John 1:14

John 1:14 

 The Message 

  I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and every good wish and blessing as we look forward to the new year!  I love this Message version of John's prologue, because it captures perfectly in modern language what God did -- take on flesh and move into the neighborhood, so that we encounter Jesus in our daily lives, because God is in our midst.  God is not distant, waiting for us to decipher the map to undertake a journey to discover God.  No, God comes to us in the person of Jesus Christ, walking among us, so that we might know the light.

  Look forward to journeying through Scripture with you all again next year - feel free to let me know if there are any particular books of the Bible you'd love to explore. 

Sermon for December 26, 2021

Galatians 6:1-5

Galatians 6:1-5 

English Standard Version 

  People sometimes make statements about how the Bible is outdated and doesn't have anything to say to modern life. 

  To those people, I humbly submit Galatians 6:1, a verse that should be placed squarely above and below the login box for any social media site.

  Seriously -- how much of a better world would it be if, just before any comment was made on social media, someone had to consider whether their response was done in a spirit of gentleness?  

  Maybe the church can set an example and be the people leading our society into an era based on gentleness and bearing one another's burdens.  I think that would be a wonderful gift to the world for Christmas!

Galatians 5:22-26

Galatians 5:22-26 

English Standard Version 

  I've always loved how Paul keeps 'fruit' as singular -- all these things work together.  We don't get to pick our favorites and ignore the rest.  It's like asking God to transform part of our lives and ignore the rest!  Tim Keller talks about how we often treat God like an interior decorator, inviting God into our lives but hoping God just shows up and moves around some things in the living room, when in reality God enters in and starts knocking down walls, doing a total renovation, because God wants more for us than we can possibly ask or imagine.

  When we live by the Spirit, God transforms us, day by day.  It's not a linear path, an easy road.  We slowly and surely, over the course of our lives, become more and more like Christ, and the fruit of the Spirit become apparent, each breaking out in different ways, but they all work together to reflect the image of God within us!

Galatians 5:16-18

Galatians 5:16-18 

English Standard Version 

  This passage makes me think of the 10th commandment, which I've heard described as the reward for following the other 9 commandments -- if you seek the Lord with all your heart in all your deeds and relationships, the saying goes, you won't want anyone else's life.  

  The idea is that when you're actively caught up seeking God, when you've fixed your mind and heart on the Spirit, we find ourselves so caught up in what God is doing that the desires of the flesh fade away into the background.  

  It's not flawless, because we're human and we still find ways to sin and fall short, but there is merit to the idea.  God alone can satisfy our every need and desire, so the more we focus on God, the less we have the time and desire for sinful things.  When we let the Spirit lead, rather than our own hearts, we'll end up in much better places.  

  So how can you let the Spirit actively lead you today?  How can you give up control to God in some way, shape or form?  What's that look like for you today, in this moment?

Galatians 5:7-15

Galatians 5:7-15 

English Standard Version 

 

  What would you do if you won a billion dollars tomorrow?  

  If you won such an amount, you'd be free from responsibility.  You wouldn't need to work.  You'd have freedom from financial worry or constraint.

  What would you do?  

  My thoughts often run to the things I'd do for myself.  Houses, cars, travel, etc.

  The Gospel is training us to think about others first.  Our freedom, Paul says, is meant to serve one another in love.  Whatever freedom we gain is to be used for others.  In serving others, we live most closely to how God designed us to live, working together in love.  

  Our prayer, then, should be for God to lead our hearts to look to others first.  May we be courageous enough to deny our own needs in a life of service to others.

Sermon for December 19, 2021

Galatians 5:1-6

Galatians 5:1-6 

English Standard Version 

  When I'm channel surfing, there are certain types of shows that make me click through without even thinking twice.  There's something distinctive about Hallmark movies that you know one as soon as it appears on the screen.  When I see it, my thumb clicks to the next channel before the thought has even registered what I'm watching.  The same with the shows where people talk about sports.  I love sports and can watch almost anything, but I can't get into watching other people debate sports.  You probably have the shows that do the same for you -- be it news or soap operas or football games, there are things that automatically trigger you to move on.

  I think circumcision is one of those triggers in the Bible.  When I come across the word or idea, I just jump forward to the next section.  It's an old debate, and I assume that it doesn't have much to say to me today.

  But what Paul is saying here is very, very important.  The second we add any condition to faith, we've turned away from a grace-based faith and made faith depend on something that we do.  At that point, the grace of Christ isn't sufficient for salvation -- it hinges upon us.  So even if it's something minor or esoteric, whatever it is becomes the hinge point of faith, because Christ is always holding up Christ's end up the bargain.  So Paul is warning the Galatians -- to add anything is to add everything, because then we're back to salvation depending on human works, which is not the direction we want to go.

  Only faith.  But note what Paul says -- only faith working through love.  This doesn't mean that we need to love properly to achieve salvation.  I think what Paul means is that the faith we have is demonstrated in our lives in the love we have to for one another.  Love matters, for in every act of love, we're demonstrating to the world an action mirrored on the love that paid the ultimate price to give us the ultimate gift.

Galatians 4:21-31

Galatians 4:21-31 

English Standard Version 

  There's a lot to unpack here, and we have to remember that Paul is writing to a people steeped in Jewish tradition.  They've been living into this since they were children, and the story of Abraham and Isaac, of God brining life to a barren womb, would have been very close to their hearts.  To this community, the story of Jesus was new, and they're trying to make sense of it all.  

  What Paul is trying to point to is that Jesus didn't appear out of nowhere -- Jesus was part of a story God has been telling since the days of Abraham, and what is happening in Christianity is not something new, but rather the ongoing progress of something very old.  Jesus wasn't trying to start something new, but rather help people rooted in an old tradition see ways the old tradition needed to change.  Similar to how Martin Luther wasn't trying to start a new denomination but reform the Catholic church!

  It's a great comfort to me to know that my faith is rooted in something centuries old.  We're not inventing something on our own, but rather continuing to discover something ancient, rooted in history and springing into the present.  We look backwards as well as forwards, trusting in the Holy Spirit to lead us, to guide us, to invigorate us and inspire us.  And we do this in freedom, for we, too, stand in the tradition of Isaac, born as children of the promise.  

Galatians 4:15-20

Galatians 4:15-20 

English Standard Version 

  There's a verse in 2 Timothy 4 that describes how people will have itching ears and then find teaching that suits themselves, rather than seeking out the truth.

  It's not always easy to hear the truth -- often, we'd prefer to hear what will make us happy, even if this easier message isn't always true.  Much of advertising these days is trying to figure out what people want to hear and combining this with a message of persuasion.  We like to hear what we like to hear!  

  The great thing about the Gospel truth is that while it's hard news, it's always good news.  It tells us that we are sinful, that we are worse than we think, and yet we are more loved than we think as well.  While we are sinful, we have a bold hope that is rooted in Christ.  We are lost, yet we are found.  We are sinful, yet we are redeemed.

  It's a hard message to hear, yet it's a wondrous message to hear as well, assuming we're willing to tolerate the hard message.  If we turn away when we talk about sin, we miss the message of grace.

  It's a hard balance for the church to strike, but also entails people willing to hear, willing to be honest, willing to be broken to discover true healing.

Galatians 4:8-14

Galatians 4:8-14 

English Standard Version 

  Doubt is a real thing -- it impacts everyone.  When we doubt, we have a real choice -- do we dig in, or pull back?

  When we dig in, we surround ourselves with community and are open about our doubts.  We ask big questions.  We study.  We try and figure out if what we know is true or not.  

  When we pull back, we hit resistance and we turn back to what we knew previously, even if that's been proven to fall short of what we need.  It's familiar. 

  The church in Galatia to which Paul is writing was choosing the latter path, and Paul is urging them to reconsider.  He's trying to help them see the value in what they've chosen.  At one point, they understood that faith in Christ alone was sufficient, but the doubts crept in, and they're pulling back.  Paul wants them to dig in, to engage, to study, to gather together and strengthen one another.  It's ok to doubt, but when we do, don't do it in isolation.  Find a community and people who will support you in your doubts and help you work through them, rather than just cover them up.

Galatians 4:1-7

Galatians 4:1-7 

English Standard Version 

  I read something a while back about Paul that makes me read these passages a little differently.  Recall that just before this, Paul is talking about there being no male and female in the church -- so Paul is addressing a congregation of men and women.  Then we turn to this, and it feels like Paul is being exclusive towards sons...  but there's a way to understand this that is actually subversive and radically inclusive.  Given that Jesus is also subversive and radically inclusive, that may be the better way to read it.

  So in those days, the sons received the inheritance.  Being a son is a big deal -- and here, Paul is telling the entire church, men and women, that they are sons.  Everyone in the church is a son, receiving the inheritance that we have in Jesus Christ.  In that day and age, that would've been a huge deal for women to receive the same inheritance as men.  The church is the levelling field, reminding us that we're all equal in the eyes of God!

Galatians 3:21-29

Galatians 3:21-29 

English Standard Version 

  This is wildly scandalous by Paul.  We read it as commonplace, having heard is so many times, but Paul is telling the church in Galatia that anyone can be an offspring of Abraham.  Previously, this was only available to the descendants of Abraham, to the true Jewish community.  But here comes Paul, telling the church that anyone in Christ is welcome and equal in the church.

  I imagine that ruffled some feathers then, and it probably ruffles some feathers now.  We like the church to reflect ourselves, to fit with our expectations... but Christ isn't like that.  Jesus spent his time in earthly ministry widening the community, eating with the outcasts, spending time with those neglected by society.  Jesus shows us how radical the love of God is, and invites us to follow wherever he might lead.  Jesus leads to some places we wouldn't expect, but the Holy Spirit is at work everywhere, and we have to realize that we are the same as everyone -- we're only acceptable to God because of what Christ has done for us, no matter what our life here on earth may look like.  We don't earn extra merit badges in heaven because our life is clean and tidy -- we're covered by grace, and so we are invited to remember that as we gather as a church -- God calls us and sends us, covered in love and grace, to be the church in the world.

Galatians 3:15-20

Galatians 3:15-20 

English Standard Version 

  Paul was addressing particular circumstances and particular issues.  The Galatians were struggling with understanding how grace and the Law worked together, and so Paul worked through it with them, and we have evidence of this.  

  Sometimes, I read it and struggle to know exactly how a certain passage relates to this day and age, but that's because of how relevant Scripture is.  It matters to our daily lives, and so the letters in the New Testament were addressed to real communities wrestling with real issues.  Because of that, we have to work a little harder to translate some passages into our modern lives, but I take comfort in that, because it means that Scripture matters to my daily life, too, to the here and now.  It matters, and so we listen to the words of Scripture, sometimes taking a little longer than others, and eventually come to find what the Holy Spirit has to say to us, here and now, because we are in the midst of the world and called to engage with that outside community.  We're not called to cloister ourselves away, but to be salt and light, in touch with the world around us, and Scripture matters to the world.  The hope of heaven is revealed in the pages of Scripture, and we can all agree that we need a little more hope!

Galatians 3:10-14

Galatians 3:10-14

English Standard Version 

  When you get your driver's license, you have to keep all the laws.  You don't get to pick and choose which ones you like and which you'll discard.  (Although it'd be funny if you got pulled over for something and you had your state-approved list of which laws you'd chosen to follow!)

  In the same way, when you take your CPA exam, you have to follow all the accounting rules -- you don't get to decide which are your favorites and just follow those.  

  Scripture tells us that if we want to follow the Old Testament Law, then we have to follow all of it.  We can't pick and choose.  And if we're going to follow all of it, then that's the way we'd be saved... except we can't follow all of it.  We'll mess up part of it, which means the Law cannot save us.  

  So we need a Savior.  Fortunately, we have one in Jesus Christ.  Which means we don't follow the Law, because we don't just pick and choose pieces of it.  It's all or nothing when it comes to its ability to save us.  

  (We still follow the moral parts of the Law, because Jesus makes it clear that there are still high expectations for how we treat one another.  But that's another topic for another day.)

Galatians 3:1-9

Galatians 3:1-9 

English Standard Version 

  One can almost feel Paul's sense of loss and grief.  Here's a community of people who started out their life in the church as a congregation that joyously received the gift of faith.  They heard the good news that Jesus had died for them, that God had done everything necessary to secure salvation for them, and they rejoiced together.

  And then someone came along and whispered in their ears, leading them to question if God was really trustworthy, if what God had done was truly enough.  They started to doubt, started to wonder, and soon they were thinking they were good enough if they had faith and also did this or that.  Faith was great, but was it truly enough?

  Paul is telling them, and telling us, that faith is sufficient.  What Christ has done is enough for your salvation.  Nothing more is needed.

  It's a hard thing to live into, because our culture is always telling us that we're accepted based on what we've done and what others think of us.  But the Gospel tells us that it's all about Christ and what he has done for you and for me.  

Sermon from December 5, 2021

Galatians 2:15-21

Galatians 2:15-21 

English Standard Version 

  I was actually listening to a Tim Keller sermon on this just the other day.  To justify something isn't to change the thing, it's to change the perspective on it.  If I tell Rachel that I'm going to be home for dinner, and I'm three hours late, she'd be unhappy.  But if I tell her that I was late because I was in a terrible car crash and I was lucky to walk away unharmed, she'd probably change from being upset to being grateful I was home.  I'd have justified my tardiness.

  Similarly, if the kids knew that I was saving some leftover brisket in the fridge for lunch and I found out it was gone, I'd be frustrated, but if they then told me that there was a basket of puppies that was starving and they'd fed the puppies, I'd change my view on that -- they would have justified getting rid of the steak.

  So when we are justified, the reality of our sinfulness doesn't change.  But the way God looks at us has changed -- God doesn't view us as sinful anymore.  Instead, when we're covered in Christ, God looks at us as though we are fully worthy of the glory of God.  You are justified in Christ, and so because of Christ, you appear differently to God.  

Galatians 2:11-14

Galatians 2:11-14 

English Standard Version 

  Paul is fired up!  

  Paul gets upset here because Peter (Cephas) is making life more difficult for the non-Jews looking to join the church. Peter is putting up barriers to others joining the church through his behavior -- he's going along with the crowd because it's easier for Peter, but in doing so, he's not being consistent, and Paul calls him out on it!

  Paul makes a controversy because this matters -- it's not arguing over how many angels can fit on the head of a pin, but a massively important subject about how non-Jews will be included in the Christian church.  This is hugely important as the church grows.

  And so we need to follow Paul's example.  Let's get upset over things that matter -- how the church goes into the world or puts up obstacles for people to experience the love and grace of Jesus Christ.  Let's not get upset over minor things, such as the color of the carpets.  May we recognize how the outside world sees us, and try to view ourselves through the lens of people who don't know the first thing about the church.  We often get blinded by being inside the church, we forget about the outside world. 

  If anything we're doing puts up obstacles, let's tear them down, and rejoice in grace radical enough to include us in the church!

Galatians 2:1-10

Galatians 2:1-10 

English Standard Version 

  How do you deal with people when you know you are right?  How do you approach people whom you know are wrong about something?  What's your approach with people striving to create conflict?  

  Hard questions to answer, especially in this day and age.  Paul had to deal with crafty opponents who would do anything to oppose him, sneaking in to meetings to try and catch him out.  They were certain he was wrong, but Paul didn't waver from the Gospel, sticking to it in confidence.  This was due to his confidence in who stood behind the Gospel -- it wasn't something he had come up with on his own, but rather he had received it from God.  Because of the source of the Gospel, Paul could be both gracious and certain.  Notice that James and John perceived the grace given to Paul, and then entered into fellowship with him.  

  All of this is centered around concern for the poor.  When you see people whose primary concern is themselves or their reputation, be wary.  When they are living for others, focused on the needy, then we can be more confident that their message is indeed rooted in the Gospel.  To believe and adhere to the Gospel is to live for others!