say something like, “death is part of life”. But most people react in horror at that banality. We all have an intuitive reaction that this isn’t right, this isn’t how it was supposed to be. We have nothing to support that – other than revelation.

Jesus came with authority to break the back of the powers – including death. From the very start of his ministry Jesus commanded the spirits. His death and resurrection has disarmed them. In Christ as part of His body the church, we are already part of a resurrection body – something that even death has no power over.

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Impudence

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Text: 1 Peter 1:3-11; Baptism of Isobel and Michelle

One of those times in sermon prep reading you come across a story that is just perfect for the situation. Since it was used so early in setting the theme and it was such a powerful story, you hope and pray that the rest can live up to it.

One of the things I like to do is point our or remind people that the rites and rituals of the church has a purpose. They are not mindless actions or appeasements of a angry God. The baptisms, Lord’s suppers and confessions, the weddings and confirmations, are an enactment of what is being said. What we say is happening actual does happen – God has promised or explained it that way. Baptism now saves us. We are joined with Christ in baptism.

We are limited creatures. Unless the Lord comes again in our lifetimes, we will die, things will fade. In Baptism we can be impudent toward that fact and toward the Satanic powers of this world. Death itself will fade. In Baptism we are joined to Christ and to an inheritance: incorruptible, undefiled and unfading. As in the theme story, baptism puts us in an impudent position. We are placed and kept in faith until the last appointed time.

Groaning (Jesus’ reaction to Lazarus)

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If you had the power to raise the dead, but it cost you your life, would you do it?

That is the central question. I think we could answer that question no. Jesus answered that question yes.

There are a whole bunch of spiritual truths that come from the sacrifice and resurrection pattern. Not the least is the one who holds onto his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life for me, will find it. It’s Good Friday and Easter. You don’t get one without the other. Each one corresponds to a theory of want Jesus did for us – substitute and victory. They are both tied in each other. A church that only preaches one is missing something…

The Baptist’s Cry of Despair?

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Text: Matt 11:2-15

We are scandalized by the patchy nature of the Kingdom of Heaven. It appears capricious. It appears unfair. Even the Baptist asked – “are you the one?” But isn’t the the real test of faith? When you trust in the goodness of God even when events look contrary? “Blessed is the one who is not scandalized by me” is what Jesus sent back to John in that prison hole. The restoration has started, but its not complete. The Kingdom comes where and when it wills. But the blessing of the Kingdom affix to the lowest – the good news is received by the poor. The one who is not scandalized is blessed.

To me, this gets at the core of modern problems. We are scandalized by a God who retains sovereignty. Even the authority to do nothing. We do not accept ourselves as poor. We can’t answer with Peter – “where do we go?” We have trouble seeing with Paul’s eyes – “If Christ is not raised, we are to be pitied.” We think we have better options.

Sermon – Sept 6, 2008 – “In my flesh, I will see God”

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I’ve heard it from at least two preachers who I really admire for their wisdom and their craft that “all good sermons are first preached at the preacher.” The main point is that if the preacher himself doesn’t need it or resonate with the message he is delivering it probably can’t be a good sermon. This one falls squarely in that camp for me. I pray that my congregation was able to get something out of it as well. If you are going to read it, the thing you probably need to have in your head is that my brother died on the 24th of August at the age of 35. After spending a little over a week in Baltimore, MD cleaning out and settling his place, this was more first week back in the pulpit. The primary text was Isa 35:4-7

Sermon – Luke 24:36-49 – “Surpised by Joy”

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I was struck by the like from Luke 24:41 about disbelief because of joy. The personal context was the birth of our third child – Ethan Isaiah. The main reflection of the sermon is the way that we often pit happiness against joy, or substitute happiness for joy. The true Christian birthright is joy. Joy in plenty and joy in sorrow. Joy is eternal while happiness is fleeting. That is because the resurrection of Jesus, standing there in the midst of the disciples, points at the fact that death does not have the last word. All promise does not end in dissipation. Instead they find completion in the Risen Lord. We may not always be happy. I am not happy that my house in St. Louis has not sold, but I am still joyful. Changing diapers I’m sure is not anyone’s idea of happiness, but it is a joy.