Series: The Hope of this Season

Hebrews 1:1-4

1. Christmas evokes memories in us like few other times.

2. if I dig deep enough into my childhood memories I find the piano that sat in the corner of our living room (and that sits in our living room today). Scattered across the top are 8 ½ by 11 family pictures, including a 10,11 year old boy with an fluorescent orange-looking V-neck sweater, tie, glasses, funny smile & slicked back hair.

3. scrunched in & among the pictures is a small, light-weight, glossy painted, mass-produced manager scene…1/2 of the pieces either leaning over falling down. With the little baby Jesus strategically placed in the middle of the stable surrounded by Joseph & Mary, animals & shepherds, & the 3 wise men (astrologers, thanks to Kyle).

4. I liked the baby Jesus most. He had a big smile. I knew he was important. I knew he was the guy they talked about at church all the time. I knew he was the reason for this season. I felt like this baby had some kind of hold over the world.

5. and he did. And he does. And he will.

Revelation
1. our Christmas text for today is Hebrews 1:1-4. The baby Jesus is strategically placed at the center of God’s revelation.

2. it begins like this – in the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways.
3. this is huge. In the past God spoke. The Christian faith is a revealed faith. In the past refers to God’s action in revealing himself to the Jewish people through – creation, history, story, visions, dreams, laws, prophecies, doctrine & ethics.

4. all this is found in the Old Testament Scriptures. They are true but incomplete. 40-plus writers over 1500 years wrote of promise in need of fulfillment.

5. but in these last days God has spoken to us by his Son. The writer to the Hebrews lets us know that fulfillment has come in the baby of Bethlehem. God’s spoken language is not English, German, French, Chinese, Egyptian or Greek BUT Jesus.

6. Jesus is God’s most complete revelation of himself. Not the Bible. But Jesus. A person. A living Presence in our world.

7. and what does God say to us in Jesus? 3 words sum up God’s message to us in Jesus – creation incarnation re-creation.

Creation
Jesus made the universe (2)
1. Jesus is God’s agent in creation. Jesus created time, energy, space, matter. He created the whole universe:
§ our hearts that will beat 800 million times in a normal lifetime
§ our brains with a tiny cubic half-inch section of brain cells that contain all of our memories
§ the sun, large enough to hold 1.2 million earths & 4.3 million moons
§ Alpha Centauri, our next nearest star to the sun, is 5xs larger

2. where did it all come from? The baby of Bethlehem. And think of this. Jesus made the human body that he would inhabit from an infant to an adult.

3. in October Harry & I stopped in Paris on the way home from Africa. We were on the subway trying to get to the Arc de Triomphe but we went too far. The train took us to the end of the line. We came up out of the subway station & found ourselves in the middle of La Défense – the modern high-rise office tower district of Paris. We were awe-struck. We were in a museum of modern architecture. Dwarfed by skyscrapers of all sizes & shapes. We’d never seen anything like it. A tribute to the creativity & engineering feats of humanity.

4. but who created that creativity? Who created the raw materials for building? The laws of engineering? Who gave those architects, engineers & builders their abilities?

5. the baby of Bethlehem who made the world.

Jesus sustains the universe (3)
1. Jesus is both creator & sustainer. Jesus holds creation together:
§ any slowing of the earth’s rotation would create instant destruction
§ the sun’s surface temperature is 12,000 Fahrenheit – if it were any closer to us we would burn up; any farther away & we would freeze
§ if the moon did not retain its exact distance from the earth, ocean tides would inundate the land completely, 2xs a day

2. scientists who discover the so-called ‘laws of nature’ are simply discovering the laws that Jesus designed & uses to control the world. The whole universe hangs upon the sustaining power of Jesus.
Incarnation
Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory & the exact representation of his being (3)
1. these 2 statements contain more revelation about Jesus than we’ll ever be able to comprehend.

2. God became a human being. The baby of Bethlehem. God broke into the world, split space & time in half, in Mary’s womb.

3. he is the radiance of God’s glory. Radiance means ‘to send forth light.’ God sends forth the light of his being into the world through Jesus. Jill Briscoe understands this to mean that Jesus is the sunbeam of God – he shines the rays of God’s glory into the world.

4. he is the exact representation of his being. The word here is imprint – the imprint made by a stamp on a wax seal. The design of the stamp is reproduced on the wax seal. Jesus is the perfect, personal imprint of God in our world.

5. Jesus created the world. Sustains the world. And now enters the world he created & sustains. He enters the world in the body of a baby that he creates.

6. a couple of weeks ago I was at Jessie & Kimberly Kyllo’s Christmas barn. It was full of hand-made crafts for Christmas gifts. The walls were covered with all these beautiful paintings that Jessie’s mother, Ida, painted. Never knew she was a painter. Imagine what it would be like for Ida to paint a landscape scene & then have the ability to jump into it & live in it & fulfill her life purpose in it.

7. the baby of Bethlehem did something “like” this in creating the world & then entering it as a Savior baby.

Re-creation
Jesus is the purifier of sins (3)
1. this is why the baby of Bethlehem entered our world.

2. the world was created as a place where God could pour out his love upon his creatures. A place to live in union with us. A place where we could enjoy God’s creation, live, work & play. Paradise.

3. but in Adam & Eve we rebelled against God’s purposes. We went our own way, forged our own path. We developed an anti-God culture full of violence, hate, selfishness & greed. Bad news…

4. followed by good news…Out of God’s all-encompassing love for all that he had made, God came to earth & became one of us. The baby of Bethlehem. In Jesus – his life death resurrection – God acted to restore the lost union of humanity with himself.

5. the central act of restoration was/is the cross of Jesus Christ. On that cross Jesus took upon himself all the sin & rebellion of the world & bore it before God. Died in our place. Purified us of our sin.

6. God’s mission in Jesus is to restore all creation to himself so that all creation brings glory to God. On the cross Jesus began to reverse the affects of the fall. He began the process of re-creation - returning all that he had originally made to its original intent.

7. last night I was at Whole Foods eating a muffin & drinking tea. Waiting for a family member to finish what they were doing so I could drive them home. Working on this sermon. I overheard this conversation between 2 employees. This guy was sharing his love of cats. He told how his last 2 cats had actually died in his arms. He went on & on about his last cat. How that cat had comforted him while he was sick & stayed by his side. He held it while it died. And then froze it in his refrigerator for 4 months, until he had enough money to have the cat cremated.

8. God created each of us to love & be loved. This guy loved his cat & felt loved by his cat. On a deeper level, those are God yearnings. We are created to be loved by God & love God. this is why the baby of Bethlehem came.

Jesus is finished with his mission (3)
1. after…he sat down. This means that Jesus finished what he came to do. Mission accomplished. His last words on the cross, it is finished.

2. how many of us have unfinished jobs around the house? We start something but don’t finish it. I bought some bricks from Home Depot 3 summers ago to brick in an area behind our fence for our garbage & recycling containers. They are still stacked in a pile at the side of the house.

3. I’m glad the baby of Bethlehem doesn’t work that way. What he started in the incarnation he finished on the cross & sealed with his resurrection from the dead.

Story time
1. you might be thinking to yourself – nice story but so what? You’ve got other things on your mind:
§ you over spent your Christmas budget
§ ugly war raging in Iraq
§ chronic pain in your back
§ how are you going to pay for your kids college edu?
§ 7 vacation days coming & you can hardly wait!
§ hardly wait for Christmas dinner tomorrow at your house for all the family & relatives

2. that’s part of your story. Here’s the ‘so what?’ God wants to pull you into his story. He wants to make you a part of his.

3. and when he does, his story will change your story. You will see life differently, experience life with brand new eyes.

4. with the angels. With the shepherds. With the 3 wise astrologers. With Joseph & Mary. Fall on your knees before Jesus & confess him to be your Creator, Savior, Sustainer, the Purifier of your sins.

Series: The Hope of the Season: “Are You Saved Or Are You Being Saved?”

I Timothy 1:15

1. Robert Webber, one of the evangelical churches best thinkers & theologians over the past 30 years, recently had dinner with 2 young couples. They asked him if he was working on a book & he replied that he was writing on spirituality.

Isabel responded, there has to be something more than the material world. I don’t know what it is – a power, an energy, a mystery. There is something there, something more than meets the eye.

John, I just don’t think you can know (if there is something more than the material world).

Alexandra, I remember when I was a little girl, I saw a sign on a building that said, ‘all paths lead to God.’ I thought to myself, ‘that makes a lot of sense.’ There are many religions & everyone has their own path to God, and that’s okay.

Jack, what I can’t stand is someone who thinks they have truth, that their view is the right one & everyone else is wrong.

This exchange was followed by an extended discussion about the validity of all spiritualities.

Robert Webber, I asked a few questions, but mainly I just listened. Jack finally asked Webber what he believed.

Robert Webber, I’m a committed Christian. As a matter of fact, I’m one of those Christians who believes Jesus is ‘the way, the truth, and the life.’ Jesus declared himself to be the way to God, so I affirm that spirituality is uniquely connected to Jesus.

Jack (agnostic), explain yourself, I’m willing to hear you out.

Robert Webber took most of the next hour to sketch out God’s story. There were lots of laughter, interaction & interfacing. I did not try to prove the faith with historical facts or scientific data or build a presuppositional case. Instead I simply told the story of God: how God created us to be in union with himself, how this unity was broken (through Adam & Eve’s disobedience), and how Jesus, by God’s Spirit, brought us back into union with God by becoming one of us, by living to show us what true humanity looks like, by dying to destroy all that is death in the world & by rising to lift us up into a new life in God.

Webber, consider that Jesus really is the way to God, that he really does disclose the truth about life, and that through Jesus the vision for humanity & all of history is revealed.

The 1st question after Webber finished God’s story, what God did in Jesus, did God do that for everybody? Webber, yes he did.
For Buddhists? Yes
For Hindus? Yes
For Muslims? Yes
For all people? No exceptions. Everybody.

Jack, I got it! I’ve never heard spirituality expressed that way before. That’s incredible.

Isabel with a look of astonishment on her face, that is a good story! What are we to do?

2. during this season of Advent I’m asking the question, why Christmas? Why the birth of Christ? Why God becoming a human? Why all this beautiful music? Why?

3. Robert Webber just told us & his 4 dinner guests.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). So said an angel to Joseph after he found out that his fiancé Mary was pregnant.

Here is a trustworthy statement that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. (I Timothy 1:15). So wrote Paul to Timothy, his young protége.

…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13). So wrote Paul to the church at Philippi.

4. the “why” of Christmas takes us into a large & spacious theological land. And brings us face-to-face with both bad news & good news. The bad news – there is nothing we can do to restore our union with God. The good news – God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

5. question: how does God do for us what we cannot do for ourselves? Answer: In & through his Son Jesus.

When I go to the Canby pool to swim over the noon hour there is often a car parked out front. This car has a huge sign in its rear window. It reads Jesus saves.

This is an in-your-face sign. You can’t miss it. And as much as I think that in today’s culture signs like this hurt the cause more than help it, I have to agree with it. If I believe anything I believe that Jesus saves.

6. this is illustrated for us by Paul himself in an autobiographical reflection in I Timothy 1:12-17.

I Timothy 1:12-17
1. early on in the 1st chapter, nestled between his comments on false teachers & his instructions on worship, Paul thinks back to the Jesus saves story of his own life. He writes something that totally transcends his personal story.

2. I want you to get inside of it – so that- it can get inside of you.

thanksgiving & praise – 1:12,17
1. this parenthetical statement begins with thanksgiving (12) & ends with praise (17). Paul is a person of God-centered gratitude. Christ has given Paul strength, which has made him faithful, which is followed by Christ calling Paul to be an apostle. And he is quick to praise God.

2. since following Christ Paul has experienced a bunch of “ups” – people saved, churches planted, kingdom advancing, influence expanding. And a long list of ‘downs” – conflict, persecution, character assassination & hard work.

3. but what comes 1st to Paul’s mind? Gratitude & worship. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord & now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Gratitude & worship.

4. are you living by gratitude? Are you living by praise?

mercy, grace, faith, love
1. before coming to Christ, Paul was a “mean dude” as some would say today. A blasphemer – he slandered God. A persecutor – he led the charge to persecute Christ-followers in the early church, kill them, send them to prison. A violent man – he deliberately mistreated, wronged & hurt innocent followers of Christ. He insulted & humiliated them.

2. he admits he did all this out of ignorance & unbelief. He was acting with wrong information.

3. how did God respond to him? I was shown mercy. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith & love that are in Christ Jesus. Paul was not given what he deserved. Blasphemy, persecution & violence were matched with mercy, grace, faith & love.
(from Christianity Today magazine) The writer Anne Lamott has a Jesus saves story. She came to Jesus just as she was—a foul-mouthed, bulimic, alcoholic drug addict. One week after having an abortion, she surrendered to him in her very own version of the sinner's prayer. You can read her story in her book Traveling Mercies.

Lamott is an out-spoken liberal but has won her many evangelical readers through her fascination with all things Jesusy. She looks up daily Scripture passages in Zondervan's Women of Faith Study Bible. Zondervan puts out "hundreds of books that I love," she says, including If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg.

A commentator for NPR and a columnist at the freethinking Salon.com, Lamott shops "all the time" at Christian bookstores. She calls herself a "bumper-sticker Christian." One bumper-sticker saying she lives by is: "God loves you just the way you are but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.”


Jesus saves
1. Paul now writes something that is as succinct & accurate a summary of the mission of Christ that I know of.

2. here is a trustworthy saying – this is reliable, you can depend on it, count on it, build you life on it.

3. that deserves full acceptance – this has universal application & meaning. This is for everyone!

4. Christ Jesus came into the world – Jesus was a real person. He lived in our space & time. He walked in history. He had skin, hair, blood. He talked, ate, slept. He needed a bath & had to relieve himself.

5. to save sinners – Jesus is a redeemer, he liberates sinners from their sin. He makes a liberating difference in our lives.

6. of whom I am the worst – Paul personalizes the universal mission of Jesus. I was a “mean dude.” I was headed in the wrong direction. I had it all wrong. Paul had come to grips with his sin. And we must as well.

example
1. now Paul throws out his life as hope & encouragement for us all. If this blasphemer, persecutor, violent, ignorant, “mean dude” sinner was transformed by God’s mercy & grace, then there’s hope for all of us.

2. God in his unlimited patience will wait for his mercy, grace & love to do its work.

praise
1. I’m struck by Paul’s expansive understanding of the God who saved him from his sins in Jesus:
§ King – sovereign over all
§ eternal – beyond time
§ immortal – beyond decay & corruption
§ invisible – beyond the limits of every horizon
§ only God – beyond all rivals
§ honor & glory forever – what God is due by nature of who he is

2. Paul’s worship is God-centered. Paul’s worship is focused on God’s attributes. Paul’s worship is all about God. Does this characterize our worship?

Jesus saves
1. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I want to unpack this according to the time dimension of save. How is salvation related to time?

2. save can mean the beginning point of our Christian life – I have been saved = past. Often this is called justification. We are declared righteous before God based upon Christ’s finished work on the cross on our behalf. Christ “for” us. Justification is immediate & complete at the moment of faith. A finished product.

3. but save can also mean a process occurring throughout our life – I am being saved = present. Often this is called sanctification. We are being made righteous by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Christ “in” us. Sanctification is progressive & incomplete. A process.

4. both are true & biblical. It’s the present dimension I want to close with this morning

I am being saved
1. our “being saved” is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. This is a never-ending process for as long as we are alive. The goal – to be conformed to the likeness of his Son (Romans 8:29). Our part is to participate with the Holy Spirit in making us to be more like Christ.

2. during this Advent-Christmas season, how are you being saved? How is the Holy Spirit changing you, teaching you? Where are you growing? Dying? Being transformed?

3. how am I being saved?

Since coming back from Guinea & Sierra Leone I feel like I am being saved. I don’t think I’ve ever taken a trip that has turned my inside world so upside down as much as this trip.

Harry & I met people in Guinea & Sierra Leone whose faith in God is as pure & muscular as I’ve ever experienced. People with spines of spiritual steel, spines tempered & refined by the fires of persecution, poverty & hardship.

We met African brothers & sisters whose very lives are a prayer. They live by prayer. They pray to live. They depend upon God in prayer for things that we buy at Costco, or receive through medical care, or enjoy without thinking by virtue of living in a country that is free of civil disturbance.

I feel like I came back with my spiritual insides shredded. I feel undone. In comparison my faith seems so shallow, so temperamental. I have to work to stay interested in God. their lives seem to be enveloped by God.

Harry & I sat with Sam Sesay in his house & listened while he described for us what it was like to live through the civil war that nearly destroyed Sierra Leone in the late 90s (Blood Diamond movie currently playing). He barely escaped with his life. His brother was murdered by the rebels. He knows what it’s like to dodge gunfire & walk by dead, rotting bodies on the streets of Freetown.
To all of this Sam would say, “Our God is a good God” and break into a smile. When I grow up I want to have the faith of Sam Sesay. I want Jesus to be in the process of saving me in the here & now like I see him in the process of saving Sam.

4. Jesus saves. This week, get together with a friend, share how Jesus is saving you.

Series: The Hope of the Season

Genesis 3:15

1. why Christmas? Why Jesus? Why did God become a human being? Why this little baby in Mary’s womb?

2. Brian Doyle – I believe that a carpenter’s son named Jesus indeed cracked time in half, entered this world in the guise of a squalling infant, said his piece, was slaughtered for his pains, and cracked time again on his way home.
But why? Why this birth, this event which split not just time but humanity itself in half?

3. in 1858 Charles Spurgeon used these words in his sermon to describe the baby Jesus:
Infinite, and an infant
Eternal, and yet born of a woman
Almighty, and yet hanging on a woman’s breast
Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried
in a mother’s arms
King of angels, and yet the reputed son of Joseph
Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son
But why, why did “he” happen?

4. to answer the “why” of Christmas we have to go back, way back, to the beginning, the very beginning. The first 3 chapter of Genesis. But even before that. We have to start with God.

Triune God (The Great Dance by C. Baxter Kruger)
1. who is God? God is Father Son & Spirit. The Triune God. 1 God existing in 3 persons. Don’t ask me to explain it because I can’t. If we could wrap our finite minds around God, than God wouldn’t be God.

2. God is a Triune being who exists in a circle of shared life. That life is full, abounding, rich & beautiful NOT lonely, sad or boring.

3. as a Triune being, God is fundamentally a relational being. There has never been a moment in all eternity when God was alone. He has always been Father Son Spirit. God has always existed in relationship. And this is the key to the universe, the key to our lives & the key to the kingdom of God, to the church.

4. why did God create the universe? Why did he create us if he had no needs & was fully self-sufficient within himself?

5. why did he create you, me, our children? Why did he create animals, birds, flowers & music? Why did he create mountains, lakes, rivers, trees, deserts & prairies? Why work, play, relationships, romance & sex? Why laughter, pleasure, rich dark coffee & Pad Thai? Is their a rhyme & reason behind all of this?

6. I can only think of 1 reason. The Father, Son & Spirit created the human race so that what they have together could be shared with us, so that their great dance of life could be extended to us & played out in our lives.

7. 1st there is the Trinity & the Triune life of God, a life of love & joy & community & oneness & glory. 2nd there is creation. God speaks the universe, the earth & humanity & all things into existence.

8. why? To extend the dance to us. The Father Son Spirit created us so that we could participate in their life together – in the knowledge, creativity, love, joy, intimacy, goodness – all played out in us & in our ordinary lives.

Genesis 1-2
1. Genesis 1 & 2 gives us creation. God created the world. He set into place something that did not exist before. He crafts a perfect environment in which, through which he can share his life with us.

2. the very best part of creation is man & woman. They alone, we alone, share his image & likeness. We alone are a reflection of him. We are fashioned for God & for each other.

3. 2:15-17 It struck me again this week that God created us with free will. You are free to eat. We have free choice. We are not pre-programmed to love & obey God. We all of us individually must make this choice.

4. you know what this means? God is a risk-taker, a gambler. He fashioned his creation with the freedom his creation could use to turn against him. This is exactly what happened.

5. as wonderful as love is, potentially love has a downside. Those you choose to love may choose to reject your love. And that hurts. God knows this rejection better than anyone. If you feel like a throw-away kid this morning, or spouse, or friend, or whatever, know this – God understands your feeling of rejection better than you.

Temptation & Fall (thanks to Craig Barnes)
1. things get dicey in Genesis 3. A serpent comes to Eve. Think Satan. He’s crafty, tricky. Still is. He twists the words of God in order to sew seeds of doubt within Eve. Still does.

2. we had help in messing up God’s good world. Satan tricked the man & the woman. But God doesn’t blame the serpent for their choice. They are responsible for choosing to believe a lie.

3. 2:15-17 The tree of the knowledge of good & evil. This is the garden. This is before the fall. This garden & everything God is declared good. BUT in the middle of that perfection is something Adam & Eve are told they cannot have.

4. we live at this tree everyday of our lives. This Adam & Eve story is contemporary, it’s our story. There is always something hanging around our lives that God says is beyond our reach. It is something we can see, but cannot have.

5. what does this tree symbolize in your life? Work, health, a relationship or an achievement you desperately want.

6. picture yourself with Adam & Eve. They are staring at the tree, looking at the fruit. They have to wonder – what is so special about this fruit? Why can’t we have it?

7. every time you confront this thing that is missing from your life you have to decide how you will respond to it. It will either become the altar where you kneel in prayer before the God who alone is whole & complete OR it will drive you crazy as you obsess over how to find what you do not have.

8. the tree of the knowledge of good & evil tells us that God has made us & this world with created limits. The question becomes, what are we going to do with those created limits?

9. the woman exercises her God-given free will & chooses to eat the forbidden fruit. She’s not satisfied. God is not enough. Adam is not enough. The garden is not enough. The other trees are not enough. But this piece of fruit, she thinks, will be enough.

10. do we learn something here about the nature of sin? Does it have something to do with wanting more than what God has given us? Not accepting our God-given created limits?

11. she eats. Her husband eats. And this world has been racked by dysfunction up to this very second. There occurred a rip in the fabric of creation:

§ 3:7 Self-awareness or consciousness was birthed. They now knew nakedness, symbolic of their guilt & shame – so they covered up.

What do we do when we feel guilt or shame? We cover up too. Try to hide things from each other. What are you hiding today?

§ 3:8 Spirituality was shredded. Their relationship with God was broken. They go from walking with him in the garden to hiding from him.

We are no different. We try to hide from God too. One way I hide is by staying busy, working. How do you hide?

§ 3:11-13 The blame game starts. The man blames the woman. The woman blames the serpent. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions.

Most of us are experts are blaming. We refuse to take ownership over our words, actions, attitudes or failures. How are you playing the blame game right now?

Judgment & Salvation
1. when God’s will & ways are violated, God, being who he is, just & righteous, has no choice but to bring judgment to bear. The serpent, the woman, the man are all judged. The serpent & the ground are cursed. And we live with this judgment today.

2. 3:15 This verse is the 1st hint of the gospel in the Bible. The 1st sign of help is given immediately after the 1st sign of trouble. This is a reference to Christ. Help is coming. Genesis 1-2 reveal what God had in mind for us from the beginning. Before sin entered the world and before we started making our choices, God made clear what he choice was for us. And it was paradise.

3. the rest of the story, Genesis 3 on, is essentially the drama of God’s recovery plan after we started making our choices.

4. 3:15 alerts us to the fact that there is going to be a fight between Satan & this woman’s descendant. This woman’s offspring is going to crush the head of Satan. He is going to strike the heel of her descendant.

5. this is talking of Christ, a descendant of Eve. He crushes Satan – evil – death – sin when he dies on the cross. He is struck by Satan, referring to his suffering for us. In Christ God begins to put paradise back together again. He begins to reverse the affects of the fall.

6. this is powerful stuff. God doesn’t give up on us. We spoil his perfect creation. Turn our backs on him. But God doesn’t go away. In fact, he comes closer. He draws near in Jesus.

7. God cannot turn his back on sin. His holy justice demands a response. But his judgment is cut with grace. He sends salvation.

Incarnation
1. now we are ready for Jesus. The Triune life has to be earthed, made human. God & his creation come together in the life of Jesus. The God-man. Fully God & fully human. Don’t ask me to explain because I can’t. The finite can’t fully explain the infinite.

2. Jesus is the reversal of the fall. He gathers up into himself the totality of humanity’s sin without being stained by that sin. And he offers himself as a sacrifice to cover that sin in the eyes of a holy & righteous God.

3. Jesus is the meeting place, the point of union, the connection between the Triune God & fallen humanity. Jesus brings the Triune life of God to us & pulls us into the circle of their love.

4. He came to be the mediator, where the Divine & the human meet & share life. This is what his life, death, resurrection & ascension are all about.

5. what will you do with Jesus?

The Gospel of Mark: on the road with Jesus (20)

“The Kingdom of God?”
Mark 1:15

1. I want to talk about something today that is one of the most important things “to get” in the Bible. In fact, if we don’t “get” this, I don’t think we’ll “get” the Bible or Jesus or the gospel or the church like God intends us to.

2. “getting” what I’m going to talk about today will also help us “get” how we are to relate to culture & politics & war & peace & even the environment.

3. what I want us to “get” is what Jesus talked about all the time. Well over 100 times in the gospels. In fact, Jesus talked about what I want us “to get” more than he talked about anything else.

4. and what I want us “to get” & what Jesus wants us “to get” is something that most of us, I believe, don’t “get.” I’m not even sure if I “get” it.

5. what I want us to “get” is the kingdom of God. Or better yet, that’s what I want “to get” us.

6. now that I’ve got you totally confused, let’s jump into Mark’s gospel.

how Jesus starts
1. Jesus has been baptized by his cousin John. His Father has affirmed him before he’s even entered the work/ministry force – You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased. He’s spends 40 days in the desert, sent by the Holy Spirit but tempted by Satan. He’s receives word that his cousin John has been locked up in prison.

2. and then the carpenter Jesus breaks 30 yrs of silence with these words (Have you ever thought about that? 30 years of quiet. How did Jesus keep from teaching? Healing?), “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” Jesus’ short 3 years of ministry is both launched & framed by these words.

the time has come
1. Jesus spoke Aramaic. Mark wrote down the words of Jesus in Greek as the Holy Spirit guided him. The Greek language has 2 words for time – chronos & karios. Chronos means chronological time, time in a line, the time by which we date things. On November 24 th 2006 the Beavers beat the Ducks 30-28. Mark didn’t use chronos.

2. he used kairos. Kairos time is a critical juncture of time. It’s not about the timeline; it’s about what happened on the timeline. Kairos in the Bible is when God does something significant.

3. Jesus says the time has come. This is a moment in time that will forever change time. Jesus says, God is now going to act in a new & decisive way. God has been silent for 400 years, since the time of the prophet Malachi. Hold on to your seats, says Jesus, that is about to change.

the kingdom of God is near
1. this kingdom is a God thing NOT a human thing. This kingdom comes NOT from Israel or the Romans or the Greeks. BUT from God.

2. this kingdom drawing near in Jesus is absolutely & unmistakably God’s.

3. he’s the Sovereign King. He rules. He reigns.

the kingdom of God is near
1. kingdom is an Old Testament word. God’s kingdom starts in Genesis. What God was up to with Abraham Isaac & Jacob; with Samuel, David & Solomon; with Isaiah, Jeremiah & Hosea, God is now up to again in Jesus.

2. in Jesus his Son God is invading human history & setting up his kingdom. What he promises in the Old Testament he now fulfills in Jesus.

3. the kingdom of God can be tricky to explain & understand. Basically, it is the reign & rule of God in the world IN CONTRAST to the reign of earthly powers – Jewish, Roman & Greek or American, North Korean & Iraqi.

4. don’t think of a spatial or geographical kingdom at this time (that’s eventually to come). Think dynamic reality. The Sovereign God intervenes in human affairs to achieve his unfading purposes.

5. there are 2 aspects as to the timing of this kingdom:
§ the kingdom of God has already come in Jesus & in his followers = there is a partial fulfillment within history
§ the kingdom of God has not yet fully come in Jesus & his followers = consummation at the end of the age

6. as followers of Jesus we live in tension. Jesus has already come & inaugurated his kingdom. The kingdom shows up as love, salvation, healing, deliverance, compassion, a new ethic, a concern for the poor & downtrodden, etc. But this kingdom has not yet fully come. The world is still turned against God & we have to work out our salvation in this world.

repent
1. how were Jesus’ followers to enter the kingdom of God? How are we?

2. the operative word is repent. Here’s how Brian McLaren explains repentance in his book, The Secret Message of Jesus:

The first move is to hear from the heart & to think deeply about what you hear. It means rethinking everything in light of (Jesus’ message). It means that you begin looking at every facet of your life again in this new light – from the way you think about God to the way you treat your spouse, from your political affiliations to your spending habits, from what makes you angry to what makes you happy. It involves a deep sense that you may be wrong, wrong about so much, along with the sincere desire to realign around what is good & true.

3. to repent is to realign ourselves with God & his kingdom as seen & experienced in the person & work of Jesus. Repent is a word full of hope & new beginnings.

4. in the early days of Imago Dei (church in Portland) when the church was a small group of people, Rick McKinley (pastor) called the church to start meeting every Wednesday night to pray for Portland & repent. Writes Rick in his book, Beautiful Mess:

Things got honest real fast – I hate my neighbor; I don’t think I love you, God; I want to care but don’t; I’m afraid to follow you completely. Week after week we prayed for Portland & told God the truth about our own hearts. For 6 months we prayed. Gradually, something happened. Something in us was turning. For the first time we were experiencing an authentic “want to.” With God’s help, we were beginning to embark on a new way of being & of seeing the world. A new way like socks & cigarettes, for example. Christian & Joy and others in our group started passing out socks & cigarettes to the street youth of Portland. 100s of kids living on the street were confronted with the kingdom through socks & cigarettes. The socks & cigarettes met needs, spoke their language, announced that someone cared, and showed them that in the kingdom of God, no one is a throwaway.

5. what’s the Canby version of socks & cigarettes? I wonder what would happen if we began to meet once a week to pray for our community & repent & to ask God to show us how to bring his kingdom to bear upon Canby?

believe
1. repenting is followed by believing. Saying “yes” to Jesus & his kingdom & his teaching & his call upon our lives. Even a “Yes, I believe; help me in my unbelief” will do.

2. repent & believe are 2 sides of the same coin. They go together. You can’t truly believe until you repent. Repentance opens you up to belief.

3. both repent & believe are commands. There’s urgency to kingdom matters. It’s life or death.

4. Jesus didn’t come suggesting that people consider the kingdom of his Father. He didn’t throw it out as a good idea. He came strongly urging you & me & all of us to repent & believe. The stakes are high BUT we often treat them like they are low or non-existent.

5. one morning this past week I was listened to Colin Cowherd (host of a talk radio show on ESPN) interview Pete Carroll (USC football coach). Cowherd asked Carroll what he was like in during the season, how hard he worked, how much sleep he got, etc. Pete Carroll went into a rave about his commitment to coaching USC football. He multi-tasks. He works hard. He’s sleep deprived. Early mornings. Late nights. He’s got one thing on his mind – football.

6. and I thought of the kingdom of God & Jesus’ words – repent & believe. According to Jesus, the kingdom should have our full attention, devotion & commitment. What if we matched Pete Carroll’s obsession with football with our devotion to the kingdom of God? This church, this community, this state, parts of this world would never be the same again.

7. when Jesus says repent & believe, he means to say, lay it all out on the line!

the good news
1. repent & believe lead us on a trail to the good news – the gospel. What is the good news?
§ Creation – God has created our world & pronounced it good
§ Fall – sin in the form of self-centeredness & rebellion against God has entered our world & broken our relationship with God
§ Redemption – God has entered our world in the person of his Son to redeem us, save us, take care of the “sin” problem by dying on the cross in our place
§ Restoration – in Jesus & his present & eternal kingdom the whole creation is going to be restored to its original purity, beauty & innocence.

2. the good news of salvation includes not just souls but bodies & the whole created universe! As evangelicals we’ve got the soul part down, sometimes get the body part, but seldom the whole created universe part. We have made salvation too individualistic at the expense of community & creation (but that is another sermon).

church and kingdom: how do they relate to each other?
1. the kingdom of God transcends the church. The kingdom of God was here before the church & will still be here after the church is gone.

2. you can have the kingdom w/out the church BUT you can’t have the church w/out the kingdom.

3. the church is not an end in itself. It’s a means to an end. The end is the kingdom of God.

4. I find help in the way Brian McLaren talks about the church & the kingdom in his book A New Kind of Christian. The church exists to be a catalyst for the kingdom. It exists for the benefit of the kingdom. The church is to grow numerically & spiritually but that growth matters so the church can become more & more catalytic for the kingdom of God, for the good of the world. The church grows so the world can receive & enter God’s kingdom.

5. Jesus founded the church as an instrument of his kingdom in the world. The church exists to advance the kingdom more & more into the world. That’s why all church work should be kingdom work.

the Gospel of Mark: on the road with Jesus (19)

“Then”
Mark 6:30-46

1. St. Teresa of Avila lived from 1515-1582. She was a Carmelite nun, monastic reformer, mystic & writer. She wrote - Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

2. as we read through these gospel stories, as we live our lives, lets keep this before us – we are the personification of Jesus to our world.

the apostles gathered around Jesus (6:30)
1. the 12 report back to Jesus from their 1st mission – this is what we did; this is what we taught, here’s how it went. People repented, others were healed & some were freed from demons.

2. Jesus & the 12 are debriefing. Enjoying some down time together.

then (6:31)
1. then, Mark writes, then. Before they can sit back & enjoy what’s happened. Before they can rest. Before they can grab some dinner. Then. They are faced with something else.

2. many people crowding around them. Needy people wanting to hear their words & experience their power. Desperate people looking for help. Curious onlookers.

3. the 12 didn’t have any time to themselves. No time to rest or eat after an exhilarating & demanding mission. No time to pay attention to what their souls were trying to say to them. To what their bodies needed.

4. we have these then moments in our lives:
we sit down to relax, then the phone rings with a call for help
we haven’t even unpacked from vacation & then a neighbor knocks on our door with bad news
we just get our teenage son through 1 crisis & then we’re suddenly thrust into the next one
we just pay off our credit card & then the washer & dryer
both go out on the same day

quiet place (6:31-32)
1. (Jesus) said to them, Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place & get some rest. Jesus is watching after his boys.

2. what they need is solitude. Getting away to be alone with God. Soul rest.

3. Jesus is good at this because it’s a pattern in his own life:
§ 1:12-13 = spent 40 days in wilderness
§ 1:35 = solitary place to pray
§ 3:7 = withdrew to lake
§ 3:13 = went up on a mountainside
§ Luke 5:16 = often withdrew to lonely places to pray
§ 6:12 = mountainside to pray & spent the night praying to God

4. solitude is soul rest. My soul finds rest in God alone (Psalm 62:1). Solitude is creating a space in your life where God can engage you.

5. what does the practice of solitude look like in your life?
6. the crowds foil Jesus’ retreat plans. When their boat landed at the designated solitary place it was run over with people. A large crowd met them.

7. happens to us, too. We make plans for a few hours of much-needed solitude and….someone or something foils our plans. How are we going to respond?

he had compassion on them (6:34)
1. Jesus is flexible. He’s thinking solitude, rest, quiet time for his boys. But he finds a large crowd.

2. he sees them not as an interruption BUT as real people with real lives, real needs & real fears. He sees a bunch of lost & needy sheep wandering around the lake shore without any shepherd to lead them.

3. he had compassion on them. Compassion is the Greek word for intestines. It came to mean feeling something very, very deep within you. Sometimes people use the phrase – it ripped my guts out. This is the idea here. Jesus’ compassion for these people was no shallow, superficial thing. His insides ached for them.

4. I wonder how many of us truly feel compassion these days. Compassion fatigue has crept into our lives. Living in the global world, internet-CNN news world that we do, we are hit with an endless barrage of tragic & terrible situations. There are days where we are unable to care any longer.

5. and that is tragic & terrible. Because compassion is a Christ-like characteristic.

6. some of you listen to the music of Steven Curtis Chapman. He & his wife have adopted 3 orphan babies from China. When they traveled to China to adopt their 1st orphan they were overwhelmed by beds of full of orphaned babies. In a book he co-wrote with Scotty Smith he writes, one bed at a time…that’s how we’ve got to think about the daunting challenge of caring for so many orphans. One bed at a time. Jesus is not expecting any of us to put our arms around the whole orphan crisis. But we can fill our arms & empty an orphanage, one bed at a time, one bed at a time. In our family that has led to 2 more empty beds in China.

7. 1 crowd at a time
1 well at a time
1 Food Pantry Saturday at a time
1 Habitat for Humanity house at a time
1 Dental Clinic in West Africa at a time
1 Aids victim at a time
1 starving family at a time
1 needy friend at a time
1 hurting neighbor at a time
1 written out check at a time
1 First Friday hour of prayer at a time
1 smile at a time
1 hug at a time
1 kind word at a time
1 mixed-up kid at a time
1 word or deed of witness at a time

8. do you have a “1 empty bed at a time” cause or passion or mission that God is calling you to? And are you going away with Jesus to drink in his compassion?

so he began teaching them many things (6:34)
1. compassion is followed by – (Jesus) began teaching them many things. We don’t often think of compassion fleshed out in teaching.

2. Jesus was a teacher. Truth mattered to Jesus. What people believed & thought & based their lives upon mattered supremely to Jesus.
3. Jesus’ main message was the Kingdom of God – The time has come. The Kingdom of God is near. Repent & believe the good news (1:15) – I think it’s safe to assume that he taught them about the Kingdom of God – the present in-breaking reign & rule of God personified in his life & in people like the 12.

you give them something to eat (6:35-36)
1. its getting late in the day. The 12 ask Jesus to send the crowd away so they can go eat.

2. and Jesus replies, You give them something to eat. Sometimes Jesus forces us to face our limitations, to do more than we think we can. The 12 didn’t have 8 months worth of wages between them to go buy over 5000 people dinner.

3. we can easily feel daunted by the great needs of our families, our church, our community, our world. In the face of need has Jesus ever said to you, You give them something to eat!
You teach that class
You take on that troubled kid
You become an elder
You start that ministry
You be an advocate for the homeless
You start The Canby Center

4. how many loaves do you have? Jesus asked them. What do you guys have to eat? They pooled together 5 loaves of bread & 2 fish for over 5000 people.

5. all Jesus expects of us is to take what we have, no matter how small, and ask God to bless our efforts & resources. Jesus says, give me what you’ve got & let me bless it.

6. we bring to God the 5 loaves & 2 fish of our lives – of our
leadership abilities
teaching skills
wavering love for our spouse
used-up love for our kids
trust in him for our dreams
strength to finish a work project
courage to confront a paralyzing problem

7. Healthy spiritual development includes a Christian imagination that believes God that all things are possible (Spiritual Formation Bible).

Bret Lott stories
1. Bret Lott is editor of the Southern Review & a professor of English at Louisiana State University. He writes novels, like Jewel, which was featured in Oprah’s Book Club. He’s a follower of Christ.

2. he went on a church missions trip to Moldova in eastern Europe with his wife & 2 teenage sons to run a bible camp. He was the camp activities director. They were planned for 140 children & brought supplies for 160. During the week they had upwards of 170 kids show up. They had more kids than what they had supplies for.

3. relay race. One day they ran a relay race. Each kid ran to a paper bag, put on a pair of garden gloves, reached into the bag to pull out a pack of gum, pulled a piece of gum from the pack with gloves on & ran back to tag the next person on his team.

4. as they got to the end of the relay race his son yelled to him, Dad, we’re going to run out of gum! Bret Lott hollered back, Pray! And then prayed himself that there would be enough gum for each kid. AND THERE WAS ENOUGH. God performed a miracle – he multiplied the gum.

5. T-shirts. On the last day there they tie-dyed T-shirts. They only had 140 shirts. They knew there were over 170 kids. The whole team prayed over the shirts AND stepped boldly into their tie-dyeing event. At the end of the day they had precisely enough T-shirts, 1 for each of the over 170 children.

6. Bret Lott’s concluding comments, Do I really believe that God reached out his hand to us and, as those 5000 people who’d gathered on the shore of the Sea of Galilee were given food from 5 loaves & 2 fish, gave us some extra gum & a big wad of T-shirts? Yes, I do. Count on it.

7. now as then, Jesus is where we look to find answers for our physical & spiritual needs.

8. what needs are staring you in the face today? What 5 loaves & 2 fish do you hold? Step out in faith & ask Jesus to bless your efforts & resources.

9. Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

the Gospel of Mark: on the road with Jesus (18)

“The Scandalous Jesus”

Mark 6:1-13

1. I love the gospel of Mark because he tells it like it is. He doesn’t sugar-coat the Jesus story. He tells us things that, if we stop to think about them, are shocking.

2. case-in-point: what do you make of Jesus? His audience response is all over the charts. A high degree of people had serious questions about Jesus & his ministry:
§ 1st disciples: 4:41 – who is this? Even the wind & waves obey him?
§ 2nd family: 3:21 – he is out of his mind
§ 3rd Pharisees & Herodians: 3:6 – they began to plot how they might kill Jesus
§ 4th Scribes/teachers of the law: 2:7 – he’s blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? 3:22 – he is possessed by Beelzebub. By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.
§ 5th home town crowd: 6:3 – where did this man get these things? Carpenter? Mary’s son? They took offense at him.

3. on the other hand, the forces of evil “get” Jesus; they are the only ones who confess Jesus to be God’s Son:
§ 1:24: I know who you are, the Holy One of God
§ 1:34: they knew who he was
§ 3:11: You are the Son of God
§ 5:7: Jesus, Son of the Most High God
The evil spirits believe that Jesus the man is Jesus the God.

4. this is not what you would expect to find. And it causes me to wonder – is it possible that we might not see Jesus as clearly as we think?

the home town crowd
1. when the Sabbath rolls around Jesus is in his home town of Nazareth teaching in the synagogue. Some were amazed & others had questions.

2. where did this man get these things? He went to our schools, attended our synagogue, lived in our neighborhood.

3. what’s this wisdom that has been given to him, that he even does miracles? He didn’t have this wisdom & power when we knew him!

4. isn’t this the carpenter? He worked with wood. He built yokes & door frames & cattle stalls. “Jesus built the bookshelves in my parent’s home. He didn’t go to college. He never managed a big business.”

5. there’s such irony here. This carpenter who built the bookshelves is the carpenter who built the universe! Think about that. He constructed the lives of his critics. He fashioned them with the minds they used to erect a case against him & the mouths they used to criticize him. They exist because he is. The carpenter is the Creator.

6. isn’t this Mary’s son? Jesus lived in a patriarchal society. Your lineage was traced through your father, not your mother. They remembered the questions surrounding his birth – Mary got pregnant as a teenager BUT Joseph said he wasn’t the father. Jesus is illegitimate!

7. and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas & Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us? We know his family. We watched him grow up.

offense & faith
1. and they took offense at him. The word here is the word scandalize. They were outraged & horrified by this local boy.
2. Jesus made their blood pressure rise. They wanted to put him in his place. They thought he was a fake. They were scandalized by him.

3. he was amazed at their lack of faith. As a result he only healed a few people. Why? He wasn’t going to cast pearls before swine.

4. His homecoming flopped. Jesus was met with skepticism & unbelief.

Jesus sends out the 12
1. Jesus sends the 12 disciples out on their 1st mission. They go out 2 by 2. They take something of Jesus with them – the authority to cast out demons.

2. no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Not an extra tunic.. Jesus wants them to depend upon the hospitality of the people they want to reach. Go live with them. Meet them on their terms. Walk in their shoes. Depend up on them.

3. this is a picture of the incarnation – God entered the world in Jesus & lived fully in it. He didn’t partially come to earth. He came all the way to earth. Jesus didn’t retreat every evening @ 5pm to a gated palace outside the city. He had no home & no place to lay his head except the places of the people he loved. And he told the disciples to do the same!

4. how did the church get from the lifestyle of Jesus & these instructions to the 12 TO pastors today who live in luxury, fly around the country in their own private planes & drive the latest Mercedes? I wonder what Jesus thinks!

5. shake the dust off your feet. Just as Jesus offended people, so his disciples doing their Jesus stuff would offend people. Shake the dust off your feet means that they are not responsible for the response of those who reject Jesus. Those who have heard are now responsible.

6. Jesus sent them out to preach repentance, free people from darkness & anoint the sick with oil & heal them. Like Jesus, like the 12.

What do you make of Jesus?
1. this passage illustrates what is true so far in Mark’s gospel – Jesus is a mixture of attraction & offense. He draws a crowd wherever he goes. After he teaches, heals & delivers, people are amazed (attraction) & bothered (offense). He entertains some & scandalizes others.

2. who is this Jesus? At this point in Mark’s story I can’t point you to Jesus family – he is out of his mind. I can’t point you to his disciples – who is this? Even the wind & waves obey him. I can’t point you to his hometown people – they took offense at him. I can’t point you to the church officials of his day – they began to plot how they might kill him.

3. all I can do is point you to some evil spirits, demons. They get it. They confess that Jesus is the Holy One of God & the Son of God. They believe he is Divine. And they are terrified of him!

4. some were amazed, some were offended & some were terrified.

5. what do you make of this Jesus?
§ if he is the Holy One of God
§ if he is the Son of God
§ if he has power over evil spirits
§ if he can calm the waves & the wind
§ if he can heal the sick
§ if he can save the lost
§ if he can call people to leave their nets & follow him & they do
§ if he died for our sins
§ if he rose from the dead
§ if he lives today
§ if he is the matchless Cosmic King of the universe

6. what are you going to do with this Jesus?

Jesus, be the Center
1. each of our lives is centered on something. What’s at the center of your life?

2. or, what’s the main thing in your life? What’s 1st in priority? What’s at the top of your list?

3. or, what are you most passionate about? What do you love to talk about, think about?

4. or, what defines you? Your career? A relationship? Your family? Cause? Political affiliation? Hobby? Talent? House? Business?

5. is it Jesus?

6. I wish all of you could go to West Africa – Guinea & Sierra Leone. I wish all of you could meet Gessim (rejected by his family & cut out of the family finances because of his love for Jesus). I wish all of you could meet Fode (shunned by his mother who refused to talk to him after she realized he loved Jesus & not Allah). I wish all of you could meet Cisse (beaten in his hometown village by his own family because of his love for Jesus).

7. I wish you could meet Sam Sesay (who left a comfortable job with the British High Commission; who then left a comfortable pastorate at the Wilberforce Baptist Church; who became a missionary to the Susu people in his mid-40s with 6 children because of his love for Jesus).

8. I wish you could meet Paulo Rehm (who left a secure, high-paying job with a company in Brazil – he was set for life – to become a missionary to the Susu people in one of the poorest countries in the world because of his love for Jesus).

9. Jesus is the center of Gessim, Fode, Cisse, Sam & Paulo’s lives. He’s their passion. Jesus defines them. Jesus is more important to them than money, security, country, family & safety.

10. I wish I could fly our whole church to Africa to meet these people & others just like them. But I can’t.

11. but here’s what I can do. I can take you to Jesus. You don’t have to fly to Africa to meet Jesus. You can meet Jesus right here, right now.

12. you can be one of the crowd & be amazed by his miracle-working powers. Or you can be one of his hometown friends & be offended, scandalized by him. Or you can be like the evil spirits & be terrified of his authority & power. Or you can be like the 12 who, misdirected as they sometimes were, made him the center of their lives & loved him till they died…for their love for him.

13. what is Jesus asking of you today?

14. this is what I think he’s asking –
§ make me more important than money in your life
§ make me more important than security in your life
§ make me more important than country in your life
§ make me more important than family in your life
§ make me more important than safety in your life

the Gospel of Mark: on the road with Jesus (17)

“Desperation Met With Life-giving Power”

Mark 5:21-24, 35-43

1. when Rob Bell was 28 years old he started Mars Hill church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2 years later 10,000 people were attending the church. One Sunday morning between the 9 & 11am services Rob Bell sat in a storage closet off the platform.

2. he thought to himself…
§ I can’t do it anymore
§ I’m not even sure I’m a Christian anymore
§ I’m exhausted, burned out, full of doubt
§ I have nothing more to say

3. he writes in his book Velvet Elvis, It was in that abyss that I broke & got help….because its only when you hit bottom & are desperate enough that things start to get better. When we get desperate & realize we cannot keep living this way, then we have to change.

4. today’s Jesus story from Mark 5 is about desperation & the life-giving power of Jesus.

Putting ourselves in the story
1. the purpose of these stories is to tell us who Jesus was & is. And the reason we read & study them is so we can learn to live the way of Jesus.

2. what would it have been like to have actually been there? Close enough to touch him or be touched by him? To have actually smelled him?

3. what was it about him that caused some to give up everything to follow him, like Peter James & John in today’s story.

4. let yourself into this story today about a 12 year old girl who died.

5:21 – lake & crowd
1. this story takes place on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, which is no sea at all. It’s a fresh water lake 13 miles long & 8 miles across. Jesus is the hottest ticket in town – he draws a crowd.

5:22-23 – dying daughter
1. a synagogue ruler by the name of Jairus broke into the crowd. Jairus was a lay person who supervised the use of the synagogue for worship. He was a man of rank & privilege.

2. and Jairus was desperate. His 12 year old daughter was dying. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet. He begged Jesus to come home with him. He pleaded with him to lay hands on his daughter. To heal her & give her new life. Jesus was his only hope to beat the death that was stalking his daughter.

3. there’s nothing like death to make us cry out to God. But physical death is not all that can make us desperate for God. What about the death of –
§ a job or a career?
§ a marriage?
§ a vision or dream?
§ a friendship?
§ health?
§ one’s invincibility?

4. Martin Luther once remarked that his insight into God’s grace came to him while he was “on the toilet.” This was a commonly used phrase in Luther’s time for being in a state of utter helplessness & dependence upon God.

5. last week Steve Fowler challenged us with the notion of living by the couch or the cross. Couch = life of comfort & control. Cross = life of following Christ, dying to self & giving up control.

6. the cross reeks of Jesus’ death, his denial of his self, his willingness to give up his life in order to give us life. Out of his death comes our life.

7. we need Communion to regularly bring us back to the cross. This symbol of death which calls out to become a reality in our lives. We say “no” to self & sin as we say “yes” to Jesus.

5:24 – Jesus went with him
1. busy Jesus, over-run with crowds Jesus had time for Jairus. He took time for hurting people. He left the crowds & followed Jairus home. When have you done the same?

5:35 – dead daughter
1. before Jairus could get Jesus home, bad news arrived. Your daughter is dead. Some of you have heard these words. “Your daughter is dead. Your son has died. Your father just fell over dead of a heart attack. Your sister was just killed in a car accident.” You never forget these words.

2. I called my parents last April 5 to see how my brother Tom was doing. I knew he was close to death but I wasn’t ready for what I heard. My mom answered the phone & tearfully said, “He’s gone, Tom just died a few minutes ago.”

3. at this point in the story all hope is gone. Desperation reigns. Why bother the teacher any more? Jairus’ friends believed his dead child was beyond Jesus’ reach.
4. your daughter is dead may sound different to you in your desperation:
§ the reports came back & its cancer
§ your father filed for divorce today
§ I’m sorry but your job has been eliminated
§ your daughter has been arrested for possession of

5:36 – fear & belief
1. when death of any kind stalks us Jesus is who we need, a word, a touch from the Life-giver.

2. to Jairus Jesus says, don’t be afraid; just believe.“ Jairus, don’t live your life in fear, especially now; keep living by the belief that brought you to me for healing in the first place.”

3. desperate times call for desperate faith in Jesus alone to make a difference.

5:37 – Peter James John
1. Jesus ditched everyone except Jairus & Peter James John. 3 rough-around-the-edges fisherman who received special mentoring from Jesus. This is an example of how Jesus trained his disciples. He gave them on-the-job training.

2. “here, come with me, I’m going to show you how to raise the dead!”

5:38-40a – wailing crowd
1. the word was already out. Jairus’ daughter was dead. Family, friends, neighbors gathered. Cries of grief & tears filled the air. What a tragic, unspeakable thing – Jairus’ 12 year old daughter, dead!

2. Jesus speaks, why all this commotion & wailing? The child is not dead but asleep. This is the very word we all want to hear when someone we love dies. But if you’ve been around death you know that what looks like sleep is really death.

3. the wailing crowd goes from crying to laughing at Jesus in a split second. And in the next split second he kicks them out of the house.

5:40b – entering the room
1. Jesus led Jairus, his wife & the 3 disciples into the dead girl’s room.

2. some of you have entered a room like this, a rooim holding your dead child or parents or friend or spouse. I’ve been in rooms like this.

3. rooms drenched with tears, grief, loss, emptiness. I wonder if the girl’s mom held her face in her hands. Maybe Jairus knelt on his knees at the bedside & held his dead child’s hand. There’s the child, life-less, wax-like in death.

5:41-42 – life-giving power
1. He took her by the hand & said in Aramaic, Little girl, I say to you, get up. Frederick Buechner comments, how far down into darkness did Jesus have to reach to bring this girl back to life?

2. immediately, Mark writes, immediately, desperation was met with life-giving power.

3. the girl stood up & walked around her bedroom. Can you see it? After being squeezed & hugged by her parents I wonder if she grabbed her hair brush or reached for her cell phone to call her friends?

4. she had her life back. Jairus & his wife had their lives back as well! The worst day of their lives had just been changed into the very best day of their lives.
5. Communion reminds us not just of the death of Christ but of his resurrection as well. Paul instructs us to celebrate communion until he comes. Christ can’t come if Christ hasn’t been raised from the dead. Which he has! From the death of the cross comes the life of the resurrection.

5:42 – get up
1. some of us need to get up. We need to crawl off the bed we’ve been lying on. The bed of:
§ making our lives all about comfort control convenience
§ self-pity
§ disobedience
§ laziness
§ playing the victim
§ settling into the status quo – church, pursuing God
§ hiding our addictions to drugs alcohol sex pornography food spending
§ critical attitude or spirit
§ pride & arrogance

2. “Get up, Jesus says to all of you – all of you! – and the power that is in him is the power to give life not just to the dead like the girl, but to those who are only partly alive, which is to say to people like you and me who much of the time live with our lives closed to the wild beauty and miracle of things, including the wild beauty & miracle of every day we live & even of ourselves” Frederick Buechner

3. in our desperation Jesus can meet us with life-giving power. The power of new life, new hope, new being. The power to get up even when getting up isn’t all that easy for us.

5:43 – keep quiet & eat
1. how do you keep something like this a secret? Jesus didn’t want it advertised because he didn’t want people to think of him only as a miracle-worker. The Kingdom of God is far more than just miracles.
2. I love the way this story ends – give her something to eat. Grab her a bagel or a bowl of cereal. This shows the sensitivity & tender compassion of Jesus.

3. and in response to this Jesus story I want to give you the chance to get something to eat. To return to the Communion table. To take seconds. To bring your death & desperation issues to Jesus. To seek his life-giving power. To ask him for whatever it will take to get up. To be about following him. To be about living his way of life.

The Authority of Christ

by Youth Pastor Kyle Mellander

I want to invite you this morning to take a journey. I’m 26 years old and I don’t have everything figured out. So instead of me sitting up here this morning teaching you what God has taught me, my hope is that you, sitting there in your seat, can accompany me on a journey. The journey might be difficult. In fact, I pray that this morning will be difficult to hear. What Jesus said was often difficult, and when things are difficult, they force you into movement – either toward Christ or away.

So if you were coming here this morning hoping not to think, I want you to mentally slap yourself in the head and wake up and get ready to think. I do not intend to close all the points in tidy – that will be your job. My goal this morning is to guide you to explore yourself – to explore Jesus – and to explore how Christ will interact with you.

But before we get too deep into that, I want to tell you a little bit about myself. Like I said, I’m 26 years old, I’m married to my lovely wife Emily, and we’ve got a future baseball player getting set to enter this world soon. We have an awesome dog named Faile and a feisty cat named Rand. I am huge sports fan – I love baseball the most. This is one of my favorite times of the year. This year, I am a little saddened because the Braves are not in the playoffs, but if you ask my wife, it’s a great thing, because I really get into the playoff games. But this year I am blessed because after years of watching the Bears play horribly, I am finally getting to see them get some respect.

I like to travel, but I am horrible at it. Some people can go to someplace new and just explore and never feel the need to know where they will be ending up next. But not me. I am a home-body. I LOVE being home. I love being able to kick up my feet and relax in my own house, to watch my own tv, to sleep in my own bed…I’ll stop there.

It seems so American to want to be comfortable. Even the adventurous types seem to still crave the stability that America is based around. That’s why 9-11 freaked us out so much – I think for so many people it was less of a fact that people died, because people die tragically everyday, but moreso it freaked us out because it means that we could end up being the victim of a tragic death. That our secure life would be challenged.

We create savings for ourselves, we own our houses that are somehow creating paper wealth for us as we live in them. Even the government follows what we want to be comfortable. We vote for the people that are most like us to be in government and we push for the laws that agree with our moral outlooks to be put into place.

We are in control! We are masters of our domain. We are able to kick back in our Laz-E-Boys and click on the TV of our lives while we trying to get through this life as comfortable as possible. Anything that threatens our control over our environment makes us nervous.

This is one of the reasons why Jesus’ life is so amazing. He went around his country – sometimes facing happy faces, but sometimes meeting glares – never settling into his own – never reaching that plush spot. And don’t get me wrong – Jesus totally could’ve done this. He could have picked a spot – been a rabbi at that place and let people come to him – meet them on his terms – do things when his schedule was free. But the cool thing about Jesus is that he didn’t do that. Jesus didn’t have to be comfortable. Jesus did not have to control the situation to be in authority over the situation.

Lets take a look at this story where Jesus walks into an uncomfortable situation.

Read. Mark 5 – Stand up.

Pray.

So right after the storm that Jesus calms, he crosses over into Eastern Israel. I want you to picture the situation that Jesus steps into as he steps off the boat. He steps down and he sees this crazy demon possessed man (show picture) – I’m guessing he might look something like that. And the text says that this crazy demon possessed man came to MEET Jesus. He came to meet Jesus. And I want you to imagine this man in detail. He lived in tombs – lived where they buried their dead, so I’m guessing he didn’t smell very good. His clothes were most likely extremely old, beaten and dirty and bloody. He looked like a mess. It said that he cut himself – so he probably had scars and blood all over him. And not only that, but he was probably a pretty intimidating guy. The townspeople had tried to chain him up, but he had ripped those chains apart. Whether this guy was average and just had the super strength because of the possession, I’m not sure, but I’m sure that if you had this guy walking up to you to meet you, you would go out of your way to avoid him. I’ve done it many times to people like that. In fact, the townspeople had chained him up for that very reason – to keep him as far away from them as possible.

The description of him doesn’t stop there – it says that he cried out in the night and cut himself with stones. So even though people had tried to keep him out of their hair, they still heard him cry out. Probably freaked their kids out. I’m sure it did great things for their home values.

So he came down to meet Jesus after ripping himself free from his chains and something amazing happens. I’m guessing he’s like a half mile from the docks where Jesus lands and he just starts to book it. The next events are not as clear as to the progression, but I’m guessing it might’ve gone something like this. He is running as hard as he can. Jesus sees this scary looking guy running at full speed towards him. I don’t know about you, but at this point I’m freaked out. Jesus calmly says to him as he gets within hearing distance “Come out of this man, you evil spirit.” The man then falls down on his knees and looks up at Jesus and yells – YELLS at the top of his lungs “WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME, JESUS, SON OF THE MOST HIGH GOD? SWEAR TO GOD THAT YOU WON’T TORMENT ME!”

As a side note, I just want to say – isn’t it interesting that this detestable, crazy, disgusting, demon possessed man can recognize that when Jesus comes around, he has to do whatever he says. Even when no one can control him, he recognizes Christ’s authority.

I want to say that I do not know exactly how demons work. The spiritual world seems somewhat of a mystery. I think that the devil is crafty and that in our American world he makes his evil work much more subtle. That being said, I wonder if it was almost like a split personality deal with this man. Because otherwise, why would Jesus do what he did next.

Jesus looked at the man – this horrible, terrifying, disgusting, unlovable, demon-possessed man and says “What is your name?” I would not care about names at this point – I’d be like just get out of here, I want nothing to do with you!

But at this point, the demons spoke up and named themselves as Legion and again begged for them to stay in the area. I don’t know why Jesus granted them their wish, but He did. Maybe it’s because He didn’t need to be free from affliction to be in the presence of God. Maybe He didn’t need to be free from the presence of evil to be able to do God’s work. Why do we think that we need to get as far away from evil when we have a God with us who has conquered death and sin and evil. Is it because we are searching for that comfort?

So Jesus sends out the demons and sends them into 2000 pigs, who go straight into the lake that Jesus just crossed and killed themselves like lemmings. I’m sure that it was a terrible sight. I’m sure there was a lot of shrieking pigs. I’m sure there were a lot of panicked and confused people. And I imagine that the man who had been demon possessed stayed their on his knees watching all this in wonder. Why did he deserve to be freed from his affliction. I imagine that Jesus again asked him his name and he told him. Jesus took him and helped him wash up, clean up his wounds, and get some clean clothes on.

Some time had passed and so the news had spread throughout the town. The men who owned the pigs went out into the town nearby and spread the news. To them, this was terrible news. Their business was destroyed. They lost everything. And everyone else had their lives at risk.

So they go up to Jesus and see the demon-possessed man sitting there like a normal human being – sitting there as a respected man. I can’t blame them for being a little upset. The first thing it says is that they were afraid. I wonder what crazy thoughts went through their mind. They were hysterical because they were so scared about how this was going to change their life for their families. As they stood their in disbelief, people told them the story of what happened, and they tell Jesus to leave. I assume that this was not a kid asking. I’m guessing they were pissed and were commanding Jesus to get out. Jesus HOW DARE YOU ENTER INTO MY LIFE IN THIS WAY!

How often do we cry out to God when things don’t go our way? It’s hard to understand the way God works sometimes, so I think we are all too guilty of asking Jesus to leave us alone. To get out of areas of our lives.

We lose a job and we question if God thinks that we are good enough. We lose a close family member and we get angry that God would take them away. Our children don’t live up to our expectations and we cry out to God why He could let this happen. We feel lonely and we close ourselves off from God. Our marriage starts to deteriorate and we blame God. When God shows us that He is in control of our lives – it can be very scary. It means our insecurities, our shortcomings, can be laid bare. I don’t want to say that it is wrong to emotionally respond to the hard things of this world. But I wonder why we get angry at God when they happen. I wonder what it was that caused the owners of the pigs to be so angry! Why are we so scared to let God take full control of our lives?

We distance ourselves from God because if we let him be in control, it could mean an uncomfortable place where things can seem so unsure. Crazy how Jesus never seemed to experience that. Jesus never seemed to wonder if God really loved Him or if the things He was going through were some kind of anger overcoming the love.

But Jesus exercises his authority again in not having to keep control. He hears the angry cries of these well respected men to leave and so he does. He sadly packs his things back up and starts to load himself and his disciples into the boat. And to think, this is all over some unclean animals that the men probably shouldn’t have been raising anyways.

Could it be that when we ask God to leave us alone that He does? Could it be that when we tell God that we want to be comfortable – that we don’t want things to change – that we want to stay in control – that He lets us? He’ll leave us alone on our Laz-E-boys.

But I think it is amazing the reaction of this demon-possessed man. The irony here is so amazing because they never actually give him a name in the passage, but he is so well respected by Jesus. He looks at Jesus and begs Him to let him come with. He wants more and more of Jesus. He invites Jesus, who has seen the darkest part of him, to come even deeper into his life – to capture it all.

But Jesus instead knows the bigger picture and sends him of to share throughout all his homeland what Jesus had done. Jesus used this broken, demon-possessed man to change many people’s lives.

So, I ask you, who was it that was a follower of God – the demon-possessed man or the owner of the pigs? This is challenging to me, because it is scary to be in that place where our sins and insecurities are laid bare before others and before God. How will He respond, how will WE respond? The comfortable do not often respond well to the broken.

May you be blessed to have God take control of your life. May you invite Him to take a look at those nasty parts of you. May you take the risk to give up your control so that God can be in authority over your life. May you feel secure and put together in His grip.

“The Story We Find Ourselves In”

Mark 4:35-41

Introduction: “The Perfect Storm”clip – what did you find your self experiencing or feeling as you viewed that particular scene?
We all weather storms in life and this morning we are going to give attention to these storms and God’s place in the midst of the storms of life.
It’s a big world and a connected world, a lot of forces coming together in just the right way both in our personal lives and globally to create the perfect storm.
Bailey Colorado news and other events that Kyle has already mentioned and prayed for this morning.

Transition: in fact if we think of our world in enough detail I would image that we will find ourselves responding with a variety of feelings ranging from anger, to stress, to fear, to anxiety, to sadness, even depression.

The story we find ourselves in

Our global story
Threat of nuclear war – we could literally destroy our entire world through nuclear arms.

Global warming is a real issue and the potential natural disasters that may arise out of it.

Terrorism and the atrocity that often comes from religious fundamentalism (in this case the Islamic fundamentalist).

Economic instability with medical advancements allowing for people to live longer though the quality of life may not improve.

Russia revitalizing its Soviet Union infra-structure

The fast pace of life and communication which seems to keep information constantly running free in our minds – your ability to change your stock portfolio in minutes.

China rising; producing more intercontinental ballistic missiles on land and sea than any country in the world.

Our money is dependent upon oil in the Middle East, the Yen and the Euro.

Companies walking away from retirement plans.

The bird flu or avian influenza – which if it were to get loose could literally wipe out half of the planet. (stats from flu’s of the past)

Transition: But the “story we find ourselves in” doesn’t end with our global experience we have our own personal stories as well. Like I said, It’s a big world and a connected world, a lot of forces coming together in just the right way both in our personal lives and globally to create the perfect storm – and we can not not have some reaction to this. In other words, the combination of personal experiences and our personal experience of world events will affect us.

Our personal story – and if we think about our own personal worlds in enough detail I would image that we will also find ourselves responding with similar feelings of anger, or stress, or fear, possibly anxiety, sadness or depression.
Life events
Relationships gone awry…
divorce
strained relations with parents
strained relations with children
work relations
social relations
difficulties, not enough friends, not able to fully be ourselves or to feel like we are really known.

Abuse you’ve experienced at some point in your life, be it: verbal, physical, spiritual, emotional or sexual.
This has left us with all kinds of reactions – angry, controlling, insecure, avoiding, feelings of inadequacy, trust issues

The dynamics of our families of origin:
growing up left to fend for yourself that managed to leave you wondering whether your very existence as a person matters
perhaps your parents were overly involved to the extent that you weren’t free to make your own decisions and were left wondering who you were and struggling with the ability to make decisions
perhaps you grew up in an environment where you had to perform to feel loved leaving you with an over all experience of life of never quite measuring up.
Or perhaps you hold to a belief that there is something wrong with you because you’re parents
Divorced
Abused substances
Or abused you
The list could go on…

The events that are out of your control:
miscarriages
loss of job
death of loved one

Decisions you’ve made:
Pull out of an investment that has hurt your financial future
Things you’ve said or done to your spouse or children
The consequences of substance abuse
Or the use of pornography
Or the decision to have an abortion
You name it…

This is the stuff that makes up our experience of the world – we’re all in need of healing!
This is the story we all find ourselves in and we all continually react:
We may hide from our pain (grandiosity wizard of oz, performance, etc.)
We may displace our pain onto something else/concretize our pain
Do you blame us?
Our responses of hiding, displacing, overwhelming feelings of sadness, depression, living a life driven by fear or soaked with anxiety are to be expected in light of our experience and are indication of the healing that desparately needs to occur.
We are hurt and in need of healing

Transition: In such a world with the global and personal experiences we have how else would we respond? In 1964 Bob Dylan sang “The times they are a changin,” and they have. We live in a different world. But are our responses really all that different than those who have gone before us?

The story the disciples found themselves in
Their global story
"How miraculous! We can now sail to Spain in just four days, Gaul in three days. We can reach Africa, on the gentlest breeze, overnight."

As the first century unfolded, ancient observers were awestruck by their shrinking world.

Reconstruction voiceover: "Incredibly, even Egypt is barely seven days' journey."

For the empire that Augustus left behind was now more than a collection of conquered lands. It was a far-flung society of vibrant commerce and frequent travel. By the year 14, the people of modern day France, Turkey, Syria, Greece, Spain and North Africa were all part of Rome. They contributed to its wealth, and gained from its protection.

Unrest in Rome, Augustus had built an empire but Tiberius would not have such luck. The Senate chamber was tense as Augustus' will was read. Tiberius moved warily to claim his legacy. And he gave confusing signals. Would Tiberius assume full imperial powers, the senators asked. "No," he responded. "Which branch of government will you direct?", one member called out. Tiberius was silent. "How long will Rome remain headless?" shouted another.

Many lived on the brink of ruin. In their towns and cities, in Egypt, Italy, and around the Mediterranean, they endured filthy streets, rampant disease, and recurrent famine. Emperors tried to alleviate suffering by offering free grain to some quarter of a million Romans. But even this wasn't enough. For many of the nameless poor, feeding their families was an impossible task, especially in the Roman province of Judea, modern-day Israel. There, on the empire's desert fringe, the dry soil supported meager harvests. Roman taxes added to the burden. The Jews of Judea were fervently religious. Among them was a family from a village near the Sea of Galilee.

Joseph was a Jewish carpenter. If the birth of his son caught Rome's attention at all, it was only as a statistic. But Jesus, growing to maturity in his father's trade, would leave a legacy more enduring than Augustus himself, a legacy made possible by the extraordinary ferment of the first century. For in this corner of the empire, at this moment in history, Judea was in turmoil. The population had split into hostile factions. Preachers and prophets roamed the countryside, drawing emotional crowds. At the age of 30, Jesus joined one such group and was baptized in the Jordan River. Soon, Jesus began a ministry of his own. And like other itinerant preachers of his day, he walked between villages, taking his message to the homes and synagogues of Judea's poor.

Their personal story
The setting and the story (Mark 4:35-41)
Marks obvious presence
At least 4 of them were fishers (Peter, Andrew, James and John) and had probably known the Sea of Galilee and its storms since their youth.
In Jewish tradition the one who ruled the winds and sea was God himself

Their response appears to be a very natural response
Do you blame them – how else are you to respond when life comes at you in a dangerous or threatening manner? When life feels out of control how do you respond? Their response is chastise-like but do we blame them. Is not the fear or anxiety we fear in such a time not a God-given mechanism that aids in our survival. The survival of a people who are precious in the eyes of the Creator. Does not anxiety and fear tell us that something is wrong, does it not motivate us to make a change so that we might be liberated both from the encounter and the emotion?

I mean, what kind of question is Jesus asking? If we are God designed to experience certain emotions – do you choose to feel something? The question is almost shaming, like what’s wrong with you for feeling this way in the midst of threat?

Perhaps Jesus was getting at something deeper, something beyond their fear of the storm. Was Jesus using the stirring of the waters to bring about a deeper healing in the life of the disciples?

Transition: How are we to respond to the story we find ourselves in? How were the disciples to respond? How did Jesus respond?

Meet Jesus in the storms of life and you will find healing. What do I mean by this?

Peace: Significance of Jesus sleeping (trust)
As Jesus sleeps peacefully in the perfect storm he teaches us something of the Father, of one of His names that some of us may be less than familiar with. In the perfect storm, Jesus teaches us of the “Perfect Sovereign.” Jesus is sleeping… when we live through times of anxiety or fear we often do not sleep well, but Jesus is sleeping and his external environment is falling apart which tells us something of his internal environment – which tells us something of his approach to life and his trust in his father.

The rule of God over life brings an internal resolve to the person of faith.

Ironically, they, the fishers are the ones fearful, and it is the carpenter who sleeps peacefully – his sleep in the midst of the storm a sign of his trust in God.

The disciples however, do not interpret his untroubled sleep as evidence of his trust in God. Jesus’ understanding of God as the “Perfect Sovereign” brought an internal resolve to the external events of his life.

They awaken Jesus with an indignant wail of complaint, as if he were in some way responsible for their plight.

Power: Jesus is the Lord of life (Who Jesus is)
Mark’s question is rhetorical, inviting the response of faith, “He is the Christ, the Son of God.”

The rule of God over life brings an internal resolve to the person of faith.

The God of Israel is the Lord of history and nature.

Jesus transforms a great sea into a great calm.

He is the personal, living God who intervenes in the experience of men, women and children.

He is the God who acts, not some pale abstraction.

When he chooses to reveal himself the forces of nature must submit to his will.

The rule of God over life brings an internal resolve to the person of faith.

The decision to execute Jesus would launch a religion that would one day subsume the Roman Empire, and resonate for millennia to come.

Significance for us: In fact the storms of life are often when healing occurs – I think the concept of water is very important here. Some of you may remember the story of the stirring of the waters at Bethseba. People were healing when the waters were stirred (John 5). We find healing in the storms of life.
Blind, bleeding, women caught in adultery

This may conjure up memories for some of you of Jesus’ experience in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is deeply grieved, dare we say experiencing a high degree of anxiety. And for good reason. Once again, a natural response to the waves of life – or in this case the wave of death. And yet, as Jesus prays “the rule of God brings an internal resolves to him.” But the wave of death did not go away, but the wave of God’s sovereignty swallowed death up.

In the cross there is healing.

In the storms of life move towards the Christ and discover a healing and peace that will transcend understanding.


Purpose: Concentric circle
Fear is inborn, faith is clearly not inborn and can ebb and flow depending upon circumstances, and is most likely to fizzle in situations of danger.

“The concentric circle” – the ideal

At different times in life we will find ourselves in the center of the circle.

Jesus’ call to his disciples, to us: in the midst of the storms of life you would find yourself at the feet of Jesus’ where you will find healing which will look like great faith, comfort, peace and calm all that originate from the “Perfect Sovereign.”


Conclusion – “It is well with my soul” (Worship team come forward)

In 1871, tragedy struck Chicago as fire ravaged the city. When it was all over, 300 people were dead and 100,000 were homeless. Horatio Gates Spafford was one of those who tried to help the people of the city get back on their feet. A lawyer who had invested much of his money into the downtown Chicago real estate, he'd lost a great deal to the fire. And his one son (he had four daughters) had died about the same time. Still, for two years Spafford--who was a friend of evangelist Dwight Moody--assisted the homeless, impoverished, and grief-stricken ruined by the fire.

After about two years of such work, Spafford and his family decided to take a vacation. They were to go to England to join Moody on one of his evangelistic crusades, then travel in Europe. Horatio Spafford was delayed by some business, but sent his family on ahead. He would catch up to them on the other side of the Atlantic.

Their ship, the Ville de Havre, never made it. Off Newfoundland, it collided with an English sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and sank within 20 minutes. Though Horatio's wife, Anna, was able to cling to a piece of floating wreckage (one of only 47 survivors among hundreds), their four daughters--Maggie, Tanetta, Annie, and Bessie--were killed. Horatio received a horrible telegram from his wife, only two words long: "saved alone."

Spafford boarded the next available ship to be near his grieving wife, and the two finally met up with Dwight Moody. "It is well," Spafford told him quietly. "The will of God be done."

Though reports vary as to when he did so, Spafford was led during those days of surely overwhelming grief to pen the words to one of the most beautiful hymns we know.

{SING}

Who can say what it is about life that leads us to such a peace ... like a river. Who can say what ingredients it takes, for this person or that, that transforms such overwhelming sadness into personal peace, or brings healing, or ... leads our souls to a new depth, or compassion.

In the midst of the storms of life may you find rest and healing at the feet of Jesus.