Good Shepherd Sermons

What Comes Before (1 Peter 2.1-4a) - Greg Joines

2012-01-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

Sermon by: Greg Joines
January 22, 2012

Some Music Used
Hymn of Praise: "O Word of God Incarnate" (MUNICH)
Hymn of Praise: "Wonderful Words of Life" (WORDS OF LIFE)
Hymn of Sending: "How Firm a Foundation" (FOUNDATION)

What Comes Before
Text: 1 Peter 2:1-4a

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Jesus, the Stumbling Block (1 Peter 2.7-8)

2012-01-15T12:51:00.000-08:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
January 15, 2012

Some Music Used
Prelude: "Prelude on 'Aurelia'" (Charles Ore)
Hymn of Praise: "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less" (MELITA)
Song of Community: "This is Your House" (Dawson/Austell)
Song of Prasie: "The Church's One Foundation/I Lay in Zion" (AURELIA/Youngblood)
The Word in Music: "Scandalon" (Michael Card)
Offering of Music: "In Christ Alone/Solid Rock" (Travis Cottrell)
Song of Sending: "All I Have is Christ" (Jordan Kauflin)
Postlude: "Prelude and Fugue in A minor" (J.S. Bach)

Jesus, the Stumbling Block
Text: 1 Peter 2:7b-8; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

We are in 1 Peter 2 today. Just to remind you what is going on and what is coming, this chapter covers substantial ground in terms of teaching and application. Much of our series will be focused on Christian identity, that is, who we are as those who trust and follow Jesus Christ. That will come with all the names in the passage: living stones, royal priesthood, people of God, and so forth. But we started last week with verses 6-7, which first described who Jesus is.

Using building imagery and a quote from Isaiah the prophet, Peter described Jesus as the “precious cornerstone” which God put in the midst of His people out of His own eternal design and plan. We also saw, from Ephesians, that the foundation of that structure was God’s Word, spoken through apostles and prophets. We’ll return to that idea next week, when we look at the opening part of this chapter. We also saw, in the longer passage from Isaiah 28, that God’s building design also included the “measuring line” of justice and the “level” of righteousness, both found in and through Jesus, who bore God’s just judgment and grants to believers his rightness.

Today, we continue to verses 7-8 in 1 Peter 2. Peter continues the stone imagery, but turns to another picture of Jesus Christ. Jesus is who he is, of course, but Peter points out that believers understand Jesus to be the cornerstone of God’s plans and purpose, upon which God is building the living structure of the church. But now, Peter also recognizes that not all understand or see Jesus for who he is. Instead, those who “disbelieve” (v. 7) see Jesus as “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”

Scandalous Jesus

First I want to introduce you to the image Peter uses. In good Jewish fashion, he says the same thing twice to emphasize his point. Jesus is a “stone of stumbling” – he is something that people trip over. You’ve all probably run into the literal version of this. Granted, you might have to be in the woods nowadays, but you’ve not been looking where you were going and you got tripped up over a rock. Not only do you stumble and maybe fall, but it’s embarrassing and it can hurt. That’s the effect Jesus has on some people. Peter would say particularly on those who disbelieve in God’s “building plan” and salvation history.

The second image is basically saying the same thing, but is a bit more literal. Even if you stumble over a rock in the path, you normally aren’t offended by it. No, the offense is the literal reaction some have to figuratively stumbling over Jesus. Let me be more specific.

There is plenty to trip people up when it comes to Christianity. There’s inconsistency and hypocrisy – really, all the ways we fall short of the ideals of our own faith. That’s real, but not what is in focus here. Jesus does take that on pretty regularly in his interactions with the Pharisees, so the Bible is not blind to that problem.

Rather, what is in view here are two primary stumbling blocks, and to that I would add a related third.

First, what is potentially MOST offensive, is the very purpose and nature of Jesus. The claim Peter has made, with backing from Isaiah, is that the one God over everything has an eternal and definite plan regarding human history. God has spoken into that history through His Word, and at the very heart of that purpose, plan, design, and will, is Jesus of Nazareth, Christ and Messiah, the very Son of God. What really is in view here is what many have indeed stumbled over, the declaration that Jesus is THE way, the truth, and the life – by Jesus’ own words, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Think what you will about the issues of the day or the requirements of God’s Word, the claims of and about Jesus are what you either build your life on or trip and curse. The word Peter used to describe the “offense” of the Gospel is scandalon, from which we get our word “scandal.” That’s more or less what he is saying Jesus is. If you believe, you understand that Jesus is the cornerstone of all God is doing in the world. If you don’t believe, Jesus, the Christian gospel, and scripture in general, are scandalous.

Scandalous Word

Secondly, there are all the legitimately difficult teachings of Jesus and scripture – the things that rub against either human nature or the grain of culture – like repentance, monogamy, purity, or selflessness. Peter goes on in verse 8 to explain why people stumble:

…for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word…”

Not only does recognizing Jesus as the only way require submission to him, but God’s Word requires obedience. And that, too, is a stumbling block, and even offensive. I recall a letter shared with me by a friend just after coming to faith in Christ.

I grew up in the church. I knew the doctrines and all about Jesus and I thought it was all totally ridiculous. I thought, “How can you use the Bible to prove the Bible?” And with that, I easily dismissed it all. I never gave it much thought. I never looked deeper. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to know. I was so superior, so much better than those Christians, and it was such a joy to ridicule them, to hate them – it made me feel so smart and unique. I could rant and rail on and on about how horrible it was, about how evil, how unloving and judgmental. I didn’t care if that’s what it really was, or about actually searching for real truth. I created a straw man so I could burn it up every night and glory in my intellectual prowess. I could be amazed by my eloquent drunk-with-self arguments – at how easily I could disarm my pretend opponents. The beauty of my perfect logical masterpiece, lofty in grand, cosmic thoughts and ideas, was founded securely in the shifting sand of my delusion. I was god, or at the very least, if I were not, then god was very much like me.

My arguments, my intellect had nothing to do with truth, but it had everything to do with my clinging to my old life, and my fear of real honesty! What a horror I was if I looked at myself with honest eyes! What a fool I was! Like an ostrich with my head in the sand I had been saying, “I don’t care about reality, I only care about what I want!” I was like a child, stamping my foot on the ground with arms crossed saying, “I don’t care if it would be better, I won’t let you make me happy because I’m mad, I want what I want, and I don’t even know what that is, but I don’t have it so I’m angry!”

How true Peter’s words: “This precious value… for those who disbelieve… [is] a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word….”

Foolishness and Truth (1 Corinthians 1)

I mentioned a third, related “stumbling block.” That is the seeming foolishness of all this. Listen to 1 Corinthians 1:18…

“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…”

If you have been in the Church or been a Christian for a long time, it can be hard to realize just how foolish even the basics can seem. If you ever meet someone for whom church is a new experience, ask them about it. Or imagine what it must be like to come into a church service and hear something like a room full of people chanting the same mysterious words all together at once, “I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth….” or singing together, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!” And those are just a few examples. Take the real core message of our worship, what Paul is naming here as ‘foolishness’ – the cross of Christ. We hang it up on display, we eat little bites of bread and drink little cups of juice and talk about the body and blood of a man who was tortured and executed 2000 years ago; one who died for many. Foolishness, right?

Peter already linked disbelief with disobedience. And that disobedience is one of the defining characteristics and symptoms of the sin that the Bible keeps talking about. In the Garden of Eden, God said, “You may go and do anything, just don’t do this one thing.” And Adam and Eve disobeyed. Each of us repeats this choice in relation to God. We choose ourselves – my way, my pleasure, my preference – in short, we disobey or reject God’s own invitation to life and relationship.

Jesus Christ says to all, “Come, believe, and follow me.” The same disobedience toward God that says, “No!” plays itself out in a ridiculing and rejection of the invitation and the one giving it. “Come and believe what? Follow who? You have got to be kidding!” That same verse in 1 Peter 2:8 that talks of disobedience implies an alternative. If disobedience to God’s Word causes us to stumble over Jesus Christ, then obedience to God’s Word leads us toward faith in Jesus Christ. Those who believe, we are told, see the “precious value” in Jesus Christ.

In 1 Corinthians, we hear the truth of the “foolish” message:

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe… the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

What does all this look like in a person’s life? Listen to more from the same personal testimony I read earlier:

In all my arguments, in the mountains of ash from the thousands of straw men I had devoured with the flame of my hate, there stood one immovable fact. A fact that could not be ignored no matter how much I railed against it: the reality of the love of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ dying on the cross for anyone (not even necessarily for me) didn’t fit in my perfectly thought out arguments. That one act alone obliterated my cries of “Hate! Unloving! Evil! Judgmental!” That one act alone cried out “TRUTH!” That one act alone cried out “Come to me!” “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me.” That one act alone when brought before my mind mid-step in my dance of joy on the grave of the made-up religion I so hated called my self-proclaimed intellect a coward, a child, a fool.

The truth is that God has loved us lost and hurting children enough to send us a means of help and hope, rescue and literal salvation. And we, as smart as we think we are, are better characterized before God as angry little children than wise and thoughtful mature men and women. God said that he would destroy the wisdom of the wise. Indeed!

The Power of God for Salvation

I love the way the Apostle Paul summarizes all this in 1 Corinthians:

The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

It breaks my heart that so many can only see foolishness or be scandalized, even more so that those same ones are perishing. This is not something to revel in or be possessive about. In order to share the hope of life and rescue with as many as possible, we must risk becoming seen as Jesus was seen. We must risk becoming “fools for Jesus.”

Once more, from the testimony:

Praise Jesus! He showed me what a fool I was! Now, praise God, I can be a fool for Christ. But that phrase, while accurate in the eyes of the world, really makes no sense. In reality, I’m not nearly fool enough for Christ. In actuality, the more a fool I can be, the more reasonably I am truly behaving. It is only a paradox in the eyes of the world because the world is so lost and so far from reality, even as I once was. I am being seen as a fool for Christ by the world, yet in truth and by the grace of God, I am making the first wise choices I have ever made. All glory to Jesus Christ – apart from whom there is no wisdom, only folly; apart from whom there is no hope, only fear; and in whom is all joy, all contentment, all peace, and all love.

“Foolishness to those who are perishing and the power of God to those who believe.” Indeed, and sometimes in God’s mercy and grace, the same person can tell of both. Amen!

Jesus, the Cornerstone (1 Peter 2.1-10; vv. 6-7a)

2012-01-08T15:38:00.000-08:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
January 8, 2012

Some Music Used
Service music by Coincidence Maybe?

Jesus, the Cornerstone
Text: 1 Peter 2:1-10; vv. 6-7a

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Today we are beginning a new series that will take us through January and most of February. Each week we will be in the same New Testament passage: 1 Peter 2:1-10. I preached on one phrase from this passage last Fall and commented at the time that there was so much more in that passage. So, we’re back!

Broadly, this passage is full of imagery, meant to help us understand who Jesus is and what it means to belong to him. So, we’ll begin today with building imagery with its roots coming from the prophet Isaiah. Next week we will see the challenge (even offense) of the message about Jesus. And then in the weeks that follow we will move through a series of images to help us understand our Christian identity. This is simply another way of saying who we are as those who trust and follow Jesus Christ.

That’s where we left off on Christmas Eve and Christmas – that Jesus was not just the quiet little baby in the manger, but that he was born to show us the face of God and born to die so we might live. I promised that we would focus on what it means to belong to Jesus, to listen, believe, and follow; and that is what this series is about.

Today I want to focus on verse 6, which quotes the passage from Isaiah 28 that you heard in the call to worship:

“Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

Like a cornerstone, this key verse establishes the whole passage by describing who Jesus is. Much of the rest of the passage will deal with who WE are in Jesus, but first we must know who Jesus is.

The Choice Cornerstone

Both Isaiah and Peter use this strong imagery: God has a long-standing plan, God is building something, and there is a key component of that plan that is at the foundation and heart of what God is doing. We find out, of course, that this key component or corner stone is Jesus. But that is just the first important observation to be made. What is equally significant is that Jesus was God’s plan from the beginning – from eternity, in fact – and was set in place and history with all the wisdom, design, and purpose of God’s perfect will. We also read in Ephesians 2:20, which describes more of God’s design, that we are “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone." The message of the prophets and apostles forms the content of scripture and is the foundation, indicating the shape and form of what God would build.

The reference to Zion makes a connection to what we studied this past Fall – the covenant with Abraham. Way back in Genesis, God promised Abraham land, descendants, and blessing in order to bless the world. Later in the Old Testament, Zion (AKA Jerusalem) became the demonstration of this covenant promise as the visible center of God’s presence and blessing of His people, populated by the descendants of Abraham and positioned to influence and bless the nations of the world. From Zion, or Jerusalem, King David ruled God’s people as King. To Zion, or Jerusalem, Jesus would come to die, that we might live.

It was there – Zion, a physical place in time – that God was at work. This was foretold back in Isaiah and was fulfilled before the eyes of Peter and the other Apostles.

And between Isaiah and Peter, listen to all the words used to describe Jesus, the corner stone: choice, precious, tested, costly, and firmly placed. These are vivid words that add to our understanding of both Father and Son. This is what God the Father did in sending Jesus into the world. He firmly placed the tested and precious Son into the midst of His people as the perfect fulfillment of the ancient promises and prophecies. And in doing so, God invites our belief and obedient service.

The Extended Image: God’s Measure and Level

I wanted to take a moment and look further at Isaiah 28. Peter quotes this passage, which would have been well-known to any Jewish readers as part of their scriptures. As is often the case when the New Testament writers quote the Hebrew scriptures, it is helpful to explore the original context of the quote. Isaiah adds a bit of imagery not included in Peter’s quote. In Isaiah, God also brings a measuring line and level to the divine building project. The measuring line is justice and the level is righteousness. Since Peter asserts continuity between the ancient promises and prophecies and what God is doing through Jesus, it is fair to consider that Jesus not only serves as the corner stone of God’s building, but that righteousness and justice would also be found in close proximity to the life, teaching, and ministry of Jesus.

And indeed, Jesus IS the righteousness of God: he is perfectly obedient and perfectly RIGHT with God, which proves to be our salvation because we will all face the holy justice and judgment of God. Our lives, actions, and thoughts will be measured by God’s measuring line of justice, and as Romans teaches us, we will all be found short of that measure or mark. Our only hope – our only salvation – is being identified with Jesus, the only righteous one. He will make us level, or right, through his own righteous obedience. Through him, we can stand before God’s judgment and be credited with HIS righteousness. That is what saves us!

Hope through Faith: Death Defeated

There is another very important phrase in Isaiah 28 that is not spelled out in 1 Peter 2, but is significantly true of Jesus. Speaking through Isaiah, God says (v. 18), “Your covenant with death will be canceled, and your pact with Sheol will not stand.” What God was announcing through Isaiah was the very Gospel itself. God had designed a plan to save His people from death itself.

What does it mean that they had a “covenant with death” and a “pact with Sheol?” That is part of the basic Gospel message as well. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and the consequences of our sin and disobedience is death… so much so that we might be described as having a deal with death. It is unbreakable by us, but not so for God. And all that God has intended and designed is that we might be set free from death to life.

The great implication of God setting a cornerstone in the midst of His people is that God has made a way for us to have life. How can we have this life? Both Isaiah and Peter mention BELIEF in this context. The one who believes, says Peter, will not be disappointed. This doesn’t mean that a Christian will never be disappointed. Instead, it refers to the greatest disappointment, that we might die apart from God and not know the righteousness of Christ. What this verse does promise is that through FAITH we can have HOPE.

Those Who Believe and Those Who Do Not

Our focus today ends with the first part of verse 7: “This precious value, then, is for you who believe…” But the verse continues to address those who disbelieve. That’s what we’ll look at next week. For those without faith and those who refuse to believe and follow Jesus Christ, they experience Jesus entirely differently. Looking at the same data, hearing the same story, considering the same Jesus, believers see a foundational cornerstone in the plan God has designed and been building throughout the whole scope of human history. Those who do not believe not only see something much less; using the same kind of imagery, they experience Jesus as a “stumbling stone” or stumbling block. He is something to trip over, something that trips them up. Next week we will look at the rest of verse 7 and verse 8 and a bit more at why some people stumble so over the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Before we get to the rest of this passage and before you can consider who you are in Christ, each of you must consider who Jesus was and is. Is he the heart of it all or does he keep tripping you up? I’d invite you to read and re-read this passage and the one from Isaiah 28 this week. Consider the Bible’s claim and story – that God had an eternal plan that was focused on the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ. Not only is he the cornerstone for the work God is doing in the world and not only is he the cornerstone for salvation, but he – Jesus – is the starting and ending point for faith, belief, and hope. Amen.

The Glory that Was, that Is, and that Is to Come (Isaiah 60.1-22)

2012-01-03T14:41:00.000-08:00

Sermon by: Greg Joines
January 1, 2012

Some Music Used
Prelude: "Meditation on 'Regent Square'" (Fred Bock)
Hymn of Praise: "Angels from the Realms of Glory" (REGENT SQUARE)
Song of Praise: "I See the Lord" (Falson)
The Word in Music: "Once in Royal David's City" (Helvey)
Offering of Music: "Away in a Manger" (arr. Joseph Martin)
Hymn of Response: "Gloria Patri" (GREATOREX)
Hymn of Sending: "Arise, Your Light is Come!" (Walter)
Postlude: "Go, Tell it on the Mountain" (Manz)

The Glory that Was, that Is, and that Is to Come
Text:Isaiah 60:1-22

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Promised Child (Genesis 21.1-8, Luke 2.6-7,21-33)

2011-12-25T14:01:00.000-08:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
December 25, 2011

Some Music Used
Preludes : "Angels We Have Heard on High" (Chris Rice)
Hymn of Praise: "Angels We Have Heard on High" (GLORIA)
Hymn of Praise: "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly" (W KLOBIE LEZY)
The Word in Music: "Song of Simeon" (Michael Card)
Offering of Music: "Away in a Manger" (arr. Joseph Martin)
Song of Praise: "Gloria" (from Angels We Have Heard) (GLORIA)
Hymn of Sending: "Good Christians, All Rejoice" (IN DULCI JUBILO)
Postlude: "Fantasia on 'In Dulci Jubilo'" (Bach)

Promised Child
Text: Genesis 21:1-8; Luke 2:6-7,21-33)

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

This Christmas season we have been following the story of Abraham as he met, trusted, and followed God Most High. God promised Abraham land, children, and blessing – all in order that Abraham and his descendants might be a blessing to the nations of the world. We have seen (I hope!) a number of parallels between Abraham’s wait for the birth of Isaac, the child of promise, and the wait of the people of Israel for the birth of the Messiah, also a child of promise.

And I hope that along the way you have identified with Abraham or with God’s people of old. They, like us, heard the promises of God, were invited to trust, often strayed and wandered, and yet experienced God’s faithfulness. As we have waited for this day – Christmas Day – we have experienced again the wait for God’s timing to unfold. You may have entered into the exercise of once again waiting on the Christ child, or you may be waiting for God’s timing in some specific areas of your own life.

Today, we finally get there. Isaac is born; Jesus is born; and I hope you will see how God is working in and through you in new ways. I want to trace the final bit of the story of the two births with you, highlighting some of the themes running through them. We’ll also meet one other character – Simeon – who lived first-hand that waiting period. We’ll see how he gives glory to God and how he interprets what he is seeing.

Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac (Genesis 21:1-8)

We’ve been reviewing the covenant promises pretty consistently over the past four weeks. In a nutshell, Abraham’s story is the story of God pursuing sinful humanity through one man and one people in order to reach and bless all the nations of the world. It is a foretaste of what is to come more completely and perfectly in Jesus. What I want to do today is highlight several phrases in the text and comment on them briefly. Then we’ll turn to Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and Simeon.

“as He had promised” (v. 1) - TRUST

Look at Genesis 21. In verses 1-2 we read that Sarah conceived and bore a son. I want to highlight two phrases in those verses. The first is “as [God] had promised.” Sarah’s conception and delivery were not accidental, nor planned by human beings. Rather, it was what God had promised some 25 years earlier when He made the covenant with Abram. Bottom-line, God is faithful; and with only a few detours and back-up plans on Abraham’s part, Abraham trusted in God’s Word and promise.

“at the appointed time” (v. 2) - PATIENCE

A second key phrase relates to the first. Sarah became pregnant and delivered “at the appointed time.” And it was both long-awaited and exceedingly miraculous. Surely Abraham and Sarah wanted the baby much sooner. But God’s timing is perfect and lines up with His will, and this baby came precisely when God wanted him to be born. So often we acknowledge the first point – that God is faithful; but we struggle mightily with this second one, that God acts according to His own timing. We would much rather God act on our time-table; but God does not. To wait on God’s timing is to exercise patience.

“circumcised as God had commanded” (v. 4) - OBEDIENCE

Only a year earlier, God had instituted circumcision as a sign of the covenant. Abraham had his whole house-hold, including Ishmael, circumcised in obedience to God’s command. That was done in faith before seeing Sarah pregnant and Isaac born. Now, with the miracle before him, it was a much easier thing to mark his newborn son with the sign of the faithful God’s covenant promise. Nonetheless, in following God’s command, Abraham demonstrated obedience.

“God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me” (v. 6) - BLESSING

What I’d like you to see is how God brings about blessing. God’s intent is to bless the world, most notably through salvation, but also through common grace, witness, truth, and His presence. In this one sentence in verse 6, you get a good feel for that blessing dynamic. God has done a miracle for Sarah: “God has made laughter/Isaac for [her]” – God has blessed her. But that’s not the end of the sentence. She continues, “Everyone who hears (about it) will laugh/Isaac with me.” Others will be captivated by her story, by God’s story, and be blessed by her blessing.

Even more broadly, let me walk back through the previous key phrases with you, because it is a kind of map for how God is pleased to accomplish blessing of the world. God works through the TRUST, PATIENCE, and OBEDIENCE of His people to bless them, and in doing so, extends His word, witness, presence, and grace to the surrounding world.

So let me read those pairings for you again:

God is faithful; and so we trust.
God works in His own time; and so we must be patient.
God speaks His will and Word to us; and so we must be obedient.

And God demonstrates His faithfulness, in His own time, as He has said, through our trust, patience, and obedience and we experience that as God’s BLESSING, which we then extend to those around us.

Mary, Joseph, and Jesus (Luke 2:6-7)

Mary and Joseph’s story, along with all of Israel, is very similar.

TRUST: God had promised a Messiah. The foundation of that promise can be found in the covenant promise to Abraham, but it became more and more explicit through the prophets, particularly ones like Isaiah. God’s people had to trust God to be faithful.

PATIENCE: God’s plan unfolded slowly. Understood to be a restoration of the Davidic monarchy, generation after generation of Israelites were disappointed to not see the restoration of the Kingdom. And yet God’s timing was precise and important. In God’s timing, Jesus was born at just the right time, in just the right way.

OBEDIENCE: Not only did Mary and Joseph hear God’s Word through the angel-messengers and hear and obey, eight days after the baby was born, they took him to be circumcised in keeping with the same command given Abraham in ancient times. They were obedient to God’s Word in many ways, but it is striking to read of both Isaac and Jesus being circumcised on the eighth day as a sign of God’s covenant faithfulness, demonstrated so specifically through those particular baby boys.

BLESSING: Jesus was the greatest miracle and blessing of all. He literally came to be the salvation-blessing for the world. And his birth was entirely God’s promise, God’s timing, and God’s doing; and yet, here we also see how God has chosen to work through the trust, patience, and obedience of human beings in order to bestow His blessing. How accurately Mary could have mirrored Sarah’s words about her baby and said, “God has made Jesus/salvation for me; everyone who hears will know God’s Jesus/salvation with me!”

An Old Man in the Temple (Luke 2:21-33)

Finally, our text ends with the scene in the temple, where Mary and Joseph have taken their eight-day old baby to be circumcised. Again, I’d like to highlight several key phrases, showing Simeon’s own trust, patience, and obedience. He then pronounces blessing on the baby who will bless the world.

TRUST – “this man was righteous and devout” (v. 25)

Simeon was called “righteous and devout” because he trusted in God to keep His promises. And he was not looking for the popular Messiah who would lead the revolution against Rome. Simeon was looking for the “consolation of Israel” – the paraclete-comforter (interestingly later a name for the Holy Spirit) described in Isaiah 61:2 as the one who will “comfort those who mourn.”

PATIENCE – “looking for the consolation of Israel” (v. 25)

Simeon had been looking and waiting all his life. And the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death until he had seen the “Lord’s Christ” – that is, the Messiah. (“Christ” is Greek for the Hebrew word, messiah/anointed one.) Simeon had been very patient, trusting that God would do what He said He would do.

OBEDIENCE – “my eyes have seen” (v. 30)

Obedience can be described as listening to what God says. In this case it can also be described as looking for what God is doing. Simeon was paying attention; and he saw God’s salvation. And he got to take part in the obedience-event of circumcising the baby.

BLESSING – “a light of revelation to the Gentiles” (v. 32)

Finally, Simeon puts in words what God has been planning from the beginning. Not only did God seek out Abraham and make a covenant with him, God was faithful, in His own timing, to bless Abraham and the world in which he lived. Likewise, God sought out the people Israel, the descendants of Abraham, and God blessed them in order to bless the world. The glory or “shine” of God’s hand on His people, Israel, was also a “light of revelation” to the nations of the world. In this moment and pronouncement by Simeon, we see God’s plan come to perfect fruition. All that was seemingly lost in the Garden with the Fall of humanity has been reclaimed by God, with the establishment of a way back to Him. God has worked to restore us, and this baby will become the means by which God does that.

God at Work in You

What is God up to now? You know I ask that all the time: “What is God doing in and around you and how can you be a part?” The constant testimony of scripture is that God IS at work in the world. And, God is pleased to work through ordinary people like you and me to accomplish what He is doing. God doesn’t require perfect people; in fact, He seems most pleased to use weak, unlikely, and even rebellious people. But his blessings flow when we trust, have patience, and demonstrate obedience. That’s when we know God’s blessing most in our own lives, and it is when we can best extend that blessing to those around us.

So hear the declaration: God is faithful, God’s timing is perfect, God has spoken, and God is at work.

I invite you to trust, cultivate patience, demonstrate obedience, and experience blessing… SO THAT we may be about the blessing-work that God has called us to.

I’d like to finish by singing “The Song of Simeon,” in which the old man’s words are set to music beautifully by Michael Card.

“The Song of Simeon”

Michael Card

An old man in the temple, waiting in the court

Waiting for the answer to a promise

And all at once he sees them in the morning sunshine

A couple that comes in carrying a baby

Now that I’ve held him in my arms, my life can come to an end

Let your servant now depart in peace

‘Cause I’ve seen your salvation, He’s the light of the Gentiles

And the glory of his people, Israel

Mary and the baby come, and in her hand, five shekels

The price to redeem her baby boy

The baby softly cooing, nestled in her arms

Simeon takes the boy and starts to sing

And now’s the time to take Him in your arms –

your life will never come to an end

He’s the only way that you’ll find peace - He’ll give you salvation

‘Cause He’s the light of the Gentiles and the glory of his people, Israel

Born For This (John 18.37, 1.14, 3.16)

2011-12-25T13:42:00.000-08:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
December 24, 2011

Some Music Used
Preludes : "A Christmas Fantasy" - Melissa Lancaster, Handbell solo (Victor Gumma)
"From Heaven Above to Earth I Come" (Ernst Pepping)
"Away in a Manger" - festival Handbells (Cathy Moklebust)
Hymn of Praise: "O Come, All Ye Faithful" (ADESTE FIDELES)
Congregational Carol: "Lo, How a Rose" (ES IST EIN' ROS')
Carol: "My Soul Rejoices" - Katie Meeks and worship team (Jaclyn Francois)
Carol: "Still, Still, Still" - John Kaneklides and Choir (arr. Ledger)
Carol: "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" - choir, handbells, and Susan Slade, flute (Helvey)
Congregational Carol: "We Three Kings" (KINGS OF ORIENT)
Offering of Music: "Born That We May Have Life" (Tomlin, Maher, Cash)
Candlelighting Anthem: "All is Well" - Miller Ray, soloist (Smith, arr. R. Huff)
Congregational Carol: "Silent Night" (STILLE NACHT)
Congregational Carol: "Joy to the World!" (ANTIOCH)
Postlude: "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (Willcocks)

Born for This
Text: John 18:37, with 1:14 and 3:16

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

You have heard the Christmas story this evening, through Word and music. I’d like to offer a brief meditation on WHY Jesus was born, using his own explanation, given as a grown man. The setting for that explanation is a little strange, given our focus on the birth of a baby to Mary and Joseph, but I hope you’ll see the connections.

Born to Die (John 18:37)

I want to use three verses, all found in the Gospel of John. The first is John 18:37, and the setting is Jesus standing on trial for his life before Pontius Pilate. It is the night of his arrest and he will be crucified in the morning. Jesus’ accusers have brought him to Pilate, saying that he was claiming to be “King of the Jews” – surely, an offense to the representative of Rome in the area. Why do I choose this verse? Listen…

Therefore Pilate said to [Jesus], “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”

Did you hear that? On the eve of his death, Jesus very explicitly said, “This is why I was born… this is why I came into the world.” It was for THIS moment as well as all that led up to it. Jesus was born to die, born for the testimony his death would provide and crucified for the truth he proclaimed throughout his earthly ministry.

Back in the beginning of John’s Gospel, this same word – TRUTH – is used to describe Jesus. It would characterize his time on earth, from birth to death to life.

Born to Testify (John 1:14)

Look at John 1:14. This is back among the birth narratives, though John’s explanation is more on the theological than the narrative end of things. Listen…

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

That word – TRUTH – shows up many times (26x) in John’s Gospel. Later, Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). But right here at the beginning, we are told that this one who is God with skin on, God come to live with and be with us, is full of truth. So no wonder that he says at the end of his earthly ministry that he was born to testify to the truth; he has lived it, spoken it, acted it, and sung it with the very fabric of his being. Not only that, he was born to manifest God’s glory, grace, and truth – to show us God the Father living in and among the stuff of this world.

Though we don’t tend to do this at Christmastime, it is easy to make Jesus all about his death. We leave off his life and we leave off his resurrection. And it is true that he was born to die. But he was also born to testify, and not just through words, but through his very life. That’s what it means that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And his testimony, his witness, his story was all about the glory, grace, and truth of God the Father.

Born that We Might Have Life (John 3:16)

Finally, the phrase “only begotten” made me think of one more verse from John… perhaps the best known scripture reference in the Bible. It is John 3:16. Listen…

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

It, too, answers the question, “Why was Jesus born?” He was born to die; he was born to testify or show us God; and he was born that we might have life. And this famous verse also adds that all this was out of God’s love for the world, a love we have been hearing about for weeks now as we’ve heard the old story from Genesis. God loves you and God has come after you in loving pursuit of life with you.

And that brings us back full circle to Jesus’ response to Pilate in John 18:37. After Jesus explained why he was born – to testify to the truth – he added, “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Jesus was born to die, born to testify or show us God, and born that we might live. But all of this is wasted on us unless we listen. That’s how we hear his voice, see the Father, and experience life with him… listen and believe and follow.

Born for This

It’s easy to hear the Christmas story and leave off thinking of a little baby, lying still or gently cooing in the manger or in his mother’s arms. But Jesus was born for much more. He was born to show us the face of God; he was born to die; and in so doing, he was born that we might have life. Don’t miss that story; don’t miss that purpose; don’t miss God’s greatest, loving gesture toward you and for you. Listen, believe, and come follow him.

And come back. Starting in January we will be focusing on what it means to belong to Jesus – what it means to listen, believe, and follow. I hope you’ll come be a part of that with us. Amen.

Born That We May Have Life

Chris Tomlin

No reputation, no stately bearing

No palace bed for royalty

But a star in the heavens, a sign full of wonder

Announcing the coming of the King of kings

Rejoice! O, world Your Savior has come

Through the love of a virgin's womb

Son of God, Son of Man

Born that we may have life

You were born that we may have life

A throne in a manger, the cross in a cradle

The hidden revealing this glorious plan

A child who would suffer, a child who would conquer

The sin of every woman, the sins of every man

Rejoice! O, world Your Savior has come

Through the love of a virgin's womb

Son of God, Son of Man

Born that we may have life

You were born that we may have life

A Great Grace (Genesis 17.1-7,15-19)

2011-12-18T13:16:00.000-08:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
December 18, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "The First Nowell" - Linda Jenkins, organ; Cathy Youngblood, piano (Anna Laura Page)
Advent Candle Hymn: "We Light the Advent Candle" (Grindal)
Hymn of Praise: "Prepare the Way" (Evans & Nuzum)
The Word in Music: "Joy to the world" - Acapella Choir (Cash, Norman, Levi; arr. Youngblood)

Offering of Music: "Carol of the Bells" - Walker Austell, piano (Leontovych)
Hymn of Sending: "The First Noel" (THE FIRST NOEL)
Postlude: "Fling Wide the Door!" (Pepping)

A Great Grace
Text: Genesis 17:1-7,15-19

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Years had passed… long years. God had made a promise long ago and there had even seemed to be a few reminders and answered prayers along the way, but in many ways, they were still waiting… waiting on God.

The people living in the time of Mary and Joseph had been waiting for generations. It was easy to lose hold of the promise day in and day out. It was also easy for the story to change – from the thing, the One, who had been promised into the thing that they thought they needed. There were ancient promises and prophecies – a Messiah, an Anointed One – but what they really needed was the government off their back.

Really, for those who would stop to think about it, their waiting – their story – was not that different from a much older story.

“Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old” (v. 1)

Abram and Sarai had been waiting for a long time for that promised son. They had seen God’s promises of land and blessing fulfilled – Abram was rich and respected and prospering, but no son with Sarai. We heard last week about his back-up plan of passing his inheritance to Eliezar, a relative, but God promised him a biological son. Since then we find that he has had a son with Sarai’s servant, Hagar. That too, was a kind of trying to make his own destiny. And God would protect and bless Hagar and Ishmael, but he was not the son God intended for Abram and Sarai.

So in many ways, the cycle repeats. Abram has had to wait to see God’s promise fulfilled and has made his own back-up plan. After all, God had told Abram (in last week’s text) that the son would “come forth from your own body” (15:4) And it was accepted practice in those days for a servant to bear a child if the wife was infertile. At Sarai’s request (16:2), and then eighty-six years old (16:16), Abram had a child with Hagar, and named him Ishmael. Now at ninety-nine years old, we can see how Abram must have concluded that Ishmael would be the son who would inherit the promise. Abram made that leap that any of us have probably made – “Well, this must be what God meant!” But this was not yet the child God had promised.

Reminders and Renewal of the Covenant (vv. 2, 19)

In last week’s text, God spoke to Abram in a vision to remind him of the covenant promises. It has been many years, but God does not leave His people without a witness to His will and purpose. In Abram’s case, God not only sent messengers like Melchizedek and visions, but in today’s text appeared as when He first spoke to Abram. Note that, as unusual as this direct communication was, it’s not like God spoke with Abram every couple of days or even years. This is only the second time God has “appeared” and spoken directly to Abram… it’s been twenty-four years since that first time (12:4).

So God speaks to re-affirm and renew the covenant:

I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.
I will establish my covenant between me and you
And I will multiply you exceedingly. (vv. 1-2)

In the presence of God Almighty, Abram falls to his face as God continues:

As for me, behold, my covenant is with you
And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
No longer shall your name be called Abram
But your name shall be Abraham
For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. (vv. 4-5)

Nothing has changed from the original covenant promises of land, descendants, and blessing; but God nonetheless seems to “up the ante” here – re-asserting in the face of Sarai’s barrenness and Abram’s old age that he will not just have a child, not just be the father of a multitude, but be the father of a multitude of nations! God changes his name – a powerful symbol in any culture, but especially then – from Abram, which means “exalted Father,” to Abraham, which means “father of a multitude.”

God is saying that not only will He keep the promise about children and descendants, but He will do so far beyond anything Abraham, could have envisioned or imagined. That’s hard to pull off after saying the descendants would number as sand or stars, but indeed God has expanded the promise even further!

God goes on to elaborate that nations and kings will come forth from Abraham. He also changes Sarai’s name to Sarah, which means princess, perhaps alluding to the nations and royalty that will come from them. She was part of the plan! And as He did in response to the “Eliezar Plan,” God specifically indicates that the son will come from Sarah: “I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her… I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” (v. 16)

And all of this is in the context of renewing the covenant, not only with Abraham and now Sarah, but also with the yet unborn child and their descendants that would follow. Listen to God’s words in verse 7: “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.”

God has not forgotten them, and years after that original covenant promise, now promises even greater things for Abraham and his family.

Laughing at God (v. 17)

What would your response be? What would you say or do if God had spoken to you some twenty-five years ago and, despite a few significant answered prayers and reminders along the way, you were still waiting on God to act?

Would you doubt? Would you have lost faith? Would you have made a few back-up contingency plans, as Abraham did?

And what about this new “Word from the Lord” – sure, God was very present and real; Abraham fell on his face in God’s presence. But now an even more outrageous promise?

Abraham laughed.

And I don’t read that as a complimentary, joyful laugh of faith and welcome, but one of complete disbelief. I read it as coming from one who had known the blessing of God and thought he had figured out God’s plan – a plan that looked like having a child with his wife’s servant and moving faithfully ahead. I can even admire him for that plan and for making the best of his situation.

But God was not done with him. Do you ever wish God was done with you? Hmm… that’s a hard one to answer well.

And God gave Abraham and Sarah a name for the baby, even as He would to Mary and Joseph hundreds of years later. “You shall call his name Isaac.” Do you know what it means? Isaac means ‘laughter.’ No, Abraham and Sarah would never forget this conversation and God’s outrageous promise.

Great Promises

God’s final words here in our text remind me of the Gospel Christmas story. “Your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name… and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant…”

Listen to Luke 1:30-33, to the overlapping promises and message to Mary from the angel-messenger, Gabriel:

Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.

Next Sunday we will hear the story of two births – Isaac/Laughter and Jesus/Rescuer. Abraham, Sarah, Mary, and Joseph were trusting and struggling with God-sized promises… but then, the one making the promises was the Most High God.

I think it is helpful to hear the story of Abraham and Sarah at Christmas-time because it helps us hear the story of Mary and Joseph with fresh ears. I hope it also helps you consider your own stories with fresh ears.

The story of Abraham, Sarah, Mary, and Joseph, and the babies they would have, is a significant part of the story of the Bible, of God drawing near, pursuing the human race – pursuing YOU – in love. God’s promises and actions are God-sized, requiring faith and sometimes generating doubt. The testimony of Scripture, of multitudes who have trusted in God and seen answered prayer and covenant promises fulfilled, is that God is faithful and worthy not only of trust, but worship, love, and service.

God can handle your questions, your doubt, and even your laughter; and God presses in all the same to remind, renew, invite, and pursue. What will you do with that? What will you do with God’s extravagant love for you – not just people in general, but you specifically?

I invite you to dig in, listen carefully, trust hopefully, and believe anew this Christmas season. Amen.

A Great Faith (Genesis 15.1-6)

2011-12-11T17:59:00.000-08:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
December 11, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "Good Christians, All Rejoice" (Johann Michael Bach)
Advent Candle Hymn: "We Light the Advent Candle" (Grindal)
Hymn of Praise: "Long Ago, Prophets Knew" (Fred Pratt Green)
The Word in Music: "Come, Come, Emmanuel" - Children's Choir (Bailey & Mayo)
Offering of Music: "Do You Have Room?" - Jim Terrell (Shawna Edwards)
Hymn of Sending: "Joy to the World" (ANTIOCH)
Postlude: "Joyful, Joyful/Jesu, Joy" (arr. Ham)

A Great Faith
Text: Genesis 15:1-6; Luke 1:46-55)

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

We’ve been looking at the story of Abram in Genesis as we move through Advent and prepare for Christmas. While the connection between Abram/Abraham and baby Jesus may not seem apparent, there are a number of connections between the two. Abram was waiting for the birth of a baby as God fulfilling His covenant promise to His people. This baby would signal God’s blessing on the world through a particular people. Abram faced obstacles, doubt, temptation, and even periods of unfaithfulness; and God was faithful. So it was with God’s people, Israel, as they waited for the coming of the Messiah. So it ever has been with us as we wait on God to keep His promises in our own lives.

Today we will see the humanness of Abram – both the doubt of his “back-up plan” and the great faith he put in God after a renewal of the promise. We will be reminded what faith is – with no answer in sight, it is believing that the Lord is faithful and true, and will come through.

Back-Up Plan (vv. 1-4)

In chapter 14, we saw how the Lord sent a messenger, in the form of Melchizedek, to remind Abram of the greatness of the “Most High God.” Having refused to keep the earthly reward gained in the local “war of kings,” Abram tithes it to Melchizedek. Now, in chapter 15, the Lord speaks to Abram in a vision to remind him of the covenant. The Lord begins, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.”

It is at this point that Abram breaks out his back-up plan. The covenant promises of land and blessing seemed to be developing well enough, but Abram had not yet had a child to be his heir. So, he has lined up a relative in his house, one Eliezer of Damascus. But this was not what God had promised, as unlikely as God’s plan seemed to be at this point. Surely this was just pragmatism. In order for Abram’s house to continue, he had to have an heir. And so, he lined up Eliezer.

And yet, there is a touch of rebellion or impatience. Abram addresses God, seemingly in complaint, “Since you have given no offspring to me… (like you promised!)” (v. 3).

But God counters directly, “This man will not be your heir; but one who comes forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” Well, there could be no confusing the covenant promise now. There is no way to think that God meant the promise metaphorically or non-literally. God has re-upped and specified exactly what He would do. Abram will have a biological son and heir, period.

A Renewed Promise (vv. 5-6)

At this point, God renews the original covenant promise in one of the most memorable and vivid descriptions in scripture. He takes Abram outside and tells him to look toward the heavens and count the stars… if he is able. Implicit in that statement is that God is able to count them, because God made them. This is the power standing behind the promise. And the Lord continues, “So shall your descendants be.” … uncountable. Even more explicitly than the first time, God has spelled out that Abram would have biological descendants numbering more than anyone could count.

I am reminded of one of the verses of the song, “Step by Step,” that I sing with the preschoolers. In the verse, Rich Mullins sang of this covenant promise, seeing himself in the midst of it:

Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that, no less than he
And on this road to righteousness
Sometimes the climb can be so steep
I may falter in my steps
But never beyond Your reach

That’s precisely the connection we’ve been looking at. We are part of the promise to Abraham as well as those to whom God has promised He would never leave.

And finally, we are told of a great faith – not without moments of doubt, but with no answer yet in sight, believing that the Lord is faithful and true, and will come through. Look at verse 6: “Then [Abram] believed in the Lord; and [the Lord] reckoned it to him as righteousness. Hebrews later holds up this faith as an example of saving faith in the Old Testament. Abram trusted that God would do what He said He would do. God would yet do all the work, even as He would in Christ. But, in faith, Abram trusted.

Mary: the Faith of a Mother (Luke 1)

I am reminded again of Mary, whose story is told in Luke 1. Last week we saw the connection between Melchizedek and Gabriel. So also this week I see a parallel between Abram and Mary. After receiving the news from Gabriel, Mary goes to visit her relative, Elizabeth, who is also pregnant. Elizabeth testifies again to the promises and faithfulness of God, even as in the vision Abram had. And, in response to this reminder of the promise, Mary speaks the words that have become known by their Latin name, the Magnificat.

She praises God for what He has promised, what He is doing through her child, and for what this would mean for future generations (v. 48). What I most wanted to highlight for you, comes in verses 54-55. She makes a direct connection between the faithful promises of God kept through her own pregnancy and the impending birth of Jesus, and the promises made to Abraham and his descendants, Israel. Listen… “[God] has given help to Israel His servant, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”

I’m not making this connection up! God’s promise to Abram for land, descendants, and blessing – for the sake of the world – was not only fulfilled provisionally in the Old Testament, but completely through the birth of Jesus Christ. Even before Jesus was born, Mary recognized the connection with the promises of old. While Isaac would be the child Abram longed to hold, Jesus would be the child in whom the promise was finally fulfilled.

Faith in the Age of iPads

So, here we are two thousand years later, rolling rapidly towards another Christmas morning. For what do we hope? Maybe it’s an iPad or the latest game or the newest fashion trend.

If you are a Christian, you know in your head that Christmas is about more than those things. If you stop and take time – which we encourage you to do! – you know that the Christmas question is not “For what do you hope?” but “In Whom do you hope?”

But here’s the challenge, and it’s the same challenge Abram and Mary faced. When there is no answer in sight, what do you do with God? When the second coming has not yet come, the heartfelt prayers have not been answered, and perhaps even the earthly material needs aren’t being met… what do you do with that? Especially at Christmastime… what do you do with that?

Abram started making his own back-up plan, just in case the God-thing didn’t work out. Do you do that? Do you have a back-up to God’s plan for you? It seemed to cross Joseph’s mind… or at least the narrator of the story. He could have “put Mary away quietly” to avoid the disgrace of her having a child out of wedlock. But, reminded of God’s faithfulness to His promises, Abram, Mary, and Joseph all trusted. They demonstrated faith.

That’s what I want to do this morning. It’s my one real purpose with this sermon. I want to remind you of God’s faithfulness to His promises – not to give us everything we wish for, but faithfulness to His promises. God is faithful! His story is told and validated throughout the pages of this Bible. His faithfulness is demonstrated once and for all through Jesus Christ, born at Christmas and obedient to the point of death for us on Good Friday… and God’s faithfulness is proven yet again on Easter morning. God IS faithful.

So what is your response to God? With Abram and Mary, God help me, I will believe! Will you? God grant us the strength and wisdom for it to be so. Amen.

A Great Prophecy (Genesis 14.17-24)

2011-12-04T12:58:00.000-08:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
December 4, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "Sing We Now of Christmas/God Rest Ye"
- Tanja Bechtler, cello (arr. Brandt Adams)
Advent Candle Hymn: "We Light the Advent Candle" (Grindal)
Song of Praise: "Here I Am to Worship" (Hughes)
Offering of Music: "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" - Tanja Bechtler, cello (arr. Jay Rouse)
Hymn of Sending: "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (MENDELSSOHN)
Postlude: "Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying" (Burkhardt)

A Great Prophecy
Text: Genesis 14:17-24)

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Last week we began talking about Abraham, which may seem like an unusual topic for the Christmas season. I chose Abraham because he, too, was waiting for the birth of a child. He, too, was trusting in God’s promises. He, too, had moments of doubt and wandering from God. He, too, experienced God’s faithfulness through promises graciously kept anyway. And he, too, found himself with Sarah, his wife, marveling at a newborn son, miraculously conceived and delivered.

My hope is that hearing Abraham’s story will help you and me enter more easily and fully into the Christmas story and into God’s promises and faithfulness towards us today.

Last week we left off in Genesis 12, with God making the first great covenant promises to Abraham, promises for land, descendants, and blessing in order to bless the whole earth. I shared how those promises were and are fulfilled and deepened in Jesus. God offers us an eternal home with Him (land), adopts and grafts us into His people (descendants), and offers us salvation and callings as the followers of Jesus (blessing) in order that we might share that Good News in the world.

Abraham’s story, like our own, was not a steady mountaintop experience of the presence of God or Abraham’s own human faithfulness. Rather, he faced some real hardship and also had periods of wavering faith. Immediately after our text from last week, Abraham faces famine and then war. I’ll briefly tell you about that and then we’ll see how God reminded Abraham of His Word and Promise.

War and Famine (chs. 12-14)

Famine

We left off in Genesis 12 with Abram reaching the place God had showed him. But then there was a famine in the land and Abram took his family to Egypt, where the waters of the Nile offered Egyptians some buffer against drought and famine. Abram lied for protection (and advantage) there, offering Sarai up as his sister. Indeed, she was taken into Pharaoh’s house and Abram treated well, but God struck Pharaoh’s house with plagues (sound familiar??) and the truth came out. Abram and his household were sent away with all that they had gained. It was a great foreshadowing of Moses and the Exodus, where God worked to deliver His people through plagues, despite the moral failings of His chosen leader. Though Abram’s story came first, I recall to you that Exodus story of God’s faithfulness despite our unfaithfulness.

Then, in Genesis 13 (vv. 3-4), Abram gets back to Bethel, where he had built the altar and worshiped in 12:8. He and Lot divided their herdsmen and families and Abram gave Lot the choice of where to go. Lot chose the more choice land (though he eventually moved to the city of Sodom), and Abram settled in the land of Canaan. And then, at the end of chapter 13, God renewed the covenant promises to Abram, promising land as far as he could see (vv. 14-15) and descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth (v. 16).

War

Then, in chapter 14, we read about the “war of the kings.” After a local clash of kings resulted in the defeat of all of the Jordan River valley and the capture of Abram’s nephew, Lot, Abram went after the victorious king and defeated him, rescuing his nephew and the possessions of the local kings. While Abram was not involved in the local clash, his victory in the course of rescuing Lot provided the responsibility to deal with the spoils of war. He was approached by two different local kings, who provided two distinctly different approaches to those spoils.

One of the local kings – the king of Sodom offered Abram a reward of the goods he recovered. Abram refused his offer, saying that the Lord God Most High had made him rich. But then, Melchizedek, the king of Salem, offered Abram bread and wine and blessed him in the name of God Most High. Abram received the bread and wine and gave Melchizedek a tenth of his possessions.

Precisely at the moment when Abram could have forgotten God, he was reminded of God’s authority and offered a choice to remember or forget God’s place in his life. Abram was at a seeming peak of success – rich, locally powerful, and in a place of influence. In a way, he was experiencing a version of the covenant promises of land, wealth, and influence. What would he do? Who would get credit?

Melchize…who?

Who was Melchizedek? We know he was king of Salem, presumably the region where the city of Salem or Jerusalem was later built. We can translate his name – it means King of Righteousness or “the Righteous King.” We know that he not only knew the real and living God, but was considered a priest of God before the priesthood was even established with Moses and Aaron. He was a godly King who also functioned as a priest of God and whose kingdom was known as “Peace.”

And he was a messenger from God to Abram. He was a preacher and a prophet as well as a king, because he reminded Abram of who God was and of the faithfulness of God to keep His promises. He recalled Abram to the covenant and to living faith in what God was yet to do.

Two kings come out to Abram after his victory. The king of Sodom invites Abram to keep the spoils of battle and become richer yet. (It also would have put Abram in his debt (v. 23)). The king of Salem, Melchizedek, invites Abram to worship and give thanks to el elyon, “God Most High.” Listen to his words again, offered after coming to Abram with bread and wine, and a blessing:

Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.

Who is God of heaven and earth? Who gave Abram the victory? Who has brought Abram to this place? Who is faithful? El Elyon… God Most High.

A Great Prophet

Why do I focus on Melchizedek as we are trying to get ready for Christmas? It is because we need that reminder of what it’s all about. Abram, the father of God’s people, wandered and was faced with trial and temptation. And God spoke through a preacher/prophet to remind him what it was all about. Later, God’s people (Abraham’s descendants) would wander and be faced with trial and temptation. And God would send preacher-prophets to recall them to the covenant promises, to trust that God would do what He said He would do. The last human prophet was John the Baptist, who would announce Jesus’ coming in the days before his public ministry began. But in this season, I think more of Gabriel, who was sent to a young Mary and Joseph, to invite their trust in God in the midst of miraculous and confusing words about the birth of a child. They, too, could have chosen other paths, other explanations, to “put her away quietly” – but God sent a messenger to speak of God Most High. Listen to Gabriel’s words to Mary in Luke 1:30-35…

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.” … Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

It may be that those are the words you need to hear most this morning. Not the specific words to Abram or Mary, but the reminder that “the Most High God” is still on His throne and invested in your life. You need to know that the God in whom you trusted all those years ago still knows you and loves you and sees you and wants you. You need to know that, though you may have wandered and been tempted and even failed, that God still loves you and has a plan and purpose for you. You need to know that the Most High God invites you to turn, trust, and follow. You need to know that God’s promises are good, for a home, for a people, and to be blessed to be a blessing.

There will always be the other voices, like the other King who spoke to Abram. But God’s invitation stands. Come and trust in the Most High God, Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Great Promise (Genesis 12.1-8)

2011-11-30T04:49:00.000-08:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
November 27, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "Of the Father's Love Begotten" (Wilbur Held)
Advent Wreath Hymn: "We Light the Advent Candle" (vv. 1-2) (Grindal)
Song of Praise: "Of the Father's Love Begotten/Love Shines" (arr. Austell)
The Word in Music: "My Lord He is a-Comin' Soon" (arr. Drennan)
Offering of Music: "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" (arr. Martin)
Hymn of Sending: "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus" (HYFRYDOL)
Postlude: "Consolation: The King Shall Come" (David N. Johnson)

Being Thankful
Text: Genesis 12:1-8

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Manuscript not available this week.

Being Thankful (Colossians 3.12-17)

2011-11-20T13:44:00.000-08:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
November 20, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "The Gift of Love" (Martin)
Song of Praise: "Now Thank We/Give Thanks" (arr. Austell)
Song of Praise: "All I Have is Christ" (J. Kauflin)
Offering of Music: "Let the Peace of Christ Rule in Your Hearts" (Courtney)
Hymn of Sending: "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" (BEECHER)
Postlude: "Now Thank We All Our God" (Bock)

Being Thankful
Text: Colossians 3:12-17

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Last week we talked about an “identity passage” – a passage in the Bible that describes, not primarily WHAT we do, but WHO we are as followers of Jesus Christ. The particular identity we focused on was being God’s “special treasure” or possession. And I challenged you about the importance of understanding who you are as a Christian rather than simply going through the motions of “doing Christian things.”

This week’s passage is from a different place in the Bible, but builds on what we talked about last week. Though it uses a different metaphor to talk about our identity, it nonetheless begins with identity before moving on to character. So, last week we talked about being God’s “special treasure.” Here, in Colossians 3:12, those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ are called “chosen of God, holy and beloved.” Have you ever considered that, or is church just something you do? If you trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are chosen of God and you are holy AND beloved. We talked some about “holy” last week – that doesn’t mean you are perfect, but means that your belonging to God is evident in your life… you are distinctly His.

Well this week I want to look with you at the character of a Christian. And this passage is rich in describing it. In fact, it is so rich, we will not be able to look in a detailed way at what all is said. I want to just focus on one characteristic of a Christian, but I will give you a thumbnail outline of the whole passage so that you can have some context.

The basic structure of this passage is this: it begins with an identity statement – “chosen of God, holy and beloved” – and then goes on in great detail to describe what makes a Christian so distinct. How should we be identifiable as belonging to God, like we talked about last week. There is a whole list of ways.

Get Dressed Like Jesus (vv. 12-13)

In verse 12, those who belong to Jesus are supposed to look like Jesus. Paul uses “put on” to describe a list of character traits and this is the same word for putting on clothes. We are to put on the character of Christ each day just like we get dressed for the day. Here’s the list, and listen for the outcome of dressing this way. “Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” And here’s how that kind of Christ-like character bears fruit in the world around us. Those character traits will cause us to bear with and forgive each other, just like Jesus did with us.

Remember the ending point last week, which was part of the identity at the beginning of verse 12 today… we are to be holy. That doesn’t mean “holier-than-thou” and doesn’t mean “perfect”; it means set apart as distinct for God’s honor or glory. We are to be identifiable as belonging to God in such a way that we rub off on others in a positive and credible way. That’s what Paul is describing here. A Christian isn’t the one with the best church attendance record or who has given the most money, but one who daily dresses with the character of Christ, resulting in the kind of holy impact God designed us for… showing others the grace we have experienced from God.

Paul is just getting started though. In verse 14, he adds one more trait we should wear daily, and it is even more important – “beyond all these things”; it is love. He doesn’t say as much about love, only noting that it is the “perfect bond of unity,” but he does say that it is most important.

And then he changes metaphors slightly and keeps building his message.

Let Jesus Rule and Reside Inside (vv. 14-16)

Paul continues describing the character traits of those who are identified in Christ, but he changes the metaphor. He began with a metaphor of getting dressed, daily putting on traits like compassion, kindness, and love. Now he uses two different metaphors: Jesus ruling over us and Jesus living in us.

First, he writes, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts… and be thankful.” He says a little bit about the peace – it is our purpose and flows out of the unity that he previously mentioned as a result of love. And he includes thankfulness, our theme for today. Thankfulness is a sign that Jesus is ruling in your hearts… that you belong to God. If I rule my own heart, if my passions and interests are self-serving, I will only be thankful to myself, and that turns to greed. But if, as we saw last week, I belong to God as His “special treasure” then my gratitude to God will result in a willing service, offered freely. This will not be the only time thankfulness is mentioned in this passage.

Then Paul offers a third metaphor of Jesus living or dwelling within us. Paul speaks in verse 16 of the “word of Christ,” which could be the message about Jesus or the content of Jesus’ teaching, or both. The result of that Word living in us is, again, a rubbing off on those around us as that Word bubbles forth in wise teaching, admonishing, and singing. Note again the word “thankfulness” describing our singing of the Word of Christ.

All in the Name (v. 17)

Finally, in verse 17, Paul gathers up all that has gone before – our identity and the character of Christ – and issues a blanket challenge: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Taken literally, that may sound like we are supposed to tack on, “in the name of Jesus” to everything we say or do.

“Let me get that door for you… in the name of Jesus!”

“Can I bring you some dinner tonight in the name of Jesus?”

Rather, that “in the name of Jesus” is a way of pulling together all the powerful metaphors Paul has already used. He has challenged us to dress ourselves daily in the character of Christ. He has challenged us to let Christ rule our hearts. He has challenged us to have the Word of Christ take residence in our lives. “In the name of” is simply describing a life given fully to Jesus Christ. It means claiming the identity that God has already declared. It means saying ‘yes’ to belonging to God. It means that “Christian” (which is taking on the name of Christ) is not just about what you do, but about who you are.

What Paul is saying here is that if you belong to God, then belong to God. Take on the family name, but not just externally or for show, but as the very essence of who you are.

And then, interestingly, in that summary sentence, we are reminded one last time to give thanks. “Whatever you do… BE and BELONG to Jesus… and give thanks to God.” Something to ponder deeply this Thanksgiving week…

Something to ponder deeply any time...

Who are you? Who does God say you are? What does that mean? Are you thankful about it?

I think the thankfulness comes when we realize whose we are and what that means, because that’s truly amazing when you really grab hold of it and God grabs hold of you. Amen.

God's Possession (1 Peter 2.5-12)

2011-11-13T14:52:00.001-08:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
November 13, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (Manz)
Song of Praise: "Come, All Christians, Be Committed" (arr. Austell)
Song of Praise: "Tame My Life" (Tomlin, Giglio)
The Word in Music: "Something for Thee" (John Palmer Smith)
Offering of Music: "O Word of God Incarnate" (Bobby White, piano) (arr. White)
Hymn of Sending: "We Give Thee But Thine Own" (arr. Austell)
Postlude: "Contrasts" (Diemer)

God's Possession
Text: 1 Peter 2:5-12

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Today we are looking at a wonderful “identity passage.” I call it that because it offers us a number of vivid descriptions of WHO WE ARE in Christ. I’m just going to focus in on one of those, but just listen to all the ways you are described in 1 Peter 2, if you have believed and trusted in Jesus Christ.

You are… living stones, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, and though once not, you are now the people of God. In the midst of that, in verses 6-8, comes the description of Jesus Christ as both the cornerstone and the stumbling stone. All of that is so rich… it makes me want to come back and revisit all those things in more depth, and maybe we’ll do that early next year.

But for today, I want to focus more narrowly on one of those identities: God’s own possession. I do so because today is what we call Consecration Sunday. It is the follow-up to last week’s stewardship focus, and where we might typically focus on OUR possessions as we contemplate stewardship and giving to God, I found it very interesting that this passage speaks of us as GOD’s possessions.

God’s Possessions (v. 9a)

Peter is quoting Exodus 19:5-6, which was originally God’s Word through Moses to His people at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Since we have recently talked so much about the covenant in the Old Testament, listen to those verses:

5 ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

There, “my own possession” literally means “my special treasure.” That’s what God said to the people of His covenant in Exodus and that’s what God is saying to followers of Jesus through Peter. Peter is writing to all who would trust in Jesus, whom indeed he recognizes in this same passage as a “stone of stumbling.” Peter is writing the new “people of God,” whom God is drawing from all nations through His Son, Jesus. And Peter is intentionally connecting this new gathering-in-Jesus with what was said to the people of Israel in Exodus.

It is covenantal language – binding, promise language, like marriage vows: “in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, ‘til death do us part.” It is also interesting to note the different ways that phrase has been translated. Sometimes it’s “God’s own possession” (NASB); sometimes “people belonging to God” (NIV); and my favorite, the King James “a peculiar people.” So, I’d definitely take off any negative connotation of personal possession, as if God’s intent for us is harmful or to make us less than human. What is closer to the meaning there is that in Christ we are so identified with God and God’s family that we should bear the imprint of it. It should be noticeable. Someone should be able to look at you and think, “She’s a Christian” or “He must be one of those Jesus people.” And while it’s not here in the New Testament Greek of Peter, I would also hold on to the Hebrew connotation of the original that we are also God’s “special treasure.”

It puts a different spin on stewardship and giving of our own time and “special treasure” to God, doesn’t it… that we ourselves are God’s special treasure? Let’s look on and see what Peter has to say about it.

For His Public Glory – “proclaiming the excellencies” (v. 9b)

The remainder of verse 9 describes the purpose of belonging to God. I should note that this also describes the purpose of being a “chosen race… royal priesthood, and holy nation” – so know that this purpose is tied in deeply to our identity as Christians – our identity in Christ. You are a “people for God’s own possession,” His special treasure, SO THAT you may “proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (v. 9b)

What does that mean? It simply means that our purpose in belonging to God is to declare God’s greatness. And look how it is doubly, triply rooted in our identity. Not only are we to “proclaim His excellencies” as chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, and God’s own possession/special treasure, but it’s even there in the message we proclaim – the excellencies of Him “who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” God has so radically saved us that He has re-named us… but far deeper than that, God has re-identified us. Verse 10 goes on to describe that even more: you were once not a people, but now are the people of God. You once had not received mercy, but now you have. Darkness to light, non-people to people, judgment to mercy – God has done amazing things for those who believe. And our purpose is to point others to the God who does all these excellent things.

And this is to be public. We very much treat religion today as a private matter, but God is clear from Genesis to Revelation that what He is accomplishing in us is not a private matter, but a public one. In fact, it is God’s design that this transformation of people be part of His revelation and witness to the world. The remainder of the text goes on to describe that in a particular way.

Consecrated and Consecrating

While one might read our purpose – to “proclaim the excellencies [of God]” and think that is mainly a verbal thing, the remainder of our text makes it clear that the proclamation in view here is action-oriented. Verses 11-12 are focused on behavior as witness to the world. So, Peter urges us, the former “aliens and strangers” – that is the ones who were not a people, but who now are (and who were also redeemed from darkness to light and from judgment to mercy) – to keep sexually and morally pure from “fleshly lusts.” He challenges us to “keep your behavior excellent” out in the world so that because of these good deeds, others might come to glorify or honor God.

The word that describes behavior that is distinct from the world around us for the sake of honoring God is “consecrated.” It means set apart or holy, but we often think of that as separated AWAY from the world rather than distinct WITHIN it. But it is the latter that is being described here. From the beginning God has set apart His people – by laws, by covenant sign, by behavior. The purpose is not to shelter them away and keep them pure and aloof, but as a witness to the surrounding world of the character and nature of God.

Let me say that another way. We are to be a reflection of the holiness of God. But God, as perfectly holy, is not hidden away from humanity. Rather, in holiness God has come among us in Jesus Christ, to live and be one of us, but to do so with complete distinctness as the perfectly obedient one, to redeem and draw humanity unto Himself.

Whether we talk about consecrating gifts of money for the mission and work of this church or talk about consecrating our lives in service to God, we are talking about openly belonging to God for His public glory. So, the mission and ministry of this church is not for ourselves, but for the world around us, to point to God. Our mission and ministry as Christians is not to get blessed by God, but to give ourselves in service to God for the blessing of others.

I invite you today to consecrate all you are and all you have, tangibly expressed and renewed through pledges and covenants, as God’s own possession, set apart as distinct for God’s public glory. Amen.

Small Faithfulnesses (Luke 19.11-27)

2011-11-07T02:29:00.000-08:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
November 6, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "Fairest Lord Jesus" (arr. Rick Bean)

Anthem of Praise: "Gloria" (Chilcott)

Song of Praise: "Christian Women, Christian Men" (arr. Youngblood)
Anthem of Confession: "Kyrie" (Chilcott)

Offering of Music: "Jesus Christ Lies Here Tonight" (Peterson)

Communion Liturgy: "Sanctus" & "Benedictus" (Chilcott)

Music During Distribution: "Agnus Dei" (Chilcott)

Hymn of Sending: "Be Thou My Vision" (SLANE)
Postlude: "He Is Risen" (Peterson)

Small Faithfulnesses
Text: Luke 19:11-27

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Today we look at a parable, a story Jesus told, which probably sounds a little familiar, but maybe not quite what you remember. It is close to the more-familiar “Parable of the Talents,’ but is really told in a different context and for a different purpose. Because of this similarity, I have never paid it much attention; but, I have realized that this is an important story in its own right because of what it has to teach us about being a Jesus-follower. First I want to look at the broad point of this parable, and then as a point of application will focus on v. 17 and the principle of being faithful in small things.

Why Did Jesus Tell This Story? (v. 11)

Parables are stories with a teaching point. They always have a context and that context is always important to “getting it” – understanding the point of the parable. In the case of this parable, that context and its importance are given in the text.

Look at verse 11. There are two important bits of information there about the context. The first is “while they were listening to these things.” This refers to the preceding text, which is the story of Zaccheus. The last verse of that story is Jesus saying, “Today salvation has come to this house… for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” The story of Zaccheus is a story about a man who encountered the person and grace of Jesus and who responded in faith and action, paying back over and above what he had stolen from people. Zaccheus is a man who responded to Jesus in faith and obedience. Keep that in mind as we move into the story of the ten minas.

Also in v. 11, we are explicitly told why Jesus told the parable. It was “because he was near Jerusalem and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.” We have talked before about the “Messianic expectation” of Jesus’ day. There was a belief and a hope that God would send His Messiah, or chosen one, to restore the political strength and independence of Israel. There were a whole set of prophecies and signs associated with this belief and many of those signs centered around Jerusalem. One of Jesus’ central teachings was about the “Kingdom of God” and just as people hoped the Messiah would lead a restored Israel, they believed that the restored Israel would be the Kingdom of God on earth. Jesus was aware of this expectation, often teaching to correct it, and he told this particular parable specifically because of the proximity to Jerusalem and the tangible expectations of those around him.

The short version of what he consistently taught – and this parable is no exception – is that there was indeed a coming Kingdom, though it was a spiritual Kingdom rather than a military/political kingdom. He also taught that the Kingdom was come NOW – with His ministry and presence – but also NOT YET. There was a future component still to be awaited in hope and faith. What this parable does is describe the NOT YET of the Kingdom and the what-to-do-in-the-meantime question of all who were looking to God in faith.

As we are still living in the NOT YET time, this parable has direct application to each of us as we try to understand what it means to hope in God, trust and follow Jesus, and as we ask, “What do I have to offer?”

Finally, the parable distinguishes at least three different types of “citizens” of the kingdom in the story, pointing us to some application for our own lives and reality. We’ll consider the parable from the viewpoint of these three groups.

Group 1: Servants of the House

The first and obvious group in this parable is the group of ten servants. In the story a nobleman was going to a far country to become king and then return. He called together ten slaves and gave each of them a mina in order to “do business until I return.” Now a mina was 100 days wage. The instruction was to engage the world, investing, buying and selling – in other words, to do the work of the household in his absence. The two servants who the master praised wisely invested the minas and multiplied them, because they knew and obeyed the master. Jesus is describing what servants of God are supposed to do in the NOT YET of waiting for the coming Kingdom. We are to “be about the Father’s business” – and simply that.

Group 2: Hostile Resistance (v. 14)

There is a group in the parable that is set against the ruler from the get-go. Look at verse 14: “But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’” In this, Jesus is recognizing that some of those waiting for God’s Messiah have opposed him from the beginning. One’s mind goes quickly to the scribes and Pharisees who so openly opposed Jesus and worked to discredit him and eventually kill him. They were not strangers to the kingdom, but were not ready to see a “local” as their king. This group appears again at the end of the parable, in verse 27, where the end has come, and the King executes judgment against his sworn enemies. So we are to understand that God’s grace and mercy are part of the NOT YET that we live in, but that God’s judgment is coming and there will be a time when being God’s enemy will cost everything.

Group 3: In the Dark

There is a third person described in this parable, and that is the third slave. This slave is afraid, but also mischaracterizes and even libels the master, describing him as “an exacting man” who “take[s] up what you did not lay down and reap[s] what you did not sow.” In other words, he makes the master out to be unfair and a thief. The master seems to play along, but finds the slave unworthy, saying that he failed both the actual task and the one he imagined himself to have. In other words, even if the master were an unfair thief, the slave should have invested the mina in order to multiply it for the supposed money-loving master. And the master takes away the one mina and gives it to the first slave, who made ten out of one. And that’s really the end of the transaction with the one slave because the focus shifts back to those gathered around, who find the master’s action unfair – see v. 25, “But master, he has ten minas already.” The story goes on and turns to the fate of the hostile resistance when the master returns in power.

The Need for Salt and Light: our mission

What do we make of all this?

Jesus is speaking to those who are expecting the immediate coming of God’s Kingdom, and with that comes judgment of those not right with God. This story also comes right on the heels of the encounter with Zaccheus where a scoundrel and a criminal – surely one not right with God – seemingly “finds the Lord” late in life and is blessed and honored by Jesus.

This parable simultaneously answers the question of what followers of Jesus are to believe and do during the NOT YET of waiting for Jesus’ return in glory and the question of people coming late to the party. Let me explain…

There are some who trust and obey God. We are not perfect, but it’s not about us or our abilities or our rightness. Rather, like the servants and the minas, God has given us what we need to be faithful and obedient. Because of Jesus, we have what we need. And Jesus has simply said, “Come, follow me.” So every person who has trusted in Jesus has their mina. It’s the same for every Christian. We have hope; we have forgiveness; we have the Holy Spirit and the fruits and gifts that come with the Spirit; we have God’s Word. Every one of you who trusts in Jesus has those things – that’s your mina.

There are some folks who are hostile to God. They are no less created in God’s image or inhabitants of this world that God has made. But, like we would be apart from Jesus, they are hostile to God’s rule in their life. And barring a miracle or Jesus breaking through that hostility, if they remain so, their fate is as certain as the enemies of the master in the story.

And then there are a whole host of people who live in the dark. Like the unfaithful slave in the story, they may have a wrong view of God. They may be misinformed, and even appear hostile to God because they believe God is hostile, unfair, or a thief. Those attitudes are tangled in with some of the big questions about “How could God do this?” and “Why did this happen to me?”

This landscape of people living in the NOT YET was entirely appropriate to the Zaccheus encounter, where someone assumed to be an enemy of God encountered the truth and the person of Jesus and proved to be a “faithful servant.”

This landscape of people living in the NOT YET describes the world we still live in, and it ties in to our core mission of being a searchlight church. Look again at the verse right before our parable. There it is in verse 10: “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

How will they know the truth if we don’t tell them? How will people know that God is not exacting and unfair, but gracious and loving, unless we show them? We are salt and light because the story of humanity isn’t over until it’s over. We are living in the NOT YET, and so it is not too late for anyone.

Small Faithfulnesses

What do I have to offer Jesus? What shall I do with the mina which he has entrusted me?

What small faithfulness can you offer Jesus?

Perhaps your mina is a desire to pray. Start with a small faithfulness. Commit to pray each morning or evening for one friend who is living in the dark. You don’t have to pray for 100 or even for the one to have a supernatural, life-transforming, burning bush kind of experience. Start small, but be faithful. Keep praying; keep praying; keep praying. And when you have been faithful, God will expand your prayers.

Perhaps your faithfulness is raising your children in the knowledge of the Lord. Start with a small faithfulness. Understand your cleaning up of messes and your control of your temper and your words of love and stories of Jesus to be acts of faithfulness to Jesus. Start small, but be faithful. Keep mothering; keep fathering. And when you have been faithful, God will expand your calling, which is good, since children grow and get bigger and have bigger challenges!

Perhaps your faithfulness is your work. Start with a small faithfulness. I know different kinds of work relate differently to faith. But whether you are in teaching, nursing, business, retail, banking, counseling, or anything else, start small and figure out how the work of your hands or mind or heart can honor God. Find one way each day and keep at it. Keep at it! And when you have been faithful, God will expand your mission field.

Perhaps your faithfulness is literally financial. But you have never really understood the connection between money and faith. And it really isn’t about the level of income. Start with a small faithfulness. Commit to setting aside something for the work of God’s Kingdom, off the top and with faithfulness. And keep at it. Keep at it when the bills come in high. Keep at it when you’d rather use it for something else. And when you have been faithful, God will expand your vision and understanding of how your financial resources can serve His Kingdom.

Perhaps your faithfulness is…. What? What were you hoping I’d say? Can you fill in the blank? Can you imagine what a small faithfulness would look like in your life? Can you envision how you could serve God and shine light and love into another person’s life through such a small act? Keep at it; keep at it; keep at it. And when you have been faithful, God will show you more.

What small faithfulness will you offer Jesus?

Ruler of the World (Psalm 24, Revelation 11:15-17)

2011-11-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
October 30, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "Trumpet Tune" (German)
Song of Praise: "Come Now, Almighty King" (Kauflin)
Song of Praise: "Beautiful Savior" (Townend)
The Word in Music: "23rd Psalm" (Bobby McFerrin)
Hymn of Sending: "Joy to the World" (ANTIOCH)
Postlude: "Hallelujah Chorus" (Handel)

Ruler of the World
Text: Psalm 24; Revelation 11:15-17

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Testimony - by John Shuler

For many weeks now we have been talking about God’s love of the world He made. God has demonstrated that love, as the Scripture reminds us, through sending His Son, Jesus, into the world. We have traced this purposeful love of God from the earliest parts of the biblical story through Abraham, the people of Israel, the exiles in Babylon, the coming of Jesus, the formation of the Church, and the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Last week Greg (in his sermon) and Graham (in his testimony) reminded us that God sought us from a long way off in order to bring us home and into his family.

Today we reach the end of the story… Revelation. We get to peek behind the curtain and into the very Heavenly worship scene and see that indeed, God has drawn together people from every tribe and tongue and nation. Our ending point today is to be reminded that God not only loves the world, but rules the world in glorious and perfect power, justice, love, and wisdom. Today we will be reminded that all of history bends in an arc toward this eternal moment, where those whom God has pursued in love gather in humility, worship, and praise. We will consider what it means not only that God loves you, but that God reigns over everything… that Jesus is not only a personal Savior, but Lord of all of life.

The King of Glory (Psalm 24)

I used Psalm 24 for the call to worship and the first scripture reading this morning. It is an ancient reminder that everything belongs to God. Listen again to the first verse: “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.” The Psalm goes on to root God’s sovereignty in Creation. The earth is the Lord’s possession because He “founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.”

Then, the Psalm asks an interesting question: if the Lord is this powerful and awesome, who may approach God? Who may ascend His hill and stand in His holy place? (v. 3) It is only one with clean hands and pure heart. Not only is the Lord powerful and awesome, but holy and righteous. There is a purity and perfection that only adds to God’s power and presence. This middle portion of the Psalm reminds us why it is necessary for God to come to us, for who among us has clean hands, pure heart, true soul, and consistent witness? Other scripture (Psalms 53:3, Romans 3:10) will confirm what we probably know instinctively: no one, not one is righteous.

The next verse bridges our plight to God’s salvation. Though we may not approach on our own, we may seek the Lord (v. 6), and the glorious good news is that God is coming among us. Lift up your heads; look up and out, for the King of Glory approaches. God is come to us and among us. The God of power and might and GLORY has come to us! In this setting in Psalm 24, that language probably described the coming of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. But, that action and this language is such a powerful reminder of what God did once and for all in Jesus Christ: the King of Glory came among us and approaches that He might “come in” to our lives and hearts. What a truly awesome thing. This Psalm depicts God FOR the world He made, for sure!

The Kingdom of Our Lord (Revelation 11)

Revelation is the end of the biblical story and describes the scene in Heaven where God is being worshiped in glory. The main part I want to highlight is part of verse 15, which is sung by “loud voices”: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” This is a significant kingdom-shift from the current world, according to scripture. The New Testament (and Old Testament for that matter) says two key things about the time and place in which we live.

First, though we live in the world God made (and loves!), it is a fallen and broken world. There is sin and sorrow, sickness and suffering, difficulty and death. And there is a spiritual aspect to the physical/material world in which we live. For a time, God has given some rein to Satan in this world, to tempt and try and test. So the New Testament refers to Satan as “the Prince of the Power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2) and the “ruler of this world” (John 12:31; Ephesians 6:12).

Secondly, Jesus’ primary message while on this earth was to announce the arrival of the Kingdom of God. It wasn’t in the distance, but was now HERE. And yet, it was not yet fully established. There was still a conflict and a confrontation to happen. According to scripture, Jesus’ death signaled the beginning of the end for Satan; the war was won against sin, death, and evil! But there were still battles and skirmishes during this in-between time after the beginning of the end and before the end of the end, described in Revelation 11 and elsewhere.

So, scripture reminds us that God made this world and everything in it; God loves this world that He made; and the King of Glory has come to us. The New Testament declares that Jesus is this King of Glory; John tells us Jesus is the glory of God, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) And Jesus has announced and accomplished the beginning of the end of Satan’s power, rule, and influence. What remains is what we heard in Revelation 11. God will fully establish His kingdom, righteousness, power, and peace, and shall reign forever.

You may recognize this verse from the Hallelujah Chorus: it is the refrain of the Good News of God in a day and age when we need to hear it. God loves you and the world He has made, and is working even now to redeem and rescue it. This big story that God is not overwhelmed or even tried by sin, evil, and death is a comfort in a world full of sin, evil, and death. It is Good News that all that we know already belongs to God and will one day be fully ruled by God Almighty.

Savior and Lord of All of Life

Is there anything personal in these texts beyond the big picture claim that God is still on His throne and engaged with the world He has made?

Yes, I think there is. If you’ve grown up around church people much at all, you have probably heard language of trusting Jesus as Savior and Lord. In fact, that language is the first of our membership and baptismal vows: “Who is your Lord and Savior?” It is a foundational question to Christian faith.

It is straightforward enough to explain what “Jesus as Savior” means. It means that God has pursued you, loved you, claimed you, adopted you, and welcomed you from death to life with him. Jesus came and lived and suffered and died in order to be the Savior. And all who believe and call on his name will be saved!

What is harder to grasp and live out is the idea of Jesus as Lord. That means doing a lot of things that we really struggle against: submitting, obeying, listening, following, emulating. It means recognizing God’s authority in your life and responding to God as King or Lord. Said another way, it means anticipating Heaven and the Kingdom of God, and living like you are already there. Which you are, according to Jesus!

So I would say that this passage has even more to say than, “It will be okay; God is still on His throne.” Even more than that, this passage is an invitation to love and serve the God who has loved and served you first through Jesus the Son. Jesus is not only Savior of the world, but is Lord of Life.

Do you know him?

Will you trust, obey, listen, and follow?

That’s the question. What is your answer? Amen.

Home in the Kingdom for the World (Ephesians 2.11-22)

2011-10-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

Sermon by:Greg Joines
October 23, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "The Lord's My Shepherd, I'll Not Want" (Held)
Song of Praise: "And Can it Be?" (arr. by Enfield)
Hymn of Praise: "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy" (ARISE)
The Word in Music: "Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling" (Thompson/Cherwien)
Song of Sending: "Come to Jesus" (Chris Rice)
Postlude: "Hallelujah! Sing to Jesus" (Phillips)

Home in the Kingdom for the World
Text: Ephesians 2:11-22

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Testimony - by Graham Meeks

Spirit for the World (Acts 2.14-21)

2011-10-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
October 16, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "Come, Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire" (Held)
Song of Praise: "Spirit" (Manley)
Hymn of Praise: "Open My Eyes that I May See" (SCOTT)
The Word in Music: "Come, O Spirit, Dwell Among Us" (arr. Hopson)
Song of Confession and Assurance: "Shine Into Our Night" (Sczebel)
Song of Sending: "Let the River Flow" (Evans)
Postlude: "Every Time I Feel the Spirit" (Hailstork)

Church for the World
Text: Acts 2:14-21

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Testimony - by J.H. Dimgus

Last week we looked at the introduction to Acts, in which Luke summarized the Gospel story about Jesus – what Jesus did and said, his suffering and resurrection, and especially the teaching on the Kingdom of God. Then, we heard Jesus’ promise and charge to his followers, to send the Holy Spirit as power so that they might be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria, and the whole world.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus promised his followers that they would receive power in order to be this kind of witnesses. Today we are looking at a special passage that unpacks and explains what that “power” is, where it fits into God’s great overarching story, and what its significance is for our lives and witness.

The Power

Let’s look first at what this power is that Jesus promised his followers. Jewish people and God-fearers (non-Jewish believers in Yahweh) traveled from all over the known world to visit Jerusalem. And filled with this Holy Spirit power, the disciples were able to communicate with and be understood by all of them.

In Acts 1, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit, and this passage is describing what that looks like. It’s not a sermon on “here’s what you need to do” but an account of what God is doing. So the point is not technique or how to deal with these different responses, but what God has promised to do. Witnessing isn’t an OUGHT; it is God at work in you. That’s how God works, how God “does His thing.” He empowers human beings to speak and act and tell His story by sharing what you’ve seen and what you’ve heard.

The Prophecy

When Peter begins to speak in verse 14, he answers the questions and mocking by telling a part of God’s big story. In doing so, he helps explain where this outpouring of God’s power fits into God’s larger overarching story. He begins his message (which continues on well past where we stopped) by explaining that what is happening is the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy spoken through the prophet Joel.

Joel prophesied about the last days, when God’s Kingdom would arrive and God would judge and rule the world. That era was to be marked by an outpouring of God’s Spirit in which God’s sons and daughters would prophesy, young and old would have dreams and visions, and even male and female slaves would prophesy. The world would be full of witness to the Lord and the opportunity to believe and be saved would be open to all people.

Notice, too, that Peter quotes Joel about drastic signs of the end: blood, fire, smoke, darkness. Presumably, those are events that are yet to be. Here’s how to understand what is being referenced and explained here. In Acts 1 and throughout the Gospels, Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God. Remember, that is one of the summary points of what Jesus was all about that Luke gave us in the first few verses of Acts. But Jesus wasn’t announcing an earthly kingdom set on taking on the Roman Empire. Rather, he was announcing the arrival of a spiritual Kingdom. And he said more than once that the time was ‘now.’ He also said it was ‘not yet complete.’ In other words, Jesus announced a new era, a new chapter in God’s timing. He announced the “beginning of the end.” And the experience of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost both confirmed Jesus’ promise and fulfilled Joel’s prophecy. The message of Acts 2 is that the beginning of the end is indeed here, as evidenced by just what Joel foretold. God was using His power and human witness to accomplish His mission.

Spirit for the World

So I said that witnessing isn’t an OUGHT, but is God at work in you. Here’s what I mean, and why these Pentecost passages in Acts are so closely connected with the lost and found parables in Luke 15. A few weeks ago we heard about a God who diligently seeks the lost, like a shepherd searching for one sheep lost in 99. We also heard about a God who DELIGHTS in finding those who are lost. God experiences JOY when one lost person comes home to Him.

The Joel prophecy marks God’s interest in the lost over the course of centuries. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is God’s demonstration in real life of what Jesus portrayed in story-form in Luke 15. God was indeed coming after the lost, and His chosen means to do that was by His Holy Spirit power and through human witness. So Jesus tells his followers in Acts 1 that they would receive God’s power in order to be witnesses. In Acts 2 we see that power in action and see how Peter and others are serving as witnesses.

What then comes to us is this bold claim: God is a seeking and finding God, and His chosen means of engaging in that mission is to empower human witnesses. That’s you and me. It’s not a “you better witness or God won’t love you.” It’s not a “you better witness if you want a spot in Heaven.” Rather, God can and does use your sharing what you’ve seen and heard in order to accomplish His joyful mission of finding the lost.

Everyone Who Calls on the Name

Finally, the Joel prophecy concludes with this encouraging statement in verse 21: “And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” While that statement is true standing alone, it is made in context. The context is God empowering human witnesses to speak the name of the Lord and tell God’s story such that people will see and hear and believe. This promise is that people will indeed be saved, not because you or I convince them with our mastery of the plan of salvation, but because God is at work seeking and finding. It is this very salvation that God celebrates, like the characters in the lost and found parables.

Bottom line, what do we have to do? Looking at Acts 1-2, last week’s lesson and this, we need to know and grow in knowledge of God’s story. Study, read, and keep learning it. If you trust in Jesus Christ, God has already given you the supernatural power needed – God is already at work in you and through you. And God’s intent is that we be witnesses, which simply means that we will share what we’ve seen and heard.

When I hear from people about real instances of “witnessing” they didn’t give multi-point sermons about God’s story (though they do know God’s story). Rather, they ran into a friend and situations where they could share from their own experience, “I know what you are going through and this is what God meant to me when I went through something like that.” They tell me about the importance of prayer; or about how significant God’s forgiveness was. That is witnessing and it is a part of God’s long story of seeking and finding people about whom He cares deeply.

You can do that because God is doing that! God’s heart is for the world and His Holy Spirit is moving in you and in the world. Keep asking God how you can be a part of that. Amen.

Church for the World (Acts 1.1-8)

2011-10-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
October 9, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "In Christ Alone" (Townend/Getty, arr. Wyrtzen)
Song of Praise: "O Church Arise" (Getty/Townend)
Hymn of Praise: "There is a Fountain" (Cowper)
The Word in Music: "With a Voice of Singing" (Shaw)
Assurance of God's Grace: "Shine Into Our Night" (Sczebel)

Hymn of Sending: "Lord, the Church on Earth is Seeking" (AUSTRIAN HYMN)
Postlude: "Lift High the Cross" (Burkhardt)

Church for the World
Text: Acts 1:1-8

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Testimony - by Cameron Cary

As an introduction to today’s sermon, I’d like to simply point you to Luke’s introduction for the book of Acts. In only a matter of verses, Luke summarizes what has gone before (as recorded in Luke) and what is about to happen (as recorded in Acts). All of that is presented in one of the most concise summaries of Jesus’ ministry and resurrection in scripture. Luke references four distinct components of Jesus’ story:

Jesus’ ministry as recorded in the Gospel of Luke – what he did and taught (v. 1)
Jesus suffering and resurrection (v. 3)
Specific teaching about the Kingdom of God (v. 3)
The promise of baptism with the Holy Spirit, only a few days away (vv. 4-5)

If you ever are looking for a primer on what you need to know about Jesus, that’s a great outline. Learn about his life and ministry. Study his death and resurrection. And don’t miss the teaching about the Kingdom of God, which runs throughout his many lessons and parables. And then don’t stop; ask, “What’s next?” The book of Acts answers that question with the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the empowering of Jesus’ followers for mission.

Now here’s one interesting part to me. The disciples had lived through all that. They had heard the parables, seen the suffering and death, and witnessed the resurrection. They had shared in the popular expectation of an earthly kingdom ushered in by the expected Messiah, and heard Jesus reorient them toward a spiritual Kingdom time and time again. And now after weeks of “convincing proofs” that he was risen and he was who he said he was, he gathers his followers in Jerusalem and tells them to get ready for what is coming next.

And apparently, they still have some pressing questions…

Pressing Questions

The insistence of the disciples in asking the next question would be laughable if I weren’t convinced that I would have been right there asking it with them. After all the teaching and correction and proof and power, they still have to ask it: “Lord, NOW are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Now you’re going to wipe out the Romans, right? You obviously have the power – their torture and soldiers couldn’t keep you down. Now you’re going to bring it, right?

There are times as a parent when I impart truly important information. It’s not just what time we are leaving or what needs to be eaten before dessert, but good, solid life-lessons. And then the next thing I hear is whether we’ll be done talking in time for the favorite TV show, or “Can I call my friend now?” Adults, have you ever been there?

But grown-ups, we’re not off the hook. We sit through Bible study, sermons, saying our prayers, and doing 20 other things that “get us right with God” and then jump right to, “Now here’s what I want, God.” There’s this disconnect between the message and our focus. Great sermon, preacher; but here’s what I want to know. Hmm – that Great Commission: “Good one, Lord; but what about answering that prayer request?”

Jesus has answered this one before and is in the middle of telling them about the fulfillment of a thousand year old prophecy, and they have pressing questions.

This is not the main point of this sermon, but I am struck – and convicted – by the disciples’ question that I still have much to learn about “Thy will be done” and putting God’s will ahead of my own.

Jesus’ answer is short and deep; and then he moves on. His answer is verse 7, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority…” What in the world is an epoch? This is one of those cases where the Message translation nails it: “It is not for you to know the times or timing of the Father’s will…” There are two Greek words for time: chronos and kairos. And each is used here. We don’t get to know the day and time the end will come. That’s chronos – clock time. And we don’t get to know the timing, that is, kairos – God’s time. That’s what an epoch is, by the way, an era or age or chapter in God’s story. We just don’t use that word much. What Jesus is saying is that it’s God’s business and we would do better to listen to what God IS saying then speculate about what God is not revealing. This is also not the main point of this sermon, but I think this has profound implications for those who become overly pre-occupied with end-times matters. Jesus is very clear in this passage that he would reorient us towards a present mission. And that main point is what I want to turn to now, along with the disciples.

What (and Where) is Next?

Jesus spells out the impending mission for his followers in once sentence in verse 8. I want to look at it in two parts, first looking at WHAT that mission will be, then at WHERE the mission will take place.

Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses…” In a nutshell, here’s what Jesus said we should be focused on: OUR witness to him, fueled by HIS power. The Holy Spirit that Jesus promised (as did God long before that) would be poured out on those who trusted in Him, and that Spirit would energize, compel, protect, embolden, catalyze, and bless the words and actions of human witnesses. But what is it that we have witnessed. Think about a witness in a courtroom. The questions are, “What have you seen? What have you heard? What do you know?”

And here’s where all this hangs together. The content of the Christian witness has already been described in the opening verses of Acts. Luke has summarized the Christian witness for us already in verses 1-5. That is what is referenced by “witnesses” in verse 8. We are witnesses to those four things I mentioned earlier – the amazing stuff: what Jesus did and taught, his suffering and resurrection, his specific teaching about the Kingdom of God, and the promise and reality of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life (and sign of the promised Kingdom of God). That’s the basic story we need to have under our belt, applied and experienced and explained through the filter of our own lives. Said even more simply, we need to know God’s story in Christ, as witnessed through our own story and experience.

Jesus goes on to describe the scope of this mission – the WHERE of it: “…in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (v. 8). We have talked about this phrase before. In fact, it underlies the mission of this church as we attempt to be a faithful witness to Jesus Christ within our walls, then in our near neighborhood, then in the larger community, and in the world. The Book of Acts chronicles this mission as it follows that very pattern, expanding outward from those nearby to those far away. So also we are to carry our Christian witness from this place of worship and teaching and training into our homes, schools, neighborhoods, community, and world.

One of the things we’ve realized is that it is not sufficient to say “take it to the neighborhood.” We have to be specific. So, we’ve named buildings and groups and neighbors and made specific gestures to obey this mission. We’ve also latched onto a line from the parable of the talents, in which the master says to the faithful steward, “You have been faithful in small things; I will give you responsibility for larger things.”

A few weeks ago I shared about our officer and staff retreat in August – how in the process of rehearsing the ways God has called us to this neighborhood, I am realizing God is opening doors now beyond the neighborhood. For years God has led individuals out beyond our immediate community. Cameron and Josh (who will share next week) are two examples of that. But it seems like those opportunities are coming more and faster.

Striving to not run ahead of nor fall behind where God would lead, this text encourages us to be faithful with what God has given us and attentive to where God would lead us.

You are the Church!

What applies to the congregation also applies to each believer. While you may not be called to central Asia or Africa, each of you IS a minister; each of you IS a missionary. And the same kind of principles apply well into individual lives. If you are a follower of Christ, you are a witness to him… to the same core story Luke talks about in his introduction to Acts. One of the reasons we’ve been having these testimonies in church is to illustrate that you all have stories – you all have a journey in relation to God.

Applying the Acts 1 pattern to your own life, first ask, “Do I know Jesus Christ?” Let’s consider that your Jerusalem. There at home in your head and heart, do you know and trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If not, that’s the first order of business. Do you know his story? What stands in the way of belief?

If you do trust in Jesus Christ, what is your Judea? What is one way you can be faithful to the Lord in a small way? I don’t just mean come to church or read your Bible. I mean in God’s call to be a witness and mission-partner. Is it a good friend or neighbor with whom you’ve never risked talking about faith? Is it a gesture towards someone at work or school to let them know you will pray for them? Is it an act of kindness, rooted in your Christian faith?

If you’ve found your Judea, you will probably know your Samaria when you see it – slightly more out of your comfort zone… more of a stretch… the next step. But God promises to give you what you need through the Holy Spirit.

The point is to ask that first mission question: “What is God doing in and around ME and how can I be a part of it?” Ask it and act. The Christian faith isn’t about ourselves, but about God and His glory. Baby steps are fine – small acts of obedience, that’s what they are. Most of us don’t run into problems with those small steps; we don’t want to walk or crawl at all.

This series is all about God’s heart for the world – His love for the world as shown through Jesus Christ. If we say we follow Him, then we’ve got to actually do that. God has given us what we need – the story, the power, the invitation. Both as a church and as individual Christians, that is our privilege and calling.

So how might you find your mission? Scour the “mission opportunities” in the bulletin; pray and listen for God’s still, small voice – a nudge toward some place or person you are probably already close to; ask the mission question and be ready to respond in obedience.

The church is not for me; the church isn’t really even for us. The church is for the world, that it might know God. As we seek the shalom of the world, we will know God’s peace, blessing, and shalom in our own lives!

Our Mission

Our mission from Acts 1 applies to each individual Christian, from the youngest to the oldest; and it applies to the congregation as one local collection of believers in this time and location:

Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ has empowered and called on his followers to give witness to him in every area of their life, even stretching beyond those arenas to places to which God would lead us.

Luke has reminded us in short form of God’s story in Christ. And you are Christ’s witnesses in the world. What is your story? With whom will you share God’s story and your own? Amen.

Shepherd for the World (Luke 15.1-7)

2011-10-03T09:01:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
October 2, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need" (Martin)
Hymn of Praise: "The King of Love" (ST. COLUMBIA)
Hymn of Response: "And Can it Be" (arr. Enfield)
Offering of Music (Rick Bean, jazz piano)
Song of Sending: "As You Go" (Altrogge)
Postlude: "Carillon" (Archer)

Shepherd for the World
Text: Luke 15:1-7

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Testimony - by Teresa Wilson

In the past few weeks we’ve talked about God’s love for the world He made. One aspect of that love is shown in God’s attention to people that are lost. Jesus used a series of stories to try to explain God’s diligent attention to and pursuit of the lost, though Jesus was working against religious expectations to the contrary. In a day when it is easy for church to be one more club or organization that we see as meeting OUR needs, we are going to look at what Jesus has to say about having a mind and heart for others, especially those who are lost.

I want to walk through these verses with you and highlight a situation and Jesus’ response to it, then consider the application for us

Sinners Coming Near and Grumbling Within (vv. 1-2)

Verse 1 sets the stage for us: “Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him.” We’ve talked before about tax collectors. They were seen as traitors and thieves, for betraying their people as well as robbing from them with exorbitant taxes. They, as a class, were considered sinners by the religious leaders.

We also read that other sinners were coming to Jesus. Literally, these were “non-religious Jews” – those that were rejected by and/or did not participate in the observance of the Jewish faith. And for whatever reason, these folks were drawn to Jesus though they were not drawn to the Temple. Indeed, they would not have been welcome at the Temple, so it is a bit of a circular problem – they didn’t go where they weren’t welcome and weren’t welcome because they didn’t go.

We also read in verse 2 that Jesus “[received] sinners and [ate] with them.” So, the issue was not just with their presence, but also Jesus’ response to them and association with them. Verse two also describes the response of the scribes and Pharisees: grumbling. The scribes were the experts in the Jewish religious Law. The Pharisees were a kind of political party (which included the scribes), with great emphasis on and loyalty to the Jewish religious Law. And for any number of reasons, they were not happy with this scenario. They didn’t like tax collectors, sinners, Jesus, or any of these congregating together. For them, Jesus’ association with sinners remained one of their biggest problems with him throughout his ministry.

The Punch Line is the Joy! (vv. 4-7)

Into this tense scene between sinners and grumblers, Jesus told a story. And a parable isn’t just any kind of story – it’s kind of like a first century joke with a point. It’s not meant to be funny, but like a joke, there is a twist at the end that makes the thing work – a punch line, if you will.

There were some among the Jewish rabbis who stressed God’s forgiveness for the repentant, for those who turned to God in humility and sorrow for sin. But apparently these folks did not follow that line of teaching. The scribes and Pharisees were already grumbling at these sinners who were coming near to listen to Jesus. But Jesus didn’t just press the description of the heart of God past rejection of some kinds of sinners to welcome the repentant; he pressed WAY past that (and even past the present situation) to say that God actually sought out those who were lost and not turning to God. This was radical – unheard of!

That would have been punch line enough. “Yeah, yeah; we understand that a shepherd would go looking for the one sheep. Sheep are valuable; you don’t let one go if you can help it. Oh wait; you are comparing sinners to sheep? No, we’ve heard that teaching, but we reject it… Wait a minute more; your story isn’t right. These sinners came looking for you. Are you saying that God is even interested in the ones who aren’t here?! Unthinkable!”

That is the first jarring twist that would have hooked the attention of those listening – Pharisees and so-called sinners alike. But that turns out not to be the big punch line. The punch line is the joy!

That God would seek the lost, even the uninterested, unobservant, sinful lost, was a challenge to the Pharisees’ religious perspective. But that God would DELIGHT in finding the lost?! That turns a Law-based and inward-focused religion on its head. I can just imagine the dual reaction in the room – the sour lemon-face horror of the scribes and Pharisees, and the surprised wonder of the lost ones who grasped what it was Jesus was saying.

And this was just the first pass. Jesus went on to tell two more “jokes” – each with the same punch line, and each building on the unthinkable claim of the one that went before: the lost coin, and the lost son.

How Will We Rejoice?

We won’t be looking at those today, but there is much in this one story for us to chew on. The first big change of perspective is one that we’ve been wrestling with for a number of years now. The Church is not meant to be a club for members, but more like a fire station for firefighters. Firefighters come to their station to train, prepare, study, and learn. They keep their equipment tuned up, shiny, and ready to use. But it would be completely missing the point and mission of being a fire station if they never went out to fight fires. So also the church gathers to train, prepare, study, and learn. We keep our equipment tuned up and equip the people of God for the work of God. And God is at work in the world. To only gather within our building would miss the point and mission of being the Church!

We’ve talked about that dynamic in terms of being a “searchlight.” Sometimes it’s easy to have the perspective of the scribes and Pharisees. We can treat church like a club, mainly for the members. All the money and energy and focus goes into those that belong. That can result in some quality programs for our own, but it lacks spiritual health and balance and is missing the love of neighbor that is absolutely central throughout all of Scripture. Then we can have the perspective that some held in Jesus’ day, and it sounds so reasonable. We can welcome those who are repentant and want to turn to God. These are the “seekers” – the ones who seek us out looking for God. Surely the Church exists for anyone who is looking for God and turns to us for help. This is, after all, why we talk about being a lighthouse, a safe harbor and secure haven for those looking for help. Even as reasonable as it sounds to be that kind of lighthouse church, it takes energy, openness, and a willingness to help those in need. And you are that kind of people – you always have been. But it takes continued focus not to ease back into that club mentality – not just for us, for any church.

But listen; as vital as that effort is, it is not what Jesus is talking about in THIS parable. Here he is describing God – the One we worship, follow after, and serve – as One who goes out seeking those who are lost. God is not just the shepherd who waits for the sheep to wander back to the fold and then gives it a bath. God is the one who goes out into the night and into the wilderness to look for the one that is lost, to bring it home. When we talk about being a searchlight church, that’s the image we are talking about. That’s why we talk so much about the neighborhood and why we try things like this Wednesday night experiment of leaving the church property and going out among our neighbors. God established this church here in this neighborhood, and this greater neighborhood is the flock we are to tend. Some don’t want a shepherd or already have one elsewhere, but the picture Jesus paints for us is that we are to seek out the lost. And of all the names we could have had, we are GOOD SHEPHERD Presbyterian Church.

I realize that seeing the neighborhood as our flock is a different mindset about church than many have – maybe even some of you. But that is the consistent understanding of Church and mission in the Bible, and Jesus pressed further still! Remember, a God who actively seeks the lost is just the startling set up to the parable. The punch line is joy.

Joy. I’m not sure what to do with that. What I hear Jesus saying is not just that seeking the lost is on the table (it is); it is not just our duty (it is); but if we follow and serve the God who is our Good Shepherd, then we will share in His delight and joy when one of His lost sheep is found. That makes this an act of worship – sharing in God’s joy. I can’t wave a magic wand and create joy, but I do know that as we engage in this mission of seeking the lost, I can invite you to celebrate with our Heavenly Father when some are found. By “seeking the lost” I mean getting out there among our neighbors… where they are. Shop at Food Lion and Harris Teeter in our neighborhood. Volunteer at the elementary school. Take your walks or ride your bike throughout these neighborhoods and speak to people as you see them. Come with us to meet our Brighton Place and Swan’s Run neighbors. Have a cook-out and invite your neighbors. If you live outside this neighborhood, you can do the same where you are. The church exists where you are, not in this building. We are only church this morning because you are here. When you leave, you take it with you! And the one for whom you are the church is out THERE seeking the lost.

This is something we have been growing in for a number of years. More and more I am meeting people interested in Good Shepherd (or simply in God) and I find out that they had a conversation with ones of you, or live next door to you, or exercise with you, or their kids go to school with you.

Jesus reminds us that those who love the Father love the lost. And he reminds us of the Father’s joy – the Good Shepherd’s joy – in finding one who was lost. It is my hope and prayer that each of us will come to know that joy as we grow in the Father’s mission to our neighbors. Amen.

Exiles for the World (Jeremiah 29.1-11)

2011-09-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
September 25, 2011

Exiles for the World
Text: Jeremiah 29:1-11

Today I want to look with you at a passage we studied about a year and a half ago. It was also the Bible study for the officer and staff retreat we had at Good Shepherd and the end of August this year. I’d like to not only walk you back through this passage, but then share with you some of the content of that retreat, particularly as it bears on the life of our church.

Exiles on a Mission of Blessing

While removed from us by several thousand years and many thousand miles, the context of this passage nonetheless has a number of points in common with us. It is written to the people of God who find themselves far from their historic and familiar home, in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar place, surrounded by people who do not share their traditional values and beliefs.

God’s people in Jeremiah have been conquered by a foreign power and driven from their home. Not only did they lose their homes, but also jobs, land, and the Temple and city of Jerusalem. And there was more. All those things represented the fulfillment of God’s covenant promises… the ones we talked about last week. God had indeed granted Abraham’s descendants blessing, numbers, and land. And now they seemed to be losing it all. So, too, can we as God’s people look back on the flourishing of the church one and two generations ago and compare it to the diminishing place of church in society. We can look at the culture all around us and feel like “exiles” trying to find our way in a new and foreign land. Not only have values changed, but language and worldview has changed – our children seem to have more in common with this new place than with where we came from.

The natural response to such displacement would be to get back to where we came from. That was true in Jeremiah’s day as well as in our own. The exiles longed for Jerusalem and what lay in ruins in the rear-view mirror. Likewise, there is a strong impulse in church and conservative society to wind the clock back and somehow transport back to what is in our own rear-view mirror. Given that impulse, God’s Word through Jeremiah is startling and uncomfortable. God’s charge is there in vv. 5-6:

Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease.

Look at all those verbs: BUILD, LIFE, PLANT, EAT, MARRY (take wives), MULTIPLY. For a people concerned that they had lost the covenant promises, this is covenant language. The covenant with them was about land, children, and blessing, and God is telling them to make a home THERE – in exile, in the world – and don’t cease to be the covenant people of God! God is still calling them to a PLACE to be a PEOPLE… and the next verse (v. 7) is about blessing.

The blessing is unexpected as well, though, for it isn’t an immediate promise to bless God’s people in exile. Rather, it comes as another charge: they are to “seek the shalom of the city.” (v. 7) We’ve talked about that word before. It is translated in the pew Bible as ‘welfare.’ It is a rich Hebrew word meaning blessing, peace, salvation, well-being, welfare. It is the essence of being “blessed” by God. And God’s charge to them was to seek the blessing of their captors, the strange and foreign people all around them in exile. In doing THAT, God said, His people would find the blessing that they longed for.

What a challenge to us! In a day when traditional church is no longer at the center of society, when secular culture is not only all around us, but invading our homes through TV, computers, music, and other ways, God tells us not to retreat, not to hide out, not to work to wind the clock back, but to make a home and be His people right smack in the middle of it all! And further, to seek to be a blessing to the people all around us. That is what obeying God, worshiping God, loving God looks like.

That sounds like Jesus!

“Love the Lord your God… and love your neighbor as yourself.”

“You are salt and light…”

“Be IN this world, though not OF this world… but do not remove yourself FROM the world.”

The punch-line I used last time I preached through this was this: the shalom (peace/blessing) that I long for – that I NEED – is not found in the place I came from, nor where I think I might go, but in obediently following the Lord to the place He leads.

Exiles for the World

So, with that charge – recognizing that in many ways we are like the exiled people of God charged with making a home, providing a witness, and being a blessing IN this world – our elders, deacons, and ministry staff gathered to consider where we’ve been and what God may be calling us to now.

We spent some time looking at the past ten years, at how the Lord has built us up and equipped us around worship, witness, Biblical training, mercy ministry, mission outreach, and the lighthouse/searchlight vision. And in all of that, we have focused primarily on our own congregation and the immediate Old Providence neighborhoods, convicted that as we were faithful in these things, God would invite our faithfulness in larger ways in His timing.

This idea of being “exiles for the blessing of the world” is behind our going out on Wednesday nights, our involvement at Olde Providence Elementary and with the Swan’s Run group home. It’s also a significant part of why we have not reacted to denominational woes by withdrawing, hunkering down, or only hanging out with like-minded churches, but have plunged into conversations and engagement purposefully. I believe our taking seriously the charge to make our homes and raise our children where God has planted us is also why we have experienced such fruit and blessing internally as we continue worshiping, meeting, training, and equipping you for ministry and mission in your own personal mission fields.

So I walked the officers and staff through the past ten years with those things in mind. If you’d like to see some of that, I’d be glad to e-mail or print out a copy of the materials for you. What was really interesting is that as I began sharing some of the things God seems to be putting before us now, I realized (in the moment) that many of these were, in fact, beyond the immediate congregation or neighborhood, though all still consistent with this calling to be a distinct people sent into the world to bless others for God’s glory.

This morning, I’d like to share a few of those opportunities with you, recognizing that some are already unfolding, some are just ideas, and some may not happen if the Lord leads us in a different direction.

Creative Arts

I don’t know to what extent you realize it, but we have an extraordinary treasure of creative gifts at Good Shepherd. From music to drama to visual art to technological know-how, it would be surprising in a 1000 member church, much less a 250-member church. And increasingly, our performers and creative folks are being invited to share and teach and extend their ministries beyond our walls or even our neighborhood. Folks are being invited to play or sing or act – to teach about how we use these things for the Kingdom – and in some cases, to simply perform in a public and secular sphere. In fact, this afternoon, at the invitation of Providence Presbytery – the collection of churches in northeastern SC, including Rock Hill – Kathy, Joanie, and I are taking a creative team of youth to lead an afternoon retreat for 175 SC youth, including drama, prayer, music, and worship – and Karen Katibah is the conference preacher!

As I talked with the officers and staff about some of these opportunities, I confessed and we recognized the tension between keeping our treasures “in house” and the obedience of releasing them for wider ministry. I remember that same internal tension when Jason and Tiffany Hinton first shared a call to missions. After Cathy and me, they had been our first two musicians on the worship team and we didn’t know where we’d find anyone to step in. Well, the Lord obviously provided, and far more than we could have imagined.

So, likewise, is there a part of me that might not want to loan out our choir or worship team or singers on a Sunday morning? Sure there is… but I also recognize that the Kingdom of God is bigger than Good Shepherd or my personal worship experience. And according to God’s Word in Jeremiah, by seeking the blessing of others, I will discover God’s blessing in my own life.

Perhaps the biggest example of this in the creative arts area is with Kathy Larson. For several years now God has been laying on her heart to start a community theater company in the arts district of Charlotte. The realization of that is still a ways off, but I wanted to share with you the vision and dream of it – that she would take the kind of drama she’s written and shared within our walls, and more and more in our OP neighborhood, and share it more widely. If that’s something you’d like to hear more about, I’d encourage you to talk to her!

Teaching Ministry

I have long recognized the priority that Good Shepherd has placed on the study of God’s Word. When I came, this was already a very Biblically literate congregation. I remember telling a friend that any member was probably qualified to teach Sunday school. And yet, I came to the realization several years in that we needed to be using that treasure more and more. A number of elders in the church have cultivated preaching skills. At the retreat, I floated the idea by the group of sending some of our in-house preachers out to churches needing fill-in preachers. We could even send a musician or two if they were needed. Often the churches needing supply preachers are small and struggling. Think of the potential impact in terms not only of teaching, but of networking for mission or ministry!

Increasingly, we have seminary students seeking us out as a place to study and learn how to do ministry. It seems like we have the opportunity to become a teaching church with wide impact. That includes new models of hosting student interns (http://bit.ly/IRC-rma);. I’m talking to two seminaries about intentionally housing groups of 3-4 students in the Swan’s Run apartments, to spend 3-4 years (rather than 1-2 semesters) engaged fully in the life of Good Shepherd. I wouldn’t be the only mentor to them; rather YOU would help teach and train and prepare them for ministry. And part of the model for living at Swan’s Run would be to engage in missional ministry in that context, in partnership with the church.

Issues, the Church, and the World

A third area of expanded vision involves the denomination. What drives much of the modern tensions in and with the denomination are issues, particularly around sexuality. Good Shepherd has historically found itself on the conservative and evangelical end of the spectrum within our Presbyterian denomination, and that has not changed. And yet, we also have taken seriously this biblical charge of remaining engaged in the world, even while we seek to be a distinct people. That not only gives us reason to remain engaged in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), but also in the issues within the church and in the world around us.

To that end, the Session is beginning a six month study entitled, “Turning Controversy into Ministry” – written by a Presbyterian pastor friend of mine and asking precisely this question: “How can Biblical Christians not turn their back on controversial issues, but seek the shalom of those all around us in faithful, obedient, and grace-filled ways?” It is a wonderful and thoughtful study, and one we hope to begin sharing with you in the spring. If you can’t wait to get started, I can point you toward his book now. And if you don’t want to get started, I can encourage you that this is something we can do together, even as God called His people together to make their home and seek others’ blessing in exile.

Well, there’s more that God is laying before us as a church, but that’s enough for one sermon! As our new elders and deacons come before us today for ordination and installation, I hope you sense the excitement before us in the ways God is opening doors of faithfulness for ALL of us. I believe that is a sign that we have indeed been faithful with what God has given us up to this point, and I am humbled and honored to pastor you as together we seek to be faithful with what God has in store for us. Amen.

Blessing for the World (Genesis 12.1-3)

2011-09-18T17:11:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
September 18, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude : "The God of Abraham Praise" (Page)
Hymn of Praise: "The God of Abraham Praise" (LEONI)
Song of Praise: "Every Promise" (Getty/Townend)
The Word in Music: "Go Into the World" (Sleeth)
Song of God's Grace: "You Have Been Raised" (Altrogge/Kauflin/Boer)
Offering of Music (Valerie Putsey, piano): "Take My Life and Let it Be" (Malan)
Song of Sending: "As You Go" (Altrogge)
Postlude: "Toccata" (Boellmann)

Blessing for the World
Text: Genesis 12:1-3; Psalm 22:23-28

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Testimony - by Yrjo Roovers

I grew up in Greenville, S.C., an unbeliever. Not an unbeliever in God, but an unbeliever in football. For whatever reason, we didn’t watch it, didn’t go see it, and didn’t have a team. But you can’t grow up in Greenville and be completely out of it. And here’s why…

Come game days, Greenville turns orange. People wear orange; cars have orange flags; streams of orange-covered people either flow through or out of town, depending on where the next game is. I’m talking about Clemson. Now there are a few Carolina Gamecocks in Greenville, but they are vastly outnumbered, at least anywhere I ever went.

And it didn’t really have to be a game day to see orange. It seemed like every third car had an IPTAY sticker on the back. People were marked and showed their colors. And even without football in my home, if you asked me by the time I was 10 years old who my team was, I would have said, “Clemson.”

Why do I mention this? Well, it’s because being a Clemson fan in Greenville, S.C., was something like what I believe the Lord intended for the children of Abraham. They weren’t supposed to hide away, but to bear a distinctive mark, show their colors, and even rub off on the people around them.

Today we are going to talk about the covenant… that is God’s purposeful relationship with a certain people for the sake of the whole world.

Covenant Conversation

Genesis 12 records the first covenant conversations between God and Abram. Later in Genesis the covenant will be refined and formalized, and the rest of the Old Testament (which is another name for the “Old Covenant”) is commentary upon and the record of a people living out history in relation to that covenant.

Said another way, once you are married, that marriage covenant defines your life for the rest of your life. Marriage, children, life, death – even divorce – all relate in some way to that marriage covenant. Genesis 12 is like the marriage proposal from God to Abram. The covenantal relationship is formalized and sealed later in Genesis 15, but all that will follow will be shaped by and lived out in relationship to this covenant.

Even the New Testament is the record of the new covenant – really, the old one redefined – in the person of Jesus Christ. What happens here between God and Abram is so significant for understanding what will follow.

In this sermon series, which will take us through the end of October, we are studying “Christ for the World.” And that starts here with God’s initial covenant conversation with Abram, where we will see so clearly God’s heart for the world and how He pursues “all the families of the earth” through this covenant with one person, Abram, Father of the nation of Israel.

Covenant with Abram

The study of covenants can get really involved quickly. I know both John Kreutzer and Kathy Larson have done some teaching here at Good Shepherd on covenants, and would enjoy talking to you more about them. I studied them extensively in seminary and would be glad to point you to some more material if you are interested. But today, I want to focus in on one feature of the covenant with Abram, and that is what I just mentioned, that in this covenant we see God’s heart for the world.

The Lord calls Abram from his home to go “to the land which I will show you.” Already this is God’s mission and God’s location. We talk a lot about what God is doing and how we can be a part, and this is precisely what God invited Abram into. And to this land, God will add children (a great nation) and blessing (a great name). I’ve mentioned those things – land, children, and blessing – before.

But look at what comes next: “…and so you shall be a blessing.” Then after a kind of protective statement about blessing and cursing those who bless and curse Abram, “…and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

The covenant with Abram will bring land, children, and blessing to Abram and his descendants, but it is this last part that really shows us the heart of God: BECAUSE of the covenant (and so…), Abram and his descendants will be a blessing to others. And the PURPOSE (and result) of the covenant is that in Abram and his descendants all the families of the earth will be blessed.

That purpose describes the heart of God. I pray and give thanks for it every time we have communion… that though we turned from God, He did not abandon us, but has pursued us in love. The covenant is one foundational expression of that loving pursuit: God blessing and working through one for the sake of blessing and redeeming many.

Covenant People

As heirs and spiritual descendants of Abraham we are inheritors of that same covenant. We, too, are called out and blessed so that we might be a blessing to the whole earth. Let’s think about what that might look like more specifically.

There is some kind of impulse to huddle together and keep this Christian faith and community to ourselves, and I think that happens for a number of reasons. But we are blessed to be a blessing – to go where God leads us and to rub off on others… like Clemson fans.

Sure, we don’t want to cross over into obnoxious territory, but I haven’t me a lot of Presbyterian Christians flirting with that particular problem. Rather, how about a willingness to give credit to God, to ask someone if we can pray for them, an openness to share our faith story, or, like a Clemson fan, an infectious enthusiasm about this thing we are a part of called the Church.

The next eight weeks or so are going to be perfect for inviting friends to church. We’ll have lots of good music, some straightforward messages, and testimonies from different church members… ordinary folks people can relate to. A bunch of church folks usually go out to lunch after church… invite someone and bring them out to lunch to get to know some of the church family.

From the beginning God demonstrated His heart for the whole world. He reached out to a particular people – the children of Abraham and now the Church – and blessed us with the Good News of Jesus. That blessing is not meant to be hidden or hoarded, but shared extravagantly with all who would hear. It’s like this whole story [the Bible] is marked, “For Sharing.”

If we can really grab hold of the joy of that, who knows, maybe we’ll rub off on someone! Amen.

Love and Teaching (Deuteronomy 6:4-12)

2011-09-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
September 11, 2011

Love and Teaching
Text: Deuteronomy 6:4-12

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Sometimes the spoken version of the sermon varies greatly from the printed draft manuscript. This was one of those occasions and the spoken version varied so greatly I am not going to post the written version. I hope you will give it a listen!

Power and Authority for Ministry (Luke 9.1-6,10)

2011-09-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
September 4, 2011

Some Music Used

Prelude : "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus" (Martin)
Song of Praise: "Days of Elijah" (Robin Mark)
The Word in Music: "Accepting His Call" (Billy Howell)
Song of Response: "Fill Me Now" (Hansen/Peppin)
Offering of Music: "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" (Sanborn)
Hymn of Sending: "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" (CORONATION)
Postlude: "Menuet Gothique" (Boellmann)

The Word in Music

Accepting His Call - by Billy Howell

O I know I could do so much for you
Telling the world about, the kingdom that you made
Saving the lost you called, believers to share your name
Give me strength to be, a brother to the weak
Out on the streets, Is where we belong, Sharing bread, Like Jesus would
I know we all have someone
That needs to hear about the Good Lord
Stand up, Save the lost unknown
That need to hear about the Good Lord
O help me, Jesus, to reach for hands in need
Pulling them in to you, showing love and grace for you
Feeding the soul of those, who need to know your face
Give me the strength to be, a brother to the weak

Power and Authority for Ministry
Text: Luke 9:1-6,10

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

For the last two weeks we have looked in Luke 8 at stories about Jesus’ power and authority. We saw his power and authority over the natural powers of this world when he calmed the wind and the waves with a word. We saw his power and authority over the spiritual kingdom of this world when his presence drove the demons from the man in the tombs. We saw his power and authority over health and holiness when he healed the woman with a flow of blood and publicly declared her clean. And we saw his power and authority, even over life and death, when he raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead as if simply waking her from sleep.

It is easy to simply see those as isolated stories of healing and help, which are miraculous and fantastic enough. And we surely should pray for help in trouble, sickness, spiritual struggle, and as we deal with death. But over and above, around and through, and under and beneath, those four stories all resounded with the single mind and faith-stretching theme that God the Father has bestowed all power and authority in Heaven and on the earth and under the earth upon Jesus the Son, so that the scripture from Philippians 2:9-11 might be demonstrated:

For this reason [his humble obedience], God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Last week we were called to the same point as the disciples in the boat during the wind and the waves… not praising Jesus for the answer to prayer (to calm the storm), but “fearful and amazed, saying to one another, ‘Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?’” (Luke 8:25)

Reminded of Jesus’ comprehensive power and authority over all things, it is startling to read the very next passage. The next thing he does is what is recorded in today’s text. Jesus “called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and heal diseases… and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing.” (Luke 9:1-2) Do you hear the connection and can you guess where I am going? Jesus, the one with all the power and authority, gave some of that same power and authority to his followers so that they could do ministry in His name. So also, Jesus has empowered and authorized us, as His followers, to engage in ministry in His name.

I want to look with you at the specific nature of the ministry which He authorized, and also at what it means to minister with the power and authority of Jesus.

To Proclaim the Kingdom of God

Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority. Now interestingly, the wording in verse one doesn’t line up exactly with the task he sent them to do in verse two. He gave them power and authority “over all the demons and to heal diseases.” (v. 1) And he sent them “to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to perform healing.” (v. 2) So the healing parts line up, but what about the first part? What does authority over demons have to do with the Kingdom of God?

Well we talked about that two weeks ago. When Jesus stepped onto the shore and encountered the man with the demons, it wasn’t just about casting them out, but about a conflict of kingdoms. Jesus came to announce the coming the Kingdom of God, and he represented the vanguard or first tangible presence of that Kingdom breaking into the kingdom of this world. Though I don’t doubt that Jesus gave the disciples the ability to cast out demonic spirits, it is helpful to understand that behind that miraculous and unfamiliar action is the powerful declaration that “Jesus is come” and “this one belongs to him.” The power wasn’t magic power that resided in the disciples, but the power of Jesus’ name – the name at which every knee will bow. THAT is the authority to which demons would yield and that is what “power over all the demons” represents. That is why “proclaiming the Kingdom of God” equates with “power and authority over all the demons.” They are one and the same.

I remember being a child and being very afraid of Satan or demonic spirits. And my mother comforted me with the very truth contained in this verse. I didn’t have to have any special power of my own, but simply to trust and rest in the power of Jesus over the whole spiritual realm. If I trust in Christ, I belong to him and his kingdom, and Satan cannot have me.

To Perform Healing

While authority over demons might have sounded like the more exotic power at first pass, it is actually the healing of diseases that is harder to understand and relate to today. And yet, Jesus also sent the disciples out with the power and authority to heal diseases. Does this still happen?

I believe it does, but healing has been confused by at least three things. First, it has been falsified and abused, especially for the sake of manipulating fears and profiting. Secondly, I think we often lack the faith to either experience or recognize God’s healing, and the first issue (of fake-healing) only increases the skepticism and doubt. Thirdly, I would remind you of the connection between this text back and the preceding chapter. There Jesus healed the woman with the flow of blood when she demonstrated extraordinary faith… but her healing was not the focus of his ministry to her, but the restoration of her humanity and holiness. Our misplaced emphasis on GETTING from God may cause us to miss the point and perhaps the healing as well. Which is more important – the healing of disease or the healing of our soul? May we hear and receive the Good News of the forgiveness of sin and not turn healing into a sideshow or distraction from our deeper spiritual need.

Having said all that, and even in the face of modern science and rationalism, I have heard stories of healing which I have no reason to doubt, and I have prayed for healing for people and believe those prayers to have been answered, not in any “I see bones suddenly knitting together” way, but in nonetheless miraculous ways.

Whose Strength?

The next part of the text (vv. 3-5) is interesting. Jesus gives them some further instruction about how to go about this ministry. “Take nothing with you… stay in houses… shake the dust off if some don’t receive you.” What stands out to me is the disconnect between being granted the greatest power and authority in the universe and being sent in such poverty and dependence. But that’s Jesus, right? That same glorious passage in Philippians that describes the power and authority bestowed on Jesus flows out of a description of his humility and obedience to the Father.

“…although He existed in the form of God, [He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men…. [and] He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8)

That great contrast between the power and authority granted and the humility of spirit and person is also the key for us understanding this text for ourselves.

We read about healing and demons and even about proclaiming the Kingdom of God and think, “No way I can do any of that stuff!” And that is PRECISELY the point and the truth. Neither you nor I can do any of those things on our own power or authority. What a picture of the mission-focused church is here! Is it gather a crowd, build a budget, construct a building, make a name for yourselves, and people will come from far and wide? Not at all! It is “Go out with nothing but Jesus!”

It reminds me of the Apostle Paul’s later letter to the Corinthians:

He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

So where do I think we will see the power and authority of Jesus in Charlotte, 2011?

I think we will see it when ordinary Christians are willing to speak and act in the name of Jesus in their neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and daily life. I think we will see it as we seek to be a church that focuses on being a good neighbor more than making a name for ourselves. I think we will see the power and authority of Jesus – to declare God’s Kingdom and bring healing to people’s lives – the more we turn our gaze outward and upward to those in need all around us.

Do we need a lot of money, fancy buildings, the latest technology, or anything else impressive? No, all we need is the Good News and the power and authority of Jesus Christ. And we have that with inexhaustible measure!

Called and Sent and Back Again (vv. 1,2,6,10)

Finally, I want to point out all the action words in this passage.

Jesus CALLED (v. 1)
Jesus GAVE (v. 1)
Jesus SENT (v. 2)
Jesus SAID (v. 3)

The disciples were described as DEPARTING, GOING, PREACHING, and HEALING (v. 6)

And then in v. 10 we read that the twelve RETURNED and GAVE AN ACCOUNT (v. 10).

Jesus not only gathered, equipped, and sent them out, but gathered them in again.

This is our pattern for church. We desire to gather you for worship, equip you for service, send you into mission, and then repeat the cycle. We miss this crucial pattern if we only gather to worship once a week and it doesn’t bear on the rest of our lives. We miss this crucial pattern if we try to be lone-ranger Christians or otherwise don’t seek out gathering in worship with others. We miss this crucial pattern if we aren’t giving you the tools and training to serve God in the world. And we miss the crucial pattern if we only think of ministers and missionaries as those who are sent to serve the Lord.

You are the church – you, the people of God. And just as Jesus did with his disciples, God has called you together into this place that you might be equipped and sent back out.

So we will gather at the Table, having been fed by God’s Word and then the Sacrament. And then God will send you out – each of you – with the power and authority of Jesus Christ to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God: Jesus is come, full of healing, grace, and truth. All we have is Jesus; all we need is Jesus! Amen.

Child, Arise! (Luke 8.40-56)

2011-08-30T06:18:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
August 28, 2011

Some Music Used

Prelude (Linda Jenkins, Cathy Youngblood): "I Need Thee Every Hour" (Lowry)
Hymn of Praise: "Come, Thou Almighty King" (ITALIAN HYMN)
The Word in Music: "Talitha Kum!" (Martin)
Offering of Music: "It is Well With My Soul" (Bliss/Sterling)
Song of Sending: "Before the Throne" (Bancroft and Cook)
Postlude: "Crown Him With Many Crowns" (Burkhardt)

Child, Arise!
Text: Luke 8:40-56

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Jesus – miracle man!

In today’s text, Jesus does two more. Amazing!

These are two stories out of four that all come sequentially in Luke 8, and they are tied together by a common thread. Let me describe each in order.

In Luke 8:22-25, Jesus calmed the wind and the waves during a storm on the Sea of Galilee. You probably read that and think, “a miracle.” And you’d be right.

In Luke 8:26-39, which we read last week, Jesus gets out of the boat and enters a neighboring non-Jewish country, where he is confronted with a demon-possessed man. There is some conversation between Jesus and the demons and they end up going into a herd of pigs, which drown themselves. The man is given back his humanity. I’m not sure what we call that – not exactly healing or a miracle… maybe restoration or re-creation. It is a miraculous sign in that it tells us something about the nature, character, and plan of God to restore the “image of God” through the work of Jesus, extended even to the Gentiles. I wrote even more about last week’s text than I shared in a long sermon; I’d invite you to grab a copy or check it out on the website.

Today, there are two more scenes. Jesus has returned to Jewish territory, and is approached by a synagogue official named Jairus. He fell at Jesus’ feet and implored him – interestingly, the same thing the demon-possessed man had done. Jairus begs Jesus to come and see his 12-year old daughter, who is dying. Jesus begins to go, but then he and the story are interrupted by a woman in the press of the crowd who touches him in order to be healed of bleeding that has been going on for twelve years. Jesus stops and interacts with her, then goes on to Jairus’ house. Classic Jesus healing, right?

Then finally, Jesus gets to Jairus’ house, where his daughter has died. But Jesus goes in to see her and calls her out of death as if out of sleep, and she gets up. That probably goes beyond healing – she wasn’t just sick; she was dead. And Jesus gave her life.

So, four miraculous stories all in a row. Each is amazing in its own way and I don’t mean to take away from that at all. Rather, I want to add what I see as a common thread – a significance to the amazingness that is what makes these “signs” and not just “miracles.” They all point to and teach us something about the nature, character, and will of God.

The Natural World and the Spiritual Realm

In the stilling of the wind and the waves, Jesus demonstrated power and authority over the elements of this world. God created the world and the wind and the waves, and Jesus was given authority over them. So, I noted that the story wasn’t just an instruction guide for you when you find yourself in a storm at sea. Rather, it paints a broader picture of a God who has greater power than even something so seemingly out of our control as the weather. I can’t think of a more timely reminder than a week after we experienced an east coast earthquake and a weekend in which Hurricane Irene is moving up the east coast. Does this scripture teach that if we pray the right way or have enough faith that God will make the hurricane go away? No, but it does give us a measure of the power that God demonstrated through His son, Jesus!

In the confrontation with the demon-possessed man, we talked last week about how there was more going on than healing the man of an affliction. Rather, there was a conflict of kingdoms – the kingdom of Satan and the Kingdom of God. For a time, Satan has been given power and authority in this world, and that time is not yet up, but Jesus came to announce the arrival of the Kingdom of God, and this confrontation out in the Gentile, beyond-the-Jews realm, is a powerful testimony that God’s power is greater than the power of evil and Satan. In that story, Jesus demonstrated the Gospel itself, that the “light has shined in the darkness” (John 1:5) and God has broken into the stronghold of Satan to demonstrate and declare His greater authority and claim to humanity. The man was not only released from Satan’s grip, but his full humanity – made in the image of God – was restored to him.

In these first two stories, Jesus demonstrates power and authority over this world and over the spiritual realm.

Let’s look now at the two stories in today’s text.

Human Health, Holiness, Life, and Death

While Jesus is on his way to Jairus’ house to see his sick daughter, a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years reaches out in the crowd and touches him. Verse 44 notes, “…immediately her hemorrhage stopped.” What may stand out to us as more unusual than that is Jesus’ response. For one, he says, “I was aware that power had gone out of me.” (v. 46) We are not ever told much about how Jesus healed people, and this description of power going out is fascinatingly vague. Is he a wizard? (A natural question if you’ve seen or read a lot of Harry Potter!) That phrase is not used anywhere else in scripture, nor do I know of anything like it. Probably the least we can say is that Jesus was aware of the power that he had and the faith of those around him, even when not actively healing someone. Trying to describe the mechanics of Jesus’ power more than that would be speculation.

While that feature of the story may pique our curiosity the most, it’s not the most important part of the story. All we really need to know from that is that Jesus had the power to heal the woman and that she had faith in him to do so. What seems to be less important is actually noteworthy, and that is the question, “Who touched me?” It’s not that Jesus didn’t know, but that being healed of the bleeding was only one aspect of her problem. The other was that she would have been considered unclean and an outcast because of bleeding that never stopped. By identifying her and her healing publicly, Jesus enabled her to re-enter society and, much like the demon-possessed man, to reclaim her humanity. He also gave her the opportunity to witness or testify about him, and like several others in these stories, she “fell down before him” (v. 47). Jesus not only restored her health, but her holiness. Jesus demonstrates power and authority over human sickness and health. His act was not just to grant her health, but to declare it as well.

And then in the final story, Jesus comes “too late” to Jairus’ house. I already mentioned Jairus falling down and pleading with Jesus, an interesting parallel to the demon-possessed man, both recognizing the power and authority of Jesus to do something about the situation at hand. Though Jairus did not anticipate the extent of need for Jesus’ power, his daughter’s death was not beyond the scope of power and authority given to the Son by God the Father. Jesus arrives on the scene, seemingly too late, and asks to see the girl. He only allows three disciples and the girl’s parents to see her with him. And he tells them, “Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep.” No commentator I know of thinks that the girl was actually asleep. Rather, Jesus’ power is so great that raising her is going to be no harder than waking someone who is asleep. Can you grasp that? And that’s one place where the world of Harry Potter leads us way off track. We all know that to do a really big miracle surely requires really big preparation or effort… like a big wind-up or something. But Jesus simply speaks to a storm, torments demons by his presence, heals a woman without even trying, and raising the dead…. it’s like saying “wake up” is for us.

There is the interesting piece of this last story that Jesus instructs them not to tell what happened. The best explanation I have for that this is what scholars call the “Messianic Secret.” Early on in Jesus’ ministry – and this is early on… chapter 8 – Jesus keeps certain aspects of his power and identity a secret. Or another way to say that is that through the unfolding of his ministry Jesus is thoughtful and intentional about when and where to reveal himself. Had he made Messianic claims too soon, he would have been arrested and killed before he got a chance to make disciples and teach widely. Had he never showed his power, people would not have believed. So, at this point, he seems willing for the woman who was bleeding to publicly say who healed her and share that story, but raising the dead to life… that kind of power wouldn’t be revealed until closer to the end, after Jesus raised Lazarus very publicly from the dead. In John 11, after raising Lazarus, we read (v. 53), “from that day on they plotted to kill [Jesus].”

That’s a little beside the point for today, though. What I want you to hear and focus on is the consistent demonstration of power and authority in these four stories. In this last one, Jesus demonstrates power and authority over death itself. Remember our call to worship? You can look back in the bulletin.

Will You perform wonders for the dead? Will the departed spirits rise and praise You? Will Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Will Your wonders be made known in the darkness? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? (Ps. 88:10-12)

[The Lord of hosts] will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation!” (Isaiah 25:8-9)

The Power and Authority of Jesus

That’s the take-away from today’s text: not that Jesus can calm your storms, keep Satan at bay, heal your sicknesss, or awaken a spiritually dead soul. Those are all the usual spiritualized “morals of the stories” in this chapter. And that’s all true enough and real enough, as far as it goes. But what I want you to hear is far more radical than those things. It is far more life-shaking and life-changing and transformative than praying to Jesus for the challenges of life.

God the Father has given Jesus the Son all power and authority in heaven and earth – and there are implications of that truth. Actually scripture goes even beyond what I’ve just said about heaven and earth. Listen to Philippians 2:10-11:

…at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth… that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

All power… all authority… in heaven and on earth and under the earth… over every area of our existence. Even over life and death itself. Who can really even comprehend that kind of power?

That is what it means that Jesus is Lord. That all things are given to him, for the glory of God.

What do you do with that information? What do you do with those stories? It can’t just be a nice thing to say in a creed somewhere. The Bible and Jesus’ words and actions all claim the same thing – that this Jesus is the single most important, powerful, consequential, influential, life-changing, life-defining, life-reviving, force in the universe. And he is no impersonal force, but a personal one sent from the heart of God to reconcile humanity to God the Father.

At the least, don’t you get the sense that even the most serious among us take all this too lightly?

Listen once again… listen not just with your ears, but with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and consider what FAITH in this Jesus means to you. What do you believe? What do you confess?

…at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth… that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Amen!

A Legion of Trouble (Luke 8.26-39)

2011-08-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
August 21, 2011

Some Music Used

Prelude: "Prelude on Ellacombe" (Kerr)
Hymn of Praise: "I Sing the Mighty Power of God" (ELLACOMBE)
Song of Praise: "Everlasting God" (Brown)
Offering of Music: "I Will Rise" (Tomlin, Giglio, et al.)
Song of Sending: "Amazing Grace/My Chains are Gone" (Tomlin, Giglio, et al.)
Postlude: "A Mighty Fortress" (Held)

A Legion of Trouble
Text: Luke 8:26-39

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

The Bible is full of miraculous stories, but this one sounds out there, even by Bible standards. Jesus is traveling on from one spot to another, this time by boat, and when he steps off the boat he is greeted by a naked, demon-possessed man who rushes out of the graveyard and begins begging Jesus to leave him alone. Between that and Jesus casting the demons – a legion of them – into a herd of pigs that then rushes into the lake and drowns, this story is pretty vivid and beyond ordinary by any measure.

So what do we do with a story like this?

I don’t want to take for granted that “demon-possession” is a normal topic of conversation… it’s not. And I will get to explaining more about this, but first I’d like to walk through the story with you. So for now, I know it’s fantastic language not part of our day to day vocabulary or experience. But when you hear ‘Satan,’ ‘demon,’ ‘possessed,’ or ‘unclean spirit,’ know that I am not glossing over those words, taking for granted that we all understand or know what they mean. I will say more about it.

It’s tempting to reduce this story to a problem and solution, and move on. We might think, “Man is possessed by demons; Jesus casts them out; case closed.” But Jesus didn’t spend his ministry identifying problems and offering solutions. Rather, he came to bear witness to the character, nature, and unfolding will of God.

I’ve observed before that much of Jesus’ ministry is presented in the Gospels either as teaching (usually in parables) or as miraculous signs. This is one of those miraculous signs. And whether teaching or performing miraculous signs, Jesus was always pointing back toward God – what God is like and what God is doing in the world. So, those are the kinds of questions we want to ask as we look again at this fantastic story.

A Confrontation

So let’s back up to the confrontation as Jesus steps out of the boat. He is “met” by the naked, man from the tombs (v. 27). I find that interesting and had not noticed that before. Jesus didn’t go find the man, nor did others bring him, but the man came out to meet him (or at least ran into him). I don’t know whether the man still had some control and was looking for help, or if the demons claimed that area as their territory and saw Jesus as a rival authority, or what, but I find it interesting that the man comes out to meet Jesus. Maybe his appearance is all it took to scare most people off.

Most key to this confrontation is the information that the man was “possessed with demons” (v. 27). This spiritual assault upon his humanity had left him a broken man, held hostage to the powers within him. It also seems to bear some Gospel weight that he is naked and homeless, both categories of need that Jesus addressed in his teaching and an indication of how the demons had robbed his humanity. The next verse says, “Seeing Jesus…” or “When he saw Jesus.” So, it’s not clear to me if the man sought Jesus out or just ran into him and recognized him. But what he says next is clear enough: he recognizes Jesus’ authority. He (or the demons) cried out and fell before Jesus, and said loudly, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” (v. 29)

It is also interesting that human beings struggle to recognize Jesus for who he is – then and now; but the demons knew EXACTLY who stood before them. And it is clear who has the greater power. The man not only cries out, falls before Jesus, and identifies him, but begs Jesus, “Do not torment me!” (v. 28) And here’s where the timeline and specific language gets even a little more interesting. Why “do not torment me?” What has Jesus done or what might he do to cause torment? The explanation is given in the next verse (v. 29): “For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.” We did not have the all-seeing perspective of a narrator… something had already gone down between Jesus and the demons that is just now coming out. Jesus had already acted with authority, commanding the spirit to come out. This was the torment (to the demons). This was at least one reason they already knew who Jesus was. Perhaps it’s even why the man came out to meet Jesus in the first place. Perhaps Jesus did see or sense the unclean spiritual presence and command it as he arrived.

Well, whenever and however that happened, we don’t know. But we are told enough to recognize the confrontation and the clash of power. And Jesus had the greater power and authority.

Next we get some of the details of what life was like for the man. We are drawn into his need and brokenness. The unclean spirit had “seized him many times.” (v. 29) The people of the town had tried to chain and guard him, but the strength and power of the unclean spirit was greater than those chains and guards, and the man had been driven into the desert (more than once?). (v. 29) So, not only had this spiritual power overcome the man, but also the town, who could not contain him. All the more, then, as we read these details, we understand and appreciate the greater power and authority of Jesus!

Finally, in the exchange between Jesus and the possessed man, Jesus asks his name. And he answers, “Legion.” We are given the explanation that this was because many demons had entered him. (v. 30) There was not just one unclean spirit, but an army of demonic spirits. And for the second time, this Legion begs – implores! – Jesus, now that he would not command them to go away into the abyss. (v. 31) This abyss is referenced again in Revelation 20 as the place of confinement for evil spirits.

There is a herd of pigs nearby. And for the third and last time, the demons plead with Jesus, asking to enter the pigs, and Jesus “gives them permission.” (v. 32) Interesting that. He doesn’t command them to go to the Abyss, though he could have. He doesn’t actually even command them to go into the pigs. He permits it. Honestly, I don’t understand it, but I think it’s beyond the main point of this story. I do know that pigs were considered unclean, and these demons are called “an unclean spirit.” I do note that the result of going into the pigs was immediate self-destruction; perhaps in contrast to the measured and slow destruction of the man’s humanity. Perhaps it also illustrates that the demons have free will, and choose disobedience and death over the worship of God.

What seems clearest to me in the whole encounter is that Jesus doesn’t just solve a problem; rather, he demonstrates power and authority, and in doing so reveals the character and nature of God. He also demonstrates the clash of spiritual kingdoms, though also foreshadows the victory of the Kingdom of God over the false kingdom of the evil one. Jesus was “breaking into” another kingdom or realm – that of this world and of Satan. He was announcing and initiating the coming of God’s Kingdom in and over that of this world.

A Legion of Trouble

Okay, so maybe we grasp a little bit more of what was going on here. Jesus has power and authority over Satan; God’s Kingdom is come and He will reign forever. Does this story have any direct bearing in our lives today?

Yes - I believe it does!

I haven’t really addressed who or what the demons are in this story, so let me clarify a few other things.

Do I believe demons and Satan are real? Yes, I do. The Bible mentions them several times and depicts a spiritual realm that has a certain degree of power, for a time, in this world. And that realm is ruled by Satan, the “Prince of the power of this world.”

Do I believe that demons can possess or torment human beings? Yes, I do, though we must be careful not to let Hollywood establish our understanding of what that means or looks like. And “possess” is misleading; in most cases, people invite or are unguarded, and give over space in their minds and hearts to evil influences. And, those who trust in Jesus Christ should be encouraged that if you are in Christ, then God’s Spirit lives in you – which you might also think of as possession… the Bible uses words like “dwells, abides, lives in.” And if God’s Spirit lives in you, then no demon can also live there, though you can still be tempted.

I’ve also heard it said that “demon-possession” was basically how people in ancient times explained a whole range of mental illness or other maladies that are explained today by modern medicine or psychology. I think there is some truth to that, but not in every case, and clearly not in this one. Jesus performed many healings, which are described in those terms in scripture. In this case, he did not ‘heal’ the man, but commanded unclean spirits to come out of the man. The language and actions throughout this encounter are those of conflict, kingdoms, power, and authority. And Jesus had the greater power and authority. Furthermore, the demons moved INTO the pigs. Never, when Jesus healed someone, did that malady move to someone else. This was an encounter with the enemy, and Jesus was victorious.

Having said that, there is more application to this text than “Well now you know what to do if confronted with a legion of demons.” That is because Jesus’ authority and power are not just over unclean spirits, but over all of creation.

So, I would expand the point of this text to include the “Legion” of things that we struggle with as human beings, while being careful not to write off “demon-possession” and the spiritual realm as a superstitious and ignorant shorthand for ordinary human problems.

So what am I saying? I am saying that human beings indeed face a legion of problems – physical, emotional, financial, mental, and to be sure… spiritual.

And whether it is chronic illness, depression, anger, debt, addiction, sin, or other dark and evil influences, we can give those things more power in our lives than necessary. We can and often do yield authority and power of our lives and find ourselves stripped of dignity, control, and even home and family.

And I’m not saying that any of those things will disappear instantly if you will just say the name of Jesus. In fact, the bargaining of Legion in the story is a pointed reminder that we, too, will bargain and cling to things physical, emotional, financial, mental, and spiritual. Nor would I let anyone oversimplify any of life’s struggles for you. As we move out of the spiritual realm, it is often prudent and wise to seek earthly help in the form of counseling, medicine, physical training, and more.

So clear as mud, right? Let me clarify one more time in the area of application. This passage is not teaching that all of life’s challenges should be attributed to some sort of afflicting demon, much less one that can simply be banished in Jesus’ name. If you watch enough cable TV you will hear that approach to your debt, your illness, your depression, or whatever other ‘problem’ you want to solve. I strongly encourage the appropriate education, equipping, consulting, or whatever else is appropriate to the problem. What this passage holds out, far above a quick solution, is Jesus the Son of God, who has all power and authority in heaven and earth. Where we give our lives away is yielding our humanity and wholeness to our debt, depression, disease, or whatever it is to Satan’s control. We lose our identity and become “an alcoholic,” “a manic-depressive,” “a financial failure,” a “cheater” – a naked, homeless, graveyard man – and forget that we were made in the image of God. Jesus comes before us, in power and authority, to say, “That is not who you are!” This story, like the woman caught in adultery, seems to be all about the conflict between powers, but in the end it is a quiet invitation from Jesus to one person – to each person – to re-identify with God’s grace and power, to find a new name and identity.

Power and Authority for What?

Okay, I said “in the end” – but Jesus’ power and authority are not the end of this story. Rather, Jesus is the subject of the story, revealing the character, nature, and will of God. What happens as a result of him demonstrating his power and authority over the spiritual realm is the freeing of a man to live and witness to the coming Kingdom of God. And it wasn’t just the man that was involved in that witness, but several groups.

There were the herdsmen, who “saw what had happened… ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country.” (v. 37) They were involved witnesses, who saw the destructive power that the man was subject to released onto their herds. I think, for example, of someone who has struggled with alcoholism finding some freedom from that and the storeowner or barkeeper once frequented taking notice of the change. It cost the herdsmen something, but they were not blind to the significant transformation of someone known to them. And they told the story. Maybe you have witnessed God’s power and authority, not directly in your life, but in someone near to you. You are a witness to the Gospel.

Those who heard the herdsmen tell the story “went out to see what had happened.” (v. 35) Interestingly, they “became frightened” when they saw the man whole, well, and sitting at the feet of Jesus in his right mind. More of those who had seen what happened “reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been made well.” (v. 36) But that only served to frighten some of them more, and the local crowd asked Jesus to leave. We are told again that they were “gripped with great fear.” (v. 37) What was going on there? I think the bottom line is that they feared Jesus’ power and authority, greater than what they had previously known and feared. And so Jesus leaves, but not without an ongoing witness in that place.

The final witness is the man who had been tormented and now was free. He begged Jesus to take him with him (v. 38), but Jesus told him to stay with these words: “Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.” (v. 39). And we are told that he did so, he “went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.” (v. 39) He, too, was a witness – he had a story to tell. He once was bound and chained – physically and spiritually – and now he was free, and had a home to go to, and a story to tell.

This text makes two very strong and related points. First, Jesus has all power and authority in heaven and on earth. And the Gospel story is the announcement of the arrival of the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ. He alone is worth “giving over our lives.” And the arrival of God’s Kingdom in Jesus Christ – on earth and in your life – is a story worth telling. In fact, that is the imperative in this passage. We are invited TO Jesus, to come and see, to trust and believe, to yield and serve. And we are sent FROM him to go and tell, to bear witness, to tell our story, and to witness to God’s story. Amen.

Secrets to a Simpler Life (Mark 12.28-34)

2011-08-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

Sermon by:Karen Katibah
August 14, 2011 (Youth Mission Sunday)

Some Music Used

Prelude (Walker Austell, piano): "Andante (from Symphony No. 7)" (Beethoven)
"Farewell to the Piano" (Beethoven)
Song of Praise: "Prince of Peace" (Imboden/Rhoton)
The Word in Music (a capella choir): "Our God" (Tomlin/arr. Youngblood)
Offering of Music (children's quartet): "The Mustard Seed" (Anna Laura Page)
Song of Sending: "Only You" (Crowder, Solley, Dodson, Hogan)
Postlude (Walker Austell, piano): "Little Minuet" (Beethoven)

Secrets to a Simpler Life
Text: Mark 12:28-34

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Testimony: Kathleen Katibah on serving as summer staff (2011)

(download)

A Capella Choir singing "Our God"

Wheat and Tares, plus 2 (Matthew 13.24-43)

2011-08-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

Sermon by:Robert Austell
August 7, 2011

Some Music Used

Prelude: "Hungry" (Scott/arr. Howard)
Song of Praise: "Holy is the Lord" (Tomlin, Giglio)
Hymn of Praise: "Lord, Speak to Me" (CANONBURY)
Offering of Music (children's quartet): "The Mustard Seed" (Anna Laura Page)
Communion Hymn: "Our Father in Heaven" (Wyse)
Song of Sending: "Hear the Call of the Kingdom" (Getty/Townend)
Postlude: "Postlude on 'Old Hundreth'" (Bock)

Wheat and Tares, plus 2
Text: Matthew 13:24-43

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Today we are looking at several of the parables of Jesus. Parables are stories with a point. I’ve compared them before to jokes with a punch line. If you get to focused on the details or the symbolism, you can miss the point. One of the first jokes you probably learned was “Why did the chicken cross the road?” The punch line may make you groan or make you giggle, but if either happens when you hear, “…to get to the other side,” then you got it. If you are wondering why the chicken is off the farm, whether it’s a country road or a six-lane interstate, or any number of irrelevant questions, then you won’t get it. That’s a hint of what a parable is like. Even when Jesus goes to lengths to explain the symbolism of characters in a parable, like he does twice in Matthew 13 (the sower and the tares), the parable is still about the punch line, about the main point, and those “with ears to hear” are those who get it and understand and learn.

In Matthew 13, Jesus is “sitting by the sea” (v. 1), and is teaching from a boat to a crowd on the beach. He tells one parable (the sower) about hearing the message about the Kingdom of God. And then, having explained it, he tells six more parables ABOUT the Kingdom of God. Today we will look at the first three of these (the point of which are repeated very closely in the second three). I want to start with the two shorter ones, then we will end with the parable of the wheat and tares.

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven (vv. 31-33)

The two parables of the mustard seed and the leaven are short and to the point. They would have required “ears to hear” because they did fly in the face of the conventional wisdom of the day, but they are nonetheless pretty straightforward.

The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which grows from the smallest of seeds to one of the largest garden plants, so large that it looks like a tree (it’s a plant) and birds will even nest in it. If you remember all the Messiah-expectations of the time, that God would send a warrior-king to replace the Roman Empire (kingdom) with God’s Kingdom, you can see that comparing Jesus’ teaching ministry to the smallest of seeds is a good comparison. Why not a mighty oak? Well, perhaps a mighty cedar, more appropriate to that part of the world. Because that’s what the people were expecting… something to rival Rome. Instead, what God sent was more like a garden plant. Hah! I was only comparing the form of a parable to a joke, but this one actually would have sounded like a joke to their ears.

But God’s kingdom was neither a cedar-like human empire nor a uninspiring minor plant. Rather, it was something different and unexpected (though not unannounced!). It was like the mustard seed and plant that grew from humble beginnings to offer shade and nesting because of its extraordinary size (up to 10-feet in some cases). But here’s the real punch line that follows the “not-what-you’d-expect” of the mustard plant. Jesus alludes to Hebrew scriptures that describe God’s work of establishing His Kingdom like “birds of every kind nesting in its branches” (Ezekiel 17:23 and others). In those scriptures, the nesting birds represent the nations and people of the world, whom God promised to bless through the covenant. The real punch line of this parable is a connection back to the original covenant with Abraham, revealing God’s heart for the nations of the world. That’s the picture here – not of God’s Kingdom as a mighty tree to compete with or overthrow Rome, but God planting and establishing a Kingdom through His people for the blessing of the nations of the world. That’s the same promise God made to Abraham, and Jesus is announcing that Kingdom in his ministry and through parables like these.

The parable of the leaven (or yeast) is a good counterpart to the mustard seed. And it is a good parallel to the lighthouse/searchlight metaphor we’ve used so much at Good Shepherd. Lest one come away from the parable of the mustard seed thinking that God will simply plant His Kingdom and invite all who would come to find it and nest there, the parable of the leaven also illustrates that God’s Kingdom is in the world and for the world. God’s people and God’s Kingdom are to permeate the world around us, having a transforming and “blessing” effect wherever we go and embody God’s Kingdom. We are to be both the safe haven and refuge of the mustard plant and the sent and blessing people of the leaven.

As you read through the rest of the New Testament, you see both these parables enfleshed in the history of the early church, as they first struggle with and learn what it means to welcome in Gentiles and then are propelled forth by the Holy Spirit to carry the Good News to the nations.

An Enemy at Work: the Wheat and the Tares

The parable of the wheat and the tares is a little bit different. For one, the disciples ask Jesus to explain it privately afterwards, so we have his explanation where we are left to figure the other two out. And it’s longer than the other two. There’s more there to think about and understand. But we’ll still look for the main point or punch line… the “gotcha” we don’t want to miss.

On one hand this is another parable about the Kingdom of God. But the standout detail in this one is the presence of an enemy. We don’t hear that in the other parables. There is an enemy to God’s Kingdom. And in the parable, that enemy doesn’t attack, but mimics the Kingdom by planting alongside and among it, resulting in a contamination of the harvest.

In the parable itself, upon recognizing an enemy at work, the laborers ask if they should gather up the tares (weeds) that the enemy has sown. But the landowner cautions that doing so will uproot and damage the wheat. Instead, they are to wait until the harvest time and separate them by their fruit, when it is more evident which are wheat and which are weeds.

In Jesus’ explanation, given in private to the disciples, he notes that God’s Kingdom likewise has an enemy – the devil – and the world is God’s field. Note that – not just the church, but the whole world is God’s field. And it is the same field of the world that God’s enemy has sought to contaminate and ruin.

The punch line or twist in this parable is that it starts out by comparing God’s Kingdom to a man sowing seed. Jesus has just tread that ground with the parable of the sower and the seed, so this seems like more of the same. But he ends up talking, not about the Kingdom as much as about God’s judgment and sorting by our deeds. Both in the parable and in the much more vivid explanation, the parable ends up with God’s judgment and separation of good and evil, including a description of the horrors and the glories of how that judgment comes out.

Pre-emptive Weeding?

I am sure it was for the disciples as it remains for the modern church: a temptation to do the pre-emptive work of weeding the field. Why else would Jesus mention it? There is something in us that wants to decide who is in and who is out, and sometimes even pre-emptively act on those decisions. We look from our vantage point of being inside the church and think, “They could not POSSIBLY be wheat!” Or we judge one another in the church and plainly or subtly say, “You must not be real wheat.” And we uproot and damage someone, becoming the very stumbling blocks (v. 41) that we would want to see cleared out of the Kingdom. We also miss the point of both the other parables, missing the fact that God’s Kingdom is not about securing ourselves and families, but about being both the refuge (mustard tree) and the witness (leaven) for the WHOLE world that is God’s field.

But wait, wait, isn’t there such a thing as church discipline, and isn’t that an important teaching in scripture? Yes, it is! But the purpose of discipline in the church, as between parent and child, is to teach and RESTORE fellowship. That is not what is being described here. In this parable, we are reading about the judgment that separates the faithful from the unfaithful, and Jesus teaches not only that we will harm people in so doing, but that it is God’s job alone to do that work, and at the end of God’s redemptive plan, not today.

This has great bearing on all kind of things from mission to evangelism to who we welcome into our fellowship to our response to our own denomination and culture, but at the bottom of all this is that we are called to offer refuge and witness, mustard and leaven, lighthouse and searchlight, grace and truth. We should never feel satisfaction at someone turning from truth or distancing themselves from God, but cherish the desire that all the world know the expansive love of God through Jesus Christ.

A Pretty Complete Description of the Church

As I reflect on these three parables, full of home-spun metaphors of gardening and cooking, I see an amazingly full-orbed description of the Church, an earthly expression of God’s kingdom that is at once, wheat entangled with weeds, a covenant-fulfilling refuge and home for all the nations of the world, and, in the power of God, a transformative and leavening influence on culture, lives, and that same world. In the wheat and tares, we also wrestle with our own tendency toward judgment and small-minded thinking and are challenged to let God be God and learn what it means to BE the Church, full of grace and truth in the world that God loves.

Lots to ponder… for those with ears to hear. Amen.

Waters of Life (John 7.37-39)

2011-07-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

Sermon by:Kathy Larson
July 31, 2011

Some Music Used

Prelude: "Come, Thou Fount" (Craig Phillips)
Song of Praise: "Come, Thou Fount" (NETTLETON)
Song of Praise: "Come Just as You Are" (Sabolick)
The Word in Music: "Springs of Life" (Katie Meeks, soloist) (Owens, Liles)
Song of Response: "All Who are Thirsty" (Brown, Robertson)
Offering Video: "Light of the World" (VBS kids)
Hymn of Sending: "Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts" (QUEBEC)
Postlude: "Postlude on 'Nettleton'" (Travis)

Waters of Life
Text: John7:1-10,37-39; 1 Cor 3:16; Gal 5:16-18,22-25; Isaiah 44:1-4,6,8

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Text not available for this sermon.

To Whom Shall We Go? (John 6.59-71)

2011-07-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
July 24, 2011

Some Music Used

Prelude: "The Church's One Foundation" (Charles Ore)
Song of Praise: "The Church's One Foundation/I Lay in Zion a Stone"
(Wesley; refrain by C. Youngblood)
Song of Praise: "Ancient Words" (Lynn DeShazo)
The Word in Music: "Lord, To Whom Shall We Go?" (Michael Joncas)
Offering of Music: "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (Walker Austell, piano) (Bach; arr. Smith)
Song of Sending: "Jesus, All for Jesus" (Jennifer Atkinson, Robin Mark)
Postlude: "Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word" (Manz)

To Whom Shall We Go?
Text: John 6:59-71

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

We have been in John 6 for the past three weeks, looking first at the “Feeding of the 5,000,” and then at the teaching that followed on the other side of the sea in Capernaum. We have seen that what is even more important than the miracle of the feeding is the action of God the Father coming down out of heaven in the person of Jesus the Son. Jesus used the miraculous sign of the feeding to explain that he is bread from heaven; he is the Bread of Life.

His insistence on this matter began to frustrate those who came looking for another miracle, or an experience, or an answer to their prayers for a revolutionary Messiah. As he insisted further that the only way to know God was through himself – the one God sent – the crowd turned away. We find out in today’s text that some or all of this teaching is taking place in the synagogue in Capernaum, which explains even further the shock of having a teacher claim to be sent uniquely from God and the only way to know God.

So, in the past few weeks we have seen the application of Jesus’ teaching for here and now. We too, are drawn to experiential Christianity – to retreats, mission trips, spiritual highs, service projects, and answered prayers – and all of those are good and encouraging to faith. But Jesus insists, “I am the Bread of Life; I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to Father except through me.” And we’ve wrestled with the realization that if we miss Jesus, we’ve missed it all.

Today we get to explore some of the ways that people react to this Gospel, this Jesus-centered and Jesus-dependent message. Some stumble over it; some are angered by it; some are drawn to it; but all must deal with Jesus on his own terms.

Many Disciples Withdrew

The text begins by telling us about “many disciples.” Now, these were not necessarily “the Jews” who were grumbling previously, or the scribes and Pharisees that would begin to hound Jesus mercilessly. These were called ‘disciples’ or students. He was speaking in the synagogue in Capernaum and had been addressed previously as ‘Rabbi.’ He was assuming the teaching role and there were many who had followed and were listening to him. And this teaching was a turning point for many.

We read in verse 66 that “…as a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore.” Let’s back up and consider “as a result” of what.

These students or disciples had come to him or were listening to him as a Rabbi, or teacher. Yet after the teaching about his flesh and blood (from last week; John 6:41-58), they grumbled, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” (v. 60) This link to what has gone before shows the continuity between the group in the synagogue and the crowd that followed Jesus around the sea from the site of the feeding of the 5,000. That crowd had already been grumbling, as we saw last week. It would seem that only some followed him around the lake, and even fewer to the synagogue, perhaps with folks peeling off all along as they heard what he said and turned away from it. However many remained at the synagogue, this is the breaking point for many of the disciples/students. The “eat my flesh and drink my blood” insistence that he was the real miracle sent from God was too much.

So Jesus asks, “Does this cause you to stumble?” (v. 61) The Apostle Paul will later note that Jesus was a scandal, literally a “stumbling block,” to the Jews because of his claims. And this chapter depicts just how true this was. He goes on to ask, “What then if you see the son of Man ascending to where he was before?” (v. 62) But that’s just the point he’s been making in the earlier part of this chapter – signs and wonders, even PROOF, will not be sufficient; they must believe in him, the one sent of God. It is neither bread, nor signs, nor proof that is needed, but the “Spirit who gives life.” (v. 63)

This is a beautiful closing of the Trinitarian loop in this chapter, with Jesus re-affirming what he has already said. No one can climb to the Father or know the Father in Heaven. God must come to us. Jesus has not only claimed to be the enfleshment of the Father-come-to-us, but now is saying something parallel, that the Father also comes to us as Spirit. The Father draws human beings to Himself through the person and work of Jesus the Son and through the person and work of the Holy Spirit, acting in a person’s heart. This work is manifested as BELIEF. And Jesus concludes of those who are turning away from him and rejecting the testimony of the Spirit, “There are some of you who do not believe.”

So when Jesus reasserts in v. 65 what he did earlier in v. 44, that “no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father,” he is saying theologically what he is living out tangibly: you cannot get to God, but God has come to you – listen and believe. (To that, later, he will add, “…and follow me.”)

And so, we again get to verse 66: “As a result of this many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore.” Maybe they were looking for signs, or a Messiah; but they did not believe Jesus was sent to them from heaven by God, and they left.

Among the Twelve

That was the crowd of followers. What about the twelve disciples? How are they handling all this?

In verse 67, Jesus asks them, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” The underlying implication of that question is that this indeed has been hard teaching, a potential stumbling block for many. And Jesus asks his disciples – the twelve – whether they are also going to leave over this. Were they also following him for the miracles and the signs, or the hope of a revolutionary Messiah? (We know at least one disciple was a “Zealot” – a member of the revolutionary political party.)

Peter answers for the twelve, and his answer sounds to me fully aware that there is much to stumble over with Jesus’ claims in John 6. Peter says, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” (v. 68) It has almost a “what-other-options-are-there” quality to it. We could read it full of faith and confidence, like “You’re the One, Jesus – there is no other!” But even with Peter’s next declaration, “You have words of eternal life,” I get the sense that the twelve are still struggling along with the crowd to digest the particularly dense meal that Jesus has just served. This come across differently than Peter’s other, more well-known, confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” This may just be my sense of this, but Peter seems to be admitting that Jesus has just made some pretty amazing and faith-stretching claims, but they are clinging to him, in faith and in hope that what he says is true.

Peter’s third statement is presented all together with “Lord, to whom shall we go?” and “You have words of eternal life.” He then says, “We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (v. 69) Perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but it sounds like Peter is wrestling his way through the offense of what Jesus has said – or slowly climbing over that “stumbling block” – perhaps even having tripped – to stand and say, “Ouch, but yes, we believe!”

And Jesus responds, “Did I myself not choose you, the twelve…” (v. 70). And that would be a wonderful and fitting conclusion to this chapter, illustrating just what Jesus has been claiming, that God pursues humanity, coming to us even as Jesus came to the disciples, to call them forth in faith and discipleship, to believe and follow him.

But that’s not the end. In fact, the end is entirely unsatisfying and troublesome. That’s not even the end of Jesus’ sentence. He says, “Did I myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” And John inserts, as narrator, that of course this is a reference to Judas, the betrayer.

While this ends the passage on a rather ominous note, I think it serves as reminder to us that God’s initiative toward us in Jesus is not a God-pulls-our-strings kind of fatalism. On our part, while we cannot climb to heaven or reach God without God first reaching us, we must believe. We must believe in the One God has sent. And even a son of Israel, even a child of the church, even a follower hand-picked by Jesus, can refuse to believe and reject God’s saving initiative.

Not unlike all that Jesus has been saying in John 6, these are hard words – but ultimately, they are words of life. Where else shall we go?

To Whom Shall You Go?

And that is the key question for you and me as we read and hear this text. We have made Christianity into a lot of things that it is not – from the worthwhile-but-not-saving experiences of mission trips, retreats, service projects, and church attendance, to the trivial like scripture-inscribed candy, coffee mugs, and convenience store trinkets. And in the midst of all of it – experiential, cultural, thoughtful, and trivial – Jesus insists, “Only through me; believe in me.”

It’s still a claim to stumble over, still a scandal. It’s known as the “scandal of particularity” – that there are not many ways to God, but a particular one, the One sent from Heaven, the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God.

So, the text raises this question of you and me: to whom shall you go?

Will you grumble, and stumble, withdraw, and not walk with him anymore?

Will you realize with Peter, stumbling block and all, that only Jesus has the words of eternal life?

Will you believe in the one God has sent? Will you follow him?

This is the essence of the Christian faith. Even more importantly, this is life. Amen.

Flesh and Blood (John 6.41-58)

2011-07-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
July 17, 2011

Some Music Used

Service Music: Jazz piano by Rick Bean
Hymn of Praise: "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" (LOBE DEN HERREN)
Song of Praise: "Become to Us the Living Bread" (Music Anonymous)
The Word in Music: "Bread of Heaven" (Arr. Jim Terrell)

Song of Sending: "In Christ Alone" (Getty/Townend)

Flesh and Blood
Text: John 6:41-58

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

We are continuing the story of the “Feeding of the 5,000” today. That story – that miraculous event – did not end when Jesus withdrew from the crowd. They followed the disciples around the lake and met Jesus on the other side. And there he spoke, taught, answered questions, and explained the power and the person behind the miraculous event.

Last week we talked about the pursuit of the miraculous, the spiritual, the experiential; and we heard Jesus’ invitation, “Come to ME; believe in ME; I AM the Bread of Life.” Christian faith and salvation, knowledge of and life with God, come through the person and power of Jesus, the Son of God, not through retreats, miracles, service projects, intimate worship experiences, or a voice from Heaven. Those things exist and can encourage our faith and the faith of others, but if we miss Jesus, we’ve missed it all.

The text we are looking at today is a continuation of last week’s text. Jesus is still talking along this theme of being the one sent from God. And we pick up with the people grumbling. They are grumbling precisely because of what he claims. Today we will look at why they were grumbling, see how Jesus responds, and hear Jesus’ repeated claim to be the only way to know the Father.

Grumbling

The crowd – the one that followed Jesus around the sea – was grumbling. Jesus was apparently not going to do another miracle and now he had started talking crazy talk. They wanted to see another sign – maybe some bread from Heaven this time – and then he claimed TO BE the bread come from Heaven.

And they started grumbling at that, because they knew where he came from. They knew Joseph and Mary and Nazareth and the carpenter’s shop. How could this son of a country couple claim to be someone special? Never mind that it was already a stretch to talk about him being the Messiah – they had already contemplated that. But Jesus wasn’t talking Messiah talk – he said that he had COME DOWN OUT OF HEAVEN!

A little bit later, after he responds to that, they get even more upset because it sounds like he is telling them to eat his flesh. That sounds strange enough to our modern ears; but to an ancient Jew that would have been shockingly obscene. With all the dietary and purity laws, that kind of talk just sounded crazy.

What started out with misplaced interest – remember last week? – turned to anger. That’s worth pondering in relation to last week. Remember? We go looking for an experience of God and can miss Jesus in the midst of it all. And if we miss Jesus, we miss everything. And it’s not hard to imagine that after we’ve been on the 4th mission trip, the 15th conference or church retreat, or the umpteenth time coming to church looking for a God-experience, and not feeling it, that our expectation can turn to anger. And yet, all along, Jesus is right there saying, “It’s not about experiences; it’s about knowing and trusting me.”

It’s not hard to put ourselves in the crowd’s place, grumbling and even getting angry when God doesn’t deliver on our terms.

Jesus’ Response

Jesus responds twice to their grumbling. The first time, at the grumbling over him saying, “I am the bread that came down out of Heaven,” he responds, “Do not grumble among yourselves.” (v. 43) He continues, explaining why he is the bread from Heaven. It’s there in vv. 44-46:

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him… it is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; he has seen the Father.”

Let me put that in words that may be easier to understand. No one can find or know God on their own. The only way to know God is through the One God sent, namely Jesus. This much Jesus already said in the text we looked at last week. But here it is again. And to that, Jesus adds here that no one can come to him (Jesus) unless God the Father draws them. This is why God sent him as bread out of Heaven – that the world might know him and know God.

Said yet another way, God must come to us, and God has come to us through Jesus and Jesus alone.

This is one of the realities that becomes clear in infant baptism, where it is plain that the infant has not and cannot initiate faith or movement toward God. While that baptism does not mean the infant is a believer, it does signal God’s initiative in sending Jesus to the world for sin. Baptism is a declaration of God come to us through Jesus. The parents’ hope and faith is that God will indeed draw the little one to Himself through the person and work of Jesus, and one day, in faith, this child of the covenant will recognize God’s work in his life.

This first response about Jesus being the one sent from God culminates in verse 48, where Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” He continues by insisting that this is not metaphorical or one more sign, but MORE THAN the manna that God provided in Exodus. He is God’s flesh-and-blood salvation for His people.

And that insistence triggers the second round of grumbling, to which Jesus just insists all the more that he is the flesh-and-blood gift of God, and necessary if anyone is to know God and His salvation. And to that, as we will see next week, most of the crowd flips out and leaves. As the Apostle Paul would later write, Jesus was a “stumbling block – a stone of offense” to the Jews, and this is seen nowhere as clearly as in this extended scene.

Good News: God Has Done What We Cannot

I feel for the crowd that day, struggling to understand what Jesus was saying. And I feel for us as modern counterparts, who similarly struggle to locate salvation and knowledge of God in the person of Jesus. I’ve heard more than a few adults profess, “I went to church all my life, but didn’t understand what it means to be a Christian until I came to trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior.” I’ve struggled and I’ve known many to struggle with the ups and downs of experiential Christianity, seeking highs and avoiding lows as if Christianity were a drug. I’ve wept with people who so locate their Christianity in volunteering and serving others and who, from time to time, are simply overwhelmed and crushed by the aching needs in the world.

And again – to be clear – there is nothing wrong, and in fact everything right about going to church, having a meaningful experience of faith, and loving our neighbors through service and helps – unless those very things become our sign and savior and we miss Jesus, the Savior.

There is good news in the middle of this story and text – and not just some good news, but THE Good News, the Gospel. But we and any who would consider Christ must get through and beyond our grumbling, disappointment, misplaced hopes, and anger. That Good News is that though there is no way for us to find God, know God, reach God, or save ourselves, God has come to us! God has come all the way down among us… bread from Heaven, salvation from on high. As the same John who records this story wrote at the beginning of his Gospel, “The Word (Jesus) was with God, the Word was God… and the Word came and lived among us, full of grace and truth.”

Jesus is one with the Father, come to live among us to show us God the Father. He is the bread of life. He is God’s outstretched arm, drawing all who would hear to Himself.

The heart of the Good News is right there in the middle of the story, in vv. 47-48. Hear the Good News:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.”

Listen, believe, and trust in the One God has sent: Jesus, God’s own Son, the Savior. Amen.

Will Work for Food (John 6.22-40)

2011-07-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
July 10, 2011

Some Music Used

Prelude: "When Morning Gilds the Skies" (Emma Lou Diemer)
Hymn of Praise: "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah" (CWM RHONDDA)
Song of Praise: "Break Thou the Bread of Life/Come Feed My Soul"
(Lathbury/Groves, Sherwin; refrain, Youngblood)
The Word in Music: "Taste and See" (Helman)
Offering of Music: "O ?Bread of Life from Heaven" (Bourgeois/arr. Bender)
Song of Sending: "Hungry" (Scott)
Postlude: "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah" (Manz)

Will Work for Food
Text: John 6:22-40

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Two weeks ago, our middle school youth and three leaders went from this church to Chattanooga, TN, on a mission trip. I know that many of them experienced God in a real and meaningful way. God was definitely there. And then they came home…

I don’t know how many of you have ever been to a revival service, an evangelistic crusade, or a great Christian concert or conference. Those events have a way of really “firing you up” about Jesus. But however great they are, however special one feels by the end, they do end and we have to come home…

Volunteering at Crisis Assistance, walking in the CROP walk, visiting the men’s shelter at Rebound, sending Christmas boxes to Samaritan’s Purse - there's a feeling that we are doing something good in God's eyes. There is a rich and fulfilling feeling of living out God's love when we participate in these kinds of ministries. But most of us go back to our own homes and lives at night. We go back again and again to help others because we find God there and we want to be faithful to God.

Many of you have had a close experience of God at some time in your lives. God answered a specific prayer, or intervened in your life in a way you promised yourself you would never forget. For some, that miraculous encounter stimulated or began the faith that has held you in the church and in the Christian faith. But it's been many years. You were only a child, a young person. Was that God? Was He real? Did you imagine that? Maybe God would do it again… maybe God would show up just one more time…

On a hill on the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus fed 5000 men and their families from five small barley loaves and two small fish. The crowds reacted with amazement, naming Jesus as the Prophet come to be king. Their immediate hunger was taken care of, and they sensed that the promise of all their hopes for a kingly deliverer were about to be fulfilled as well! Then Jesus withdrew from them, first to be by himself on the mountain, then crossing the sea to the other side.

We may indeed know something of how the crowd felt! Many of us have experienced God in a close and personal way at some point in our lives. Or we have seen just enough of what that kind of experience can do in someone's life to want it for ourselves. So, like the crowd on the hillside, we chase after something and someone, not knowing for sure just who he is or what he offers, but sensing that it is something we desperately need in our lives!

The Chase and the Disappointment

Why did the crowd follow after Jesus that day? The obvious reason would be the miracle. Over 5000 people had been part of a gigantic miracle. Why wouldn't they want to see more of that?! Perhaps others were just curious or hoping to hear this man teach. And then there was an identified group who believed Jesus was the great kingly one who would deliver them from Roman rule. Jesus, himself, identified yet another reason: because "you ate of the loaves and were filled." (v. 26) He had responded to their need and satisfied it with bread. Perhaps they knew at some level that Jesus could satisfy the great needs of their lives.

What about that mission trip, that special revival service or retreat, that act of helping others, that close experience of God? Each touches something deep within us… each feeds a hunger in our soul. And even if we don't understand how or why, we want it again. And so we work hard for it - to find that feeling and experience of being near to God. For some it's a casual thing - we think God's at church and if we go there enough it will rub off on us. Others of us really dedicate our lives to feeling that closeness again and again. We come to church for various reasons: to find our own 'miracles,' social convention, to hear spiritual teaching, to hear good music, to see friends. Related to it all, though, must be the sense that if we keep at it we may encounter God.

Well, I won't save the punch line for the end of the sermon. Here it is: God is experienced and known only through the person of Jesus Christ! Yes, you can look at a sunset and learn something about God as Creator, but to know God the Father you must know Jesus the Son. That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life… no one comes to the Father but through me.” That's also why Jesus persisted so hard with the crowds with teaching like "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life… the work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent." (vv. 28-29) The crowd resisted and questioned and grumbled - they wanted another miracle and proof of what Jesus was saying. And they really misunderstood, not grasping that a person whose parents and hometown they knew could give them what they were looking for. They became restive and disappointed when they realized Jesus was actually claiming to be sent from God.

The Correction and the Confusion

With their grumbling, what the crowd really was saying was "we'll just go with what we want and need - you know, miracles like you did before. You mentioned bread from heaven. Will you call down manna like Moses did in the desert?"

And we want God to just prove Himself. "Just answer this prayer or heal this person or make this deal come through - and I'll know for sure that you are there." Or more generously, "I'll go back to Chattanooga or camp or the retreat weekend or conference. Maybe you could show up there again so I'll be reminded that you are real."

And Jesus insists, "I am what you need."

And we keep on looking where we want and how we want.

And Jesus insists, "I am what you need - come and believe."

The effect of his words that day with the crowd was to say, "Believe in me or turn away from me; I am the only way and the only source for what you need." It was too much for most of those there. And Jesus never backed down or simplified or compromised. He could have done another miracle. He could have explained that he wasn't promoting cannibalism (as they shortly accuse him of doing). He did make the connection for them between the miracle of the feeding and who he was. He did make the connection between Moses and the manna and who he was. He did explain that God was using those events and miracles to draw people to Himself. He did explain that he was the completion and perfection of miracles like those. But they were looking for something else.

Let me illustrate in a way I have done before. In the world of music and concerts and such, there is a treasure known as a backstage pass. If you can get your hands on one of these, you have access behind the stage to meet the performer and see where he or she hangs out with the band. You may have heard recently that Taylor Swift had to postpone her concert in Charlotte due to illness. Imagine that you had not only a ticket but a backstage pass to see Taylor Swift. And imagine if you and your friends (or parents) were at the concert venue trying to get a refund and somehow on the way into the building from the car a teenage girl with blonde curly hair comes running out to the parking lot and runs into you. She says, "You don't need to go in there; we can just spend some time together right now." But you ignore the stranger, saying "You don't realize what has happened; Taylor Swift postponed and I have to get a good ticket for the makeup concert!" And so it goes… we miss the real thing in pursuit of the real thing.

Jesus never belittles or dismisses miracles or the need for earthly sustenance and work. But the people are just blind to the truth of who it is there with them! And just as you can imagine eventually thinking some crazy girl in the parking lot is playing a sick joke on you, Jesus' claims begin to sound crazier and more farfetched. When he starts talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood - the TRUE food and drink, it's just too much for those listening.

Is there anything comparable for us? Is there anything about Jesus that would shock us or sound so alien or disgusting that we would turn away? Perhaps…

It's hard to see outside ourselves. It's hard to know when we are part of the crowd missing the point when we are so sincere about what we are looking for. Let's take a shot at it though…

Why do we come to church and do all the work that we do in the name of religion? I believe we do so because we find some need being fulfilled. We love the beauty of the service and the music. We like to see our friends. We value the acceptance of a culture that still values religious affiliation. We feel good when we help people. We feel spiritual when we pray and we feel happy when we sing.

But how do we respond when Jesus Christ makes this claim:

I am Beauty.
I am true Fellowship and Love.
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Hopefully, all that we do in Church and in the name of Christ is faithful to God's will and teaching. But - and this is Jesus' point in John 6 - none of it is to take the place of belief and trust in Jesus Christ as God's direct provision for humanity. If we miss Jesus Christ, we have missed it all!

Conclusion

God has blessed us with personal experiences of His nearness and events that we cherish as being from him. And we continue to worship, serve, go on retreats and mission trips, and gather that we might experience God in our daily lives. But Jesus made a claim that demands to be at the heart of our faith: that he is God's Word of truth and life for us and for the world. Christianity is not a religion - it is not us working our way into God's presence. Christianity is a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God. Jesus is the source of life and hope and is the author and perfecter of our faith.

Do you know this Jesus? Have you tasted the true Bread of Life? I urge you not to miss the message and carry on business-as-usual. Hear the words of Jesus:

I am the way, the truth, and the life… I am the bread of life... The work of God is to believe in the one He has sent.

The work of God is for us to believe and trust in Jesus Christ in faith. From that place, we can understand the place of worship, service, fellowship, obedience, and all the other ways we respond to and obey God in life. Only out of personal faith in Jesus Christ will our hearts be satisfied. Feed on him in your hearts, and be thankful! Amen.

God-Sized Problems (John 6.1-15)

2011-07-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
July 3, 2011

Some Music Used

Prelude: "I Sing the Greatness of Our God" (Fred Bock)
Gathering Prayer in Song: "God Bless America" - Men's Quartet (Berlin, arr. Ringwald)
Song of Praise: "Come, People of the Risen King" (Getty/Townend)
Offering of Music (instr. handbell solo): "Let us Break Bread Together" (Spiritual/arr. Cutter)
Communion Liturgy: "Our Father in Heaven" (Eric Wyse)
Hymn of Sending: "The King of Love" (Henry Baker; ancient Irish melody)
Postlude: "God Bless Our Native Land" (arr. Wilbur Held)

God-Sized Problems
Text: John 6:1-15

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Written version not available.

Water into Wine (John 2.1-12)

2011-06-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
June 26, 2011

Some Music Used

Prelude: "Morning Has Broken" (Gaelic/arr. Bock)
Song of Praise: "All Who Are Thirsty" (Yrjo Roovers)
Hymn of Praise: "Come, Thou Almighty King" (ITALIAN HYMN)
Song of Response: "Take My Life/Here Am I" (Tomlin, Giglio)
Offering of Music (instr. piano): "Take My Life (Holiness)" (Underwood/arr. Howard)
Hymn of Sending: "All Hail the Power" (CORONATION)
Postlude: "Postlude on 'Coronation'" (Gordon Young)

Water into Wine
Text: June 26, 2011

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Written version not available.

The Kingdom of God (Jason Hinton)

2011-06-19T06:24:00.000-07:00

Kingdom of God in the Old Testament
Sermon by: Jason Hinton
June 12, 2011

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Written version not available.

Kingdom of God in the New Testament
Sermon by: Jason Hinton
June 19, 2011

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Written version not available.

When You Pray (Matthew 6.5-15)

2011-06-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
June 5, 2011

Some Music Used

Prelude: "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" (Travis)
Hymn of Praise: "Holy, Holy, Holy" (NICAEA)
The Word in Music: "Our Father in Heaven" (Wyse)
Hymn of Response: "More Love to Thee" (MORE LOVE TO THEE)
Offering of Music (Maddie Shuler): "Twice as Good" (Groves)
Song of Sending: "Agnus Dei" (Smith)
Postlude: "Amen" (Handel)

When You Pray (The Lord's Prayer)
Text: Matthew 6:5-15

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Today’s service is organized by the Lord’s Prayer and I’ve explained how each of the service components fits into that worship flow. So, like the prayer, we began our service with praise directed at our holy, Heavenly Father. The scripture and sermon are an example of God’s “kingdom come” as we hear God’s holy Word and receive it into our lives as “thy will be done on earth (our lives) as in Heaven.” We will celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Table as one way of understanding “give us this day our daily bread.” We will confess and hear the assurance of God’s grace as we pray for forgiveness” and we will pray for ourselves and others to turn from temptation and evil. And we will conclude again with praise for the Lord whose Kingdom, power, and glory are forever.

Whole books have been written on the Lord’s Prayer, but I simply want to make a few overall points. Also, I want to include the rest of this passage, which includes some introductory teaching and a follow-up comment by Jesus.

The prayer comes in a section of Jesus’ teaching where he is warning against “practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them.” (Matthew 6:1) In other words, Jesus is warning us not to use religion to show off or appear holy. True religion, true faith, true holiness, is anything but showy. Matthew 6 begins with Jesus applying this point to almsgiving or stewardship. Don’t give to the poor just to be seen, but “in secret.” And then Jesus makes the same application about praying. And that’s where I want to pick up, in verse 5. He says, “When you pray…” and then offers two counter-examples of what not to do before speaking the words that are so familiar to us as “The Lord’s Prayer.”

Not Like the Hypocrites… (vv. 5-6)

Jesus begins his instruction on prayer by saying, “You are not to be like the hypocrites.” Why are they hypocrites? It’s because “they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men.” It’s all about being seen. It’s self-focused and intended to bring attention and credit to themselves. We will see that this attitude runs exactly counter to the purpose and spirit of prayer that Jesus will describe. And Jesus adds, “they will have their reward in full.” That he doesn’t spell that out is more than a little ominous. At the very least, they will get exactly what they seek: the attention and perhaps judgment of those who see them. But what they will miss is communion and connection with God.

Jesus contrasts that kind of self-focused praying-to-be-seen with this: “But when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret…” The point is not literal, you don’t have to have an actual “prayer closet” and pray no place but there; rather, the point is that prayer is not about self-attention, but just the opposite. The only one to whom you are speaking is God and it is the height of hypocrisy to speak words of prayer addressed to any and everyone but your Heavenly Father. The Lord will hear your quiet, silent, or secret prayers; and Jesus again follows up, “He will reward you.” The parallel implication is that God will hear you and respond positively, even as those observing the showy public prayer would have negatively.

This raises the interesting question about praying together in worship. Are we not supposed to do that? No; that’s not the right way to go with that because the Bible also has examples of corporate prayer in worship. Rather, Jesus is making a point about how to pray – the tone, texture, attitude, and intent of prayer. Whether we are praying one at a time or in a group, in public or in private, the point is that prayer is not about self and we should not use it as a means to draw attention to ourselves. I will note that when we pray in groups it is easy to forget who we are talking to. I’ve been in plenty of groups where prayers (especially from pastors!) turn into mini-speeches for those listening rather than addressing the Father in Heaven. Perhaps that is why Jesus offered such a clear example – it’s hard to show off or lecture or get off-focus if you are praying alone where no one can see. Certainly that should be our “school of prayer” to help train us how to talk to God.

Not With Meaningless Repetition (vv. 7-8)

Jesus then offers a second instruction: “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose they will be heard for their many words.” (v. 7) Especially when coupled with his correction, “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (v. 8), it becomes clear that the purpose of prayer is also not to impress God. Nor is it a work by which we get God’s attention. We don’t need to shout or pray a certain length of time or use fancy vocabulary (or even “thee’s” and “thine’s”) for God to hear us. It’s not magic or some kind of incantation; it is communication with the best listener in the universe. In fact, one of the most encouraging teachings about prayer that I know is that the Holy Spirit prays for us when we don’t have the words and that Jesus prays for and presents our prayers to the Father as he sits at the right hand of God.

That’s why you don’t need special training to pray. In fact, simply being quiet and still before the Lord is a wonderful way to pray. We don’t have to tell, teach, or inform God of anything; He already knows! And yet, He does invite us to pray!

There’s also an interesting question raised with this teaching. Have we turned the Lord’s Prayer into just the kind of meaningless repetition that Jesus warns about? Unfortunately, I have to say… maybe so. I think we run that risk, certainly if we just recite the words without meaning. And I need to do a better job of introducing or varying the usage in the service so that it remains present and alive to us. That’s part of the reason for today’s service and sermon.

So let’s look briefly at the prayer and how we might better understand what it is that we say each week.

Focused Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer can be broken down phrase by phrase with great meaning, but I want to look at it today with a slightly broader brush. One sound that resounds through this model prayer is the focus away from self, particularly when read with the two ways not to pray in the preceding verses. The Lord’s Prayer has a God-focus, a Kingdom-focus, and an other-focus.

God-focused

The prayer first focuses on God, who is holy, Heavenly Father. Again, we are not praying for the ears of those around us, but addressing, petitioning, even worshiping, the holy, Heavenly Father – OUR holy, Heavenly Father. Doing so is a privilege and helps orient our hearts and minds that prayer is first of all TO God.

Kingdom-focused

Prayer is also Kingdom-focused. It seeks God’s will, God’s Kingdom, God’s Word to “come down” or intersect with our lives. It is not unlike our question, “What is God doing and how can we be a part?” Prayer looks for God’s purposes and presence and if there is a self-focus, it is the change that happens when we are molded and transformed by God’s presence, Word, and Spirit.

Other-focused

Then follows what we may rightly call petitions, or asking for things. We ask for “daily bread” – but it is not storing up for tomorrow, but today’s needs, trusting God to provide day by day. We ask for forgiveness and help with temptation and evil. All this may seem self-focused, but it is in the most selfless way, for the answering of these prayers enables and requires us to live out our faith as a witness to those around us. So notice Jesus teaching after the prayer ends. He reminds the disciples that they are to live out this forgiveness – it is not something to win from God and horde, but something to share in witness to God’s grace and glory. So also with the bread and deliverance from evil. Each is a prayer for God’s help and presence today in order to live more faithfully, which means as a blessing to others.

And then the refrain we are used to, which only appears sometimes in the manuscripts of this Gospel. It is simply a reminder of where the prayer started, and echoes what we read in Revelation: God’s Kingdom, power, and glory are forever. Again, our prayer is not to call God down like a genie, but ask that our lives and wills would be united to His will and purpose.

Living it Out

What does it look like to pray for and desire God’s Kingdom to come? Or for God’s will to be done? For one, it radically transforms our prayer lives; but it does even more.

It means, for example, that we stopped asking, “How can we get more people into our church?” and started asking, “How can we get more of our church into God’s world?”

We move from praying, “God, give me more for me” to “God, here is more of me.”

And I’m not saying you shouldn’t pray, “God please heal Aunt Rachel.” Do pray for help and healing. Just realize that prayer is so much more and Jesus has modeled and invited us to learn and experience that kind of prayer.

Try praying some in secret – just you and God. It kind of forces you in this direction. If you are used to praying for other ears, you’ll feel like you’re talking to yourself. Which is normal – I’ve felt that. But keep going. Talk to God. Try this prayer, except pray one phrase at a time. Not over and over like the 7th time is magical, but to try to understand why Jesus taught it in this way. Maybe you’ll realize that you need to gain a better understanding of what God as “Father” means… or “holy.” Maybe you’ll realize that you have no idea what “God’s will” is, so no idea what it being done in your life would look like. This is not only an actual prayer; it is also a teaching tool. Use it as one and see what God might teach you. If you are wondering, that’s a pretty good start on God’s will being done in our lives. Amen.

First Love (Revelation 2.1-7)

2011-05-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
May 29, 2011

Some Music Used

Prelude: "Wondrous Love" (Wyrtzen)
Hymn of Praise: "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" (BEECHER)
The Word in Music: "I'm Putting on the Love of the Lord" (Schreiner)
Hymn of Response: "More Love to Thee" (MORE LOVE TO THEE)
Offering of Music: "Be Thou My Vision" (Miller)
Song of Sending: "Light the Fire" (Doerksen)
Postlude: "O Love, How Deep" (Manz)

Fast Forward/First Love
Text: Revelation 2:1-7; Matthew 24:11-14; Ephesians 4:1-3

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Normally, I recommend the audio version over the written version, as the written version is an early draft. In this case, I think I prefer the written version... just in case you are wondering. :)

Today is our last Sunday on “Being the Church,” using the early Christian community in Ephesus as a case study. This month we have looked at four different snapshots of their first few years, using passages from Corinthians, Acts, Ephesians, and 1 Timothy. Today we fast forward 20-30 years and see what has become of the Ephesian Christians a generation later.

I’ll remind you that in each of the previous weeks we have seen the importance of holding together grace and truth. Paul urged the church leaders in Ephesus to grow in the grace that builds up, builds together, and builds the church out into its mission. He also challenged them to hold to the truth, to defend against conflict from outside and inside the church community. We saw these twin themes held up in the speech to the elders in Acts 20, in the letter to the Ephesians, and in the first letter to Timothy, the young pastor in Ephesus.

We will see today that the Ephesian Christians did heed at least part of Paul’s teaching, but apparently at the expense of another part of it. Let’s look at the words of Christ about Ephesus in the vision to John in Revelation.

I Know You

After an impressive self-introduction as the One who moves in and holds the Church, Jesus speaks a word to the Church in Ephesus: “I know you…” “I know you; I know your deeds and your toil and your perseverance… you are some hard workers; I know your work, how hard you work, and how hard you work at working hard!”

What is it they work so hard at? They cannot tolerate evil men, and they test those who would teach falsely and find them to be false.

And then it is noted some more how hard they work at this and persevere in it.

It’s the Truth that they have latched on to, and they have made it the #1 thing for them. If you asked them what it means to be the Church, they would answer, “Truth!” They are diligent and careful and test all things against the Word and Spirit and they will not stand for any falsehood.

And they are right for doing so. They are right according to Scripture and they are right in keeping with what Paul urged their parents and grandparents to do a generation earlier.

Except… that’s not all he said. They have worked exceedingly hard at one-half of a whole. It’s like learning how to swing a tennis racquet but never using a ball. And they have practiced and practiced and practiced the swing over and over and have it down. But no ball; no game; no tennis.

And note that Jesus didn’t say, “Well done; you’ve really excelled at truth.” He simply says, “I know you, about your truth.”

I Hold Against You

And Jesus continues, “But I have this against you… you have left your first love.” Now he doesn’t use the word ‘grace,’ which would have really made my point; but that is what’s missing. Let’s consider what “first love” might mean.

Broadly, it sounds like the Great Commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.” This is the first and greatest of the Commandments. This may well be what is in view.

More specifically, I believe it refers to the love they had “at first.” To understand that love I would return to Ephesians, the letter written to this same community a generation earlier. In chapter four, in the midst of the section about how the grace of God in Jesus Christ builds the church together in unity in order to build them out into mission, Paul writes this – listen for ‘love’:

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)

Did you hear it? “Walk worthy of your Christian calling… showing tolerance for one another in love.” I believe this, too, is the “first love” that the Ephesians have lost. They have so focused on truth that they have forgotten the grace that unites and binds in Christ. It’s interesting that the word “tolerate” is found here and in Revelation. They know how to not tolerate evil men, but they have forgotten how to show tolerance for one another in love.

I decided to chase down the underlying words there and it turns out there are two different words for “tolerate” being used. What they have persevered in doing is not supporting or “carrying” (perhaps even ‘enabling’) (bastasai) evil men. What they have forgotten is how to “endure” or “bear” (anechomai) one another for the sake of Christ and the Gospel. I don’t want to make too much of a difference; you can’t with the kind of range of meaning each word has. My point is that something has been lost in the Ephesian church, and it flows out of Christian grace and love.

Remember…

So when Jesus continues and says, “Remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first… or else!” I look to Acts 18-20 and to Ephesians to see what deeds they were doing at first, and I see this passage that talks about living out the faith with “all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing one another in love, and being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:2-3)

That is what has been lost and that is what Jesus says they must rediscover as their first love.

Hear me clearly; I am not saying that truth is not important. I think that’s why Jesus circles around and does hold up the rejection of the Nicolaitans, a pagan false teaching of the day that involved worship of idols. Truth is important. It is entirely possible to distort grace by forgetting the truth, so that one takes on a “do whatever you want” attitude, saying that “God will look the other way.” The truth is that God is a pure and holy God, piercingly righteous and true. But just as surely as people can forget truth and err, so they can forget grace and err, and the letter to the church in Ephesus shows just how grave that error can be.

Jesus doesn’t commend their diligent pursuit of truth and tell them just to loosen up a little. If they don’t remember and REPENT and rediscover that first love – that grace – then they do not have a place in His Kingdom.

This is a hard word for lovers of truth. Ironically, it is a word of truth for lovers of truth; and it is one filled with grace, for it summons us to repentance and rediscovery of the full Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then, to those who overcome cold truth alone, repent, and rediscover that first love, they will eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.

For Those With Ears to Hear

I included a passage from Jesus’ teaching in Matthew to further explain what that full Gospel is and what it’s for. Listen again, too, to the context for Jesus’ words. He is talking about the future, as the end draws near. It’s the same kind of context for which Revelation is written.

Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:11-14)

Did you hear that? When lawlessness is increased, love will grow cold. But it is precisely that Christ-filled love that will cause Gospel truth to penetrate into a lawless world. Pure, cold truth will not do it alone, but faith lived out as love – grace embodied and incarnated in our lives. That is our testimony to the nations, to the culture around us.

The purpose of truth is not to “win” or feel morally superior, but to hold together with grace, in order to testify to the world about Jesus Christ. It is Good News worth sharing, not to be hoarded among the faithful or used to whip the unfaithful. Rather, the Gospel of grace and truth is to be lived out one conversation, one encounter, one life at a time in the places you live and move and interact.

I won’t connect all the dots for you today. You are smart enough to do that. I believe this teaching has great application for our witness as Presbyterians, as members of the Good Shepherd family, and as individual believers trying to live out this lighthouse-searchlight vision in big and small ways.

As Jesus said, “For those with ears to hear.” Amen.

Internal Issues (1 Timothy 1.1-17)

2011-05-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
May 22, 2011

Some Music Used

Prelude: "Ayre" (Telemann)
Hymn of Praise: "We Know that Christ is Raised" (ENGLEBERG)
Song of Praise: "Beautiful One" (Hughes)
Choral Offertory: "Speak, O Lord" (Getty, Townend, McDonald)
Song of Confession: "Have Mercy on Me" (Peterson)
Offering of Music: "Here I Am, Lord" (arr. Bobby White)
Song of Sending: "One Pure and Holy Passion" (Altrogge)

Internal Issues
Text: 1 Timothy 1:1-17

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

We are in the fourth week of our study of “Being the Church,” using the Christian Church in Ephesus as a case study. Between all the books in the New Testament, we have snapshots of that church over at least a generation, from it’s founding through its first pastor (Paul), to its second pastor (Timothy), to the picture given in Revelation some 20-30 years later.

We saw in Acts 20 that Pastor Paul, having moved on to other mission work, charged the church leaders in Ephesus to continue to hold together the grace and truth of the Gospel. We saw this message expanded and elaborated last week in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Grace builds the Church up, together, and out in ministry and mission. We also heard Paul’s challenge in Ephesians 6 to “stand firm” in the truth of God, when the Church and the very Gospel are at risk. In Ephesians, that risk was framed primarily in terms of spiritual attack from outside the Church, and we know that the early Ephesian Christians faced persecution from the pagan Greek culture around them as their message directly conflicted with the commerce in Ephesus around the worship of the Greek goddess, Artemis.

Today, in 1 Timothy, we find Paul writing to his younger friend and disciple, Timothy, who is now leading the church in Ephesus. In this letter, we find that the conflict is inside the church; yet we will see Paul’s same challenge: hold on to grace to build the Church up, together, and out; and stand on the Truth to defend and protect the Church against these challenges.

Internal Issues

Chapter one describes the internal issues facing the Church of Ephesus. There were actually two problems going on simultaneously. The first is described in verses 4-5. Certain people were teaching “strange doctrines.” Specifically, they were “paying attention to myths and endless genealogies” and these were speculative rather than spiritual and true. While we don’t the exact nature of these strange teachings, they might have been Jewish myths or simply a preoccupation with names and bloodlines, speculating about matters not explicitly taught in Scripture. A modern example might be a preoccupation with the Shroud of Turin or yesterday’s predicted Rapture, generated through Harold Camping’s fixation with numbers in Scripture rather than the clear teaching of Scripture that “no man knows the day or time of His coming.”

You can imagine the issue, right? One group within the Christian community starts focusing so much on these strange teachings that they start leading others astray and also become uninterested in the core Gospel acts of ministry and mission.

But that wasn’t all – there was another group causing problems in the Church in Ephesus. Look at verse 6, which literally says “others, straying from these things [the love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith – v. 5], have turned aside to fruitless discussion.” Sounds like more of the same, right? But this group had an additional problem – they were focused on the Law, the Torah, except they were not trained and did not understand the Torah. We read in verse 7 that they were “wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.” Have you ever met those people? They want to be in positions of authority but are neither trained or qualified to have that authority… but that doesn’t stop them. And imagine if they are given the pulpit, or start classes and take the role of teacher. The problems come quickly!

We are not going to get to chapter two today, but it is my belief that this second group was made up of a number of women, because the literal word for “some others” in verse 6 indicates a male or a mixed group. Women, and particularly Greek women, would not have had the training in the Torah and yet may have been encouraged by a new openness to women in the Christian community. When you read Paul’s words in chapter two, you can see quite a correspondence between his correction of the Ephesian men and the first problem, and his correction of the Ephesian women and the second problem of “usurping teaching authority.” If that interests you, I’d be glad to talk further!

What I want to focus on though, is how Paul responds to this internal crisis. He moves next to a declaration of truth, particularly related to the Law that was being taught irresponsibly and incorrectly. He corrects that teaching with the truth before his rebuke of those teachers in chapter two.

Truth

So, starting with the Torah-Law, the subject of false and weak teaching, Paul lays out some truth. And doesn’t he turn it on its head?! “The Law is good, if one uses it lawfully…” This is evidently what was not happening. We aren’t told how it is being mis-used or mis-taught, but we can infer from Paul’s correction here: “The Law is not made for a righteous person (to point the finger at others, perhaps?); but for those who are lawless and rebellious…” (v. 9). And then he goes on to list a bunch of examples. I bet I know which one jumped out at you; but let me ask you where you are in verses 8-10. Seriously, look again:

…Law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching…”

Are you the righteous person? In and of yourself? In Romans 3:10, Paul quotes the Psalms, “There is none righteous, not even one.”

Lawless? Rebellious? – I didn’t make it past those two. Sure most days I behave pretty well, but I can’t escape those descriptions.

Profane? That’s related to profanity, you know.

Immoral? Surely not you, pastor? But don’t you remember Jesus teaching about the lust of the eyes, the lust of the heart.

Just because you haven’t killed or kidnapped or yes, experienced same-sex attraction, doesn’t mean you get out of this truth-telling session. Paul is making the same claim here that he makes at GREAT length in Romans: all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God… when it comes to sin and unrighteousness and being convicted by God’s Law, it is a level playing field. Yes, some actions have more serious earthly consequences – murder is worse than lying. But in terms of our holiness, rightness with God, and purity before Him, we are ALL – every last one – the broken sons of Adam and daughters of Eve.

Why does he mention “contrary to sound teaching?” Here, particularly, that was the problem. I don’t know what the untrained and misguided teachers of the Law in Ephesus were teaching, but from Paul’s words here, I know that it was not that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And because that was not being taught, what Paul says next was not being taught, and that is the very essence of the Gospel, which is the GOOD NEWS. Listen…

…and Grace

This is the “glorious gospel of the blessed God” (v. 11) and this is GRACE. Before getting to the broad statement of grace, Paul shares his own testimony as one of those sinners who has fallen short of the glory of God. Even though Paul was once a “blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor” (v. 13), he was “shown mercy… and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant.” (v. 14) And even more than being shown mercy, Paul was “considered faithful [and put into] service” (v. 12). It’s the same story we just studied with Moses back in the winter. God was pleased to use a sinful, self-serving, murderer (yes, Moses and Paul were complicit in murder!) and not only show them mercy, but redeem them into God’s own service. Do you understand how enormous and extravagant God’s grace is?! It stretches the limits of my understanding. And that is the Gospel, the Good News of Grace.

And so Paul restates this Good News Grace more theologically, for all who will hear, believe, and trust it:

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…

Do you really believe that? … or that Jesus loves you because you deserve it? That’s not the Gospel; that’s a lie. The Gospel is that… “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost [sinner], Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life. (vv. 15-16)

This Gospel is trustworthy, deserving full acceptance. That is the Word of Truth AND Grace. All have sinned, and Jesus has come into the world to save sinners. No exclusions, from the sin list or from the reach of God’s grace. Truth and Grace – the Gospel.

Being the Church

Many of you know that I was privileged to speak to our presbytery this past week. I was speaking to the particular issue of sexuality and church leadership, but more importantly I had the opportunity to share this Gospel message: that no one is excluded from “all have sinned”; but no one is excluded from the reach of God’s grace. I did not go to presbytery to share Law or bad news or church politics; rather, to proclaim the Gospel of Truth and Grace. That is what Paul spoke to the struggling church in Ephesus and it is the same Gospel we need to hear, know, and live today.

So, with Ephesians as our case study, we must ask what we can learn about being the church. Paul has been consistent and clear that we must hold together truth and grace. The internal issues described in 1 Timothy make it abundantly clear that truth and grace must also be lived out in community as well as in mission. I commend you for being a community that understands this and lives it out. And yet there is so much more we must learn as we continue to be built up, built together, and built out in the name of Christ.

I love how Paul concludes this chapter, drawing our focus back off ourselves and to the Lord:

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (v. 17)

A Purposeful Gift (Ephesians)

2011-05-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
May 15, 2011

Some Music Used

Song of Praise: "Come Now Almighty King" (Kauflin, Madan, Spiro)
Song of Praise: "Come, People of the Risen King" (Getty, Townend)
Choral Offertory: "Amazing Grace" (Newton/Lojeski)
Hymn of Sending: "We Are God's People" (SYMPHONY)

A Purposeful Gift
Text: Ephesians

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

We are talking about being the church, using the ancient church in Ephesus as a case study. That church is mentioned a number of times in the New Testament. In Acts we have some history of its founding and development as well as a message from its former pastor (Paul) to the church leaders as he is passing through to Jerusalem. We saw in that message last week that Paul held out the twin values of grace and truth as essential nourishment for a healthy church. Today we will look at the letter to the Ephesians, written to that same Christian community and exploring God’s gift of grace for building up the Church for its purpose in the world. In coming weeks we will look at 1-2 Timothy, which are letters to Timothy, the young pastor that followed Paul, with instruction on guarding against internal division and false leadership through the truth of the Gospel. And in two weeks we will look at the letter to the church in Ephesus recorded in Revelation, where, as an older church, they are challenged to return to their “first love.”

Today I’d like to walk you through the whole letter to the Ephesians. I am drawing on notes from a Bible study we did a number of years ago. And one of the things we did in that study was focus in on the main idea of each chapter. There are six chapters, so I’d like to name those six main ideas and briefly say a word about each one. The verses you heard read today were the key verses in each chapter that name those ideas, so you can go back and dig in some more at home.

Ch. 1: The Great Gift of God’s Grace in Christ

A key verse is Ephesians 1:3 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”

The first chapter of Ephesians is densely packed with theological words and ideas, from predestination to spiritual adoption and more. And most of the first chapter is one super-long sentence in Greek. And those verses can be mined over and over again for theological riches. And yet, those same verses speak of riches, of a treasure and inheritance, that is even more important than theological concepts. That is the blessing that is “every spiritual blessing.” That is the gift that is the inheritance of the adopted children of God. All of it points to one glorious and blessed truth: that God has gifted us with the supremely great gift of grace in Jesus Christ.

It is in Christ that we have the grace-gift of redemption and the forgiveness of sin (v. 7). It is out of God’s eternal knowledge and love that He sent Christ as a lavish grace-gift into the world (vv. 3-4) and adopted us into His family (v. 5). When you read Ephesians, chapter one, think GIFT – God’s loving grace-gift in Jesus Christ.

Ch. 2: God’s Grace Radically Changes Our Identity

Key verses are Ephesians 2:1,4-5, and I’ll focus on the main thought – “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins… but God… made us alive together with Christ…”

The second chapter of Ephesians moves forward a step from the great gift and giver to the impact of that gift in our lives. It’s like the video camera on Christmas or a birthday moving from the newly opened present to the face of the one who has received the gift. But this gift is so significant, so life-changing, that it doesn’t just impact our lives; it transforms our lives. It changes our identity. We are not the same once we have received God’s great grace-gift. So this chapter explores that.

It’s in those key verses I already mentioned: you were dead, but God made us alive together with Christ. The chapter fleshes that out. How were we dead? We were dead in our trespasses, transgressions, and sins (wow, three different words for how we were dead!). But God – see verse 4 – but God, rich and mercy, because of His great love… even when we were dead in sin… made us alive together with Christ.

And not just alive, but raised up and seated with! Again, it’s far too much theology to unpack in one sermon. But God’s grace-gift changes everything about us, and radically so, from start to finish, in and out. We become God’s masterpieces (v. 10), made for good works and the glory of God’s name.

Ch. 3: We Have God’s Grace to Share with the World

A key verse is Ephesians 3:8 – “To me… this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles.”

Starting about halfway through chapter two, and running through chapter three, we see that the radical change of identity that Jesus Christ (God’s grace-gift) creates is not just individual, but corporate. Not only does it brings people from death to life, but near from far off (2:17)… there are no longer strangers and aliens (foreigners), but one household with Christ as the cornerstone (2:19-22). This is the Church!

Remember back in Acts last week? One of the twin declarations of the Gospel was the grace of God which builds up the Church. That’s the message that runs throughout these chapters of Ephesians. God’s grace-gift in Christ doesn’t build up the Church by flattery – it’s not that kind of “build up” – it transforms lives and identities, drawing together and binding together people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

So this is summarized well in Ephesians 3:8 – “To me… this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles (those far off)…”

We participate in God’s transformation of the world through the grace-gift of Jesus Christ by proclaiming in word and deed the news about Jesus to the world around us. We have God’s grace to share with the world!

Ch. 4: So Grow Up and Live in Unity and Maturity

There are several key verses in Ephesians 4 and I’ll name them as we follow the main thought of the chapter – “I… entreat you to walk… (as you have been called (v. 1), being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit (v. 3); as a result… we are to grow up in all aspects into [Christ] (v. 15); therefore… be renewed… and put on the new self (vv. 23-24).”

After explicitly using the image of “gifts” (4:7-8) to describe God’s grace in Christ, chapter four describes a different kind of transformation. God’s grace-gift of Jesus Christ causes an immediate change of identity from old to new, from orphan to adopted and beloved. It also brings us into the family of Christ where we are to grow up and grow together. This is another way of fleshing out the picture of grace-that-builds that we looked at last week in Paul’s speech to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20. Not only does God’s grace draw people from all over the world into the church, it also knits together this church for mission. We are sent out, not alone, but tied together. The image for that comes in 4:16, the image of a working “body” to do the work of Christ, the head.

I would note a brief excursion in vv. 14-15 that touches on the importance of truth as guard against false teaching. Remember, this was the other twin teaching in Paul’s speech in Acts 20. Paul held out grace and truth as needing to be held together, and so he does here in 4:15 – “speaking the truth in love”; but so far, the first four chapters of Ephesians have majored on the grace that builds together, up, and out. We will see that the end of chapter six has a bit more about being strong and on guard.

Ch. 5-6a: Reflect God’s Image by Loving Like Christ

Key verses are Ephesians 5:1-2 – “Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us…”

Having come back to the theme of shared mission within the body of Christ, chapter five emphasizes personal behavior, which is to be a reflection of God’s image, much like a child’s behavior reflects on the parents. Remember, we are the adopted children of the Lord. So, we are to behave as such, even as we mature and grow together.

Chapter five ends with a famous (or infamous) passage – you know, the whole “wives, submit to your husbands” thing. Two notes – husbands are also to submit… see verse 21. But more importantly, this whole passage is in here not to teach us about marriage, but to teach us about the church. Marriage is used as an illustration to help us understand what being the Church is all about – which is what Ephesians is about! It’s like saying, “You know how marriage is when it’s at its best? That’s what being the Church is like.” See, it’s there in 5:32 – “This mystery (marriage) is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” (And then v. 33 – “Nevertheless (while we are talking about the ideals of marriage)… work on that, too!”

This focus on Christian behavior carries on through the first part of chapter six, with examples in the family and in the society of that time. The point is back to, “If you are a Christian, then you are a child of God; act like one!”

Ch. 6b: Be Strong and Stand Firm in the Lord! Be on Guard!

There are several key verses in Ephesians 6 and I’ll name them as we follow the main thought of the second part of the chapter – “Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might (v. 10)… stand firm (v. 14)… pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert… (v. 18)”

So finally, in the last part of chapter six, we hear at length the other twin focus named in Paul’s speech to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20. If grace builds up the church, truth protects it. So it is here. The Ephesian Christians are encouraged to “be strong,” “stand firm,” and “be on the alert.” This is not a physical conflict – “our struggle is not against flesh and blood” (v. 12) but a spiritual one. So we are to stand in God’s strength and truth – not run away; not attack; but stand firm.

Again, we see the importance of holding together grace that builds the church up, together, and out, and truth that guards and protects.

Conclusion

How would I consolidate all this into something to take away? It would go something like this: the great gift of God’s grace radically changes our identity, and builds us up, together, and out to bear witness of this gift of Christ in and to the world.

We have already received God’s grace-gift, Jesus Christ. If you have believed and trusted in Christ, that gift and identity as God’s adopted beloved is yours. You are part of God’s Church, united to one another through Jesus Christ, and led into participation in God’s mission in the world.

Live like it! Be strong, stand firm, and follow Jesus into the world that God loves, as bearers of the Good and hopeful News to those who desperately need to hear it. That’s what it means to be the Church; that is who you are! Amen.

Three-Year Ministry (Acts 20.17-32)

2011-05-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
May 8, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude: "Word of God" (Bliss/Curry)
Song of Praise: "Ancient Words" (DeShazo)
Word in Music: "Come Now Almighty King" (Kauflin, Madan, Spiro)
Song of Response: "Fill Me Now" (Hansen, Peppin)
Piano Offertory: "I'll Tell the World" (Fox/Bock)
Hymn of Sending: "O Word of God Incarnate" (Walsham, MUNICH)
Postlude: "Revive Us Again" (Husband/Bock)

Three-Year Ministry
Text: Acts 20:17-32

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Today we continue looking at a case-study in being the Church, using a speech from the Apostle Paul to the elders of the Church in Ephesus. This speech is recorded in Acts 20, where Paul is traveling from Macedonia and Greece back to Jerusalem. He has previously spent significant time in Ephesus as pastor to the Christians there for some three years. But he is trying to get to Jerusalem by Pentecost and decides not to stop in Ephesus. Instead, he asks elders (church leaders) from Ephesus to meet him on the way and he speaks the words recorded in today’s scripture lesson.

I want to look at that speech with you because it offers a summary of one pastor’s ministry over three years. It also contains Paul’s challenge to the elders for the years to come. We will have an opportunity to follow the progress of the Church in Ephesus and see how they did and didn’t heed Paul’s words, where they thrived and where they struggled.

As a reminder, Ephesus was not an example of a “perfect church,” even with Paul as its first pastor. Rather, it is precisely in the real struggles of the Ephesian Christians that we learn something about our own struggles and potential failures. I should note, too, that though Paul talks about preaching “the whole purpose of God,” that is not spelled out for us here. Nonetheless, let’s see what he does say in this speech to the Ephesian church leaders.

The Whole Purpose of God (v. 27)

I’d like to start with what may be the strangest verse in this whole text. That is verse 26: “Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.” I didn’t understand that when I read it, and finally I just had to look it up. The next verse gives a clue what it means, but what really explains it is an Old Testament passage from Ezekiel. Ezekiel 33:1-6 describes the watchman’s duty to warn of approaching danger. The passage goes on to say that if the watchman does his job and sounds the trumpet, and if those he is warning hear the warning, then it is on their head if they choose to ignore the warning. On the other hand, if the watchman doesn’t sound adequate warning, and knows of the danger, then the people’s blood will be on his hands.

So, when Paul goes on to say, “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God,” (v. 27) he is saying that he has adequately sounded the trumpet. So having heard that, note that this is the second time he has said “I did not shrink from.” In verse 20-21, he also says, “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” And we also find out in verse 31 that Paul was ministering in Ephesus for three years.

So the picture we have is of Paul the pastor moving on to his next calling, but telling the church leaders that he has done and said all that God had called him to do. He put in the time, he lived among them, and he held nothing back, even when it was unpopular. He has adequately sounded the trumpet and now the continuation of ministry and obedience to God’s plans is in their hands.

Not only has he taught all he knew to teach, but he has also guarded his flock like a shepherd. It is perhaps because of this whole context of having sounded an adequate warning that Paul sounds it one last time before the elders.

Truth to Guard (v. 28)

He warns them twice: “be on guard” (v. 28) and “be on the alert” (v. 31). Why?... because “after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” (vv. 29-30) His use of “savage wolves” reminds me of the “wild beasts in Ephesus” that we read about last week in 1 Corinthians.

Paul exhorts these church leaders after his own example of diligence. Not only did he teach the whole counsel of God; he also “night and day for a period of three years … did not cease to admonish each one with tears.” This admonishment was part of his watchfulness and now he is charging the elders to do the same.

I would note, too, that the danger is from without and within. He says that wolves will “come in” (v. 29) but also that they will “arise from among you” (v. 30). In the coming weeks we will see specific examples of these dangers and how the Church in Ephesus dealt with the challenges.

Grace to Build Up (v. 32)

Paul doesn’t only speak in warnings and cautions; he ends his words with a kind of benediction and prayer, commending the elders to God. It is in that context that he speaks of the “word of God’s grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance…” (v. 32) This grace that builds up the church is the subject of much of Ephesians, which we will look at next week.

I highlight it here to point out the twin focus of Paul’s ministry and teaching, at least so far as it is summarized in this one short passage. He emphasizes both truth and grace. Truth is what helps defend and protect the body from being torn apart and torn down. But it cannot build up. The Word of grace is what builds up the Church. That grace is received as described in v. 21 through “repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” And it is a grace that it is offered to Jews and Greeks – this will be the major focus of Paul’s letter to the Romans, as well as Ephesians.

Ministry in the Tension

We don’t see yet what happens downstream from Paul’s ministry and words here, but I can tell you what is coming. What is coming is the same thing that the modern church has struggled with, and that is the balance between truth and grace… or Law and Grace… or truth and love. There are a number of ways to describe the tension; but it is a real and challenging tension however you name it. God is interested in both building up His Church and in defending it from harm.

It is very, very hard to live in the tension between truth and grace. We want to veer toward one or the other, and history has proven that. The culture around us gets too scary – the wolves start to howl – and we hunker down and raise our defenses. Or when conflict arises within the church, we are quick to divide or separate. On the other side, we can so cheapen grace that just about anything goes, and the church begins to look just like the culture around it.

What is so hard is to be the Church that continues to follow Christ out into the world, get our hands dirty, extend extravagant grace, and yet guard against a twisting of the Gospel or a turning of the truth. And yet that is right where we need to be, day in and day out. Perhaps that’s why Paul found himself “admonishing each one with tears”… because speaking the truth in love and extending grace with… guts… is really, really hard.

But, as Paul said, it’s the “whole purpose of God” (v. 27).

What does this look like?

It’s Jesus, crouched by the woman caught in adultery, with the stones all around where the mob had dropped them, saying to her, “Neither do I condemn you (grace); go and don’t keep doing this (truth).”

It’s a conversation I remember with a friend long ago who confessed something to me. I said, “There is nothing you have done or will ever do that will change my love for you. (grace) In that context, know that this is not God’s best for you. (truth)”

Turned around towards us, it’s recognizing that God is a God of second chances… and third and fourth, and God will always welcome us home. (grace) But it’s also recognizing that God is holy and pure and has made us for so much more than serial disobedience and habitual sin. (truth)

A church is the people; may we be a people of truth and grace as we follow the Lord Jesus where he leads us. Amen.

Wild Beasts and Adversaries (1 Corinthians 15.30-32; 16.8-9)

2011-05-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
April 17, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude: "Lift High the Cross" (Behnke)
Hymn of Praise: "Rise Up, O Church of God" (ST. THOMAS)
Anthem: "The Lord is My Light and My Salvation" (Behnke)
Hymn of Response: "Tell Out, My Soul" (Dudley-Smith, MORECAMBE)
Song of Sending: "O Church, Arise" (Getty, Townend)
Postlude: "Lift High the Lord, Our Banner with Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus" (arr. Hayes)

Wild Beasts and Adversaries
Text: 1 Corinthians 15:30-32; 16:8-9; Acts 19:26-29; Ecclesiastes 8:14-15
(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

Today we are beginning a study on “Being the Church” that will take us through the month of May. To do this we will engage in a kind of case study of the Church in Ephesus. You may hear “Ephesus” and immediately think of Ephesians in the Bible, and you’d be right to do so. And we’ll look at Ephesians one Sunday. But what is interesting and often overlooked is that the Ephesian Church is mentioned in more places than Ephesians, and in some historical detail. Ephesians is a letter TO that church, but references to the Church in Ephesus are made in 1 Corinthians, Acts, Timothy, and Revelation. Over the course of the month we’ll be looking at these to understand a bit of the story of the Christian Church in Ephesus, and we’ll consider what application that story might have to our own life as one of Christ’s churches in south Charlotte.

Before we get going, let me offer an overview of that Ephesian story. I will refer to the Church in Ephesus, but don’t picture a steepled building with “First Church of Ephesus” on the sign. There was not such a thing; moreover, I mean the Church with a capital ‘C’ – the collection of Christian believers in the city of Ephesus. They met in homes, sometimes assembled in the public square in groups, and struggled and grew like any group of Christians might. We’ll see that they had a number of godly leaders, including Priscilla, Aquila, Apollos, the Apostle Paul, and Timothy. We’ll see that theology and right belief were important in a city that was an intersection of Greek culture and religion. And we’ll see the sorts of things they struggled with, both from inside and outside the Church.

One good way to prepare for the month’s study would be to read Acts 18-20, which gives an account of the founding and first several years of the Church in Ephesus. Knowing that history and context makes the letters to that Church (Ephesians, Timothy, Revelation) more meaningful.

Today we will look at a passing reference to the Church in Ephesus made in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. He not only mentions Ephesus by name, but uses vivid imagery to describe the challenges he faced there as well as why he pressed on in ministry. He sets those challenges and choices in the context of the Resurrection, which is a fitting starting place for us this Sunday after Easter. In a sentence, Paul teaches us that being the Church is a challenging and dangerous activity, but it is worth it because of the truth and power of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Wild Beasts

In his first letter to the Corinthian Christians Paul writes of having “fought with wild beasts at Ephesus.” (15:32) He didn’t tangle with a grizzly bear; he is referring to one of several human conflicts he encountered while in Ephesus. It is not explicitly clear which one he is describing here, but most likely it is something like the scene described in Acts 19, which you heard today. Paul was teaching publicly that hand-made images of Greek gods were not gods, but false idols. This teaching ran especially afoul of the Ephesian artisans because the temple of Artemis was in Ephesus and many artisans made a profit from creating and selling gold and silver statues and other religious artifacts. In the scene in Acts 19, the city is enraged and several of Paul’s Christian traveling companions were dragged into the midst of a mob. The situation was eventually diffused, but it represents the kind of conflict that the early Church had with the surrounding culture. It was neither the first nor last time Paul would run up against this kind of cultural conflict.

In 1 Corinthians Paul uses other language to describe the kind of opposition and conflict that went with Christian ministry: “danger,” “[dying] daily,” “[fighting] with wild beasts,” (15:30-32) and “many adversaries.” (16:9) Was this just a feature of early Christianity or is this something we should be prepared to face?

Why Risk It?

All around this description of wild beasts and adversaries, Paul offers theological and practical reasons for persevering as the Church. He basically says that it is only the Resurrection of Jesus Christ that makes being the Church worth the trouble, opposition, pain, and suffering. Did you get that? Only the Resurrection! That’s the thing we just talked about at Easter. It’s not the pretty Christian holiday where we dress up and get candy. It is the one thing that kept the Apostle Paul going day after day – the fuel, the food and drink, the sustenance to face yet another adversarial situation for the cause of Christ.

Listen to how Paul said it: “If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me?” (v. 7) In other words, there are no human motives that justify this amount of trouble. It’s just not worth it! He goes on, “If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (v. 7) I included the passage from Ecclesiastes 8 because this is the basic wisdom of Ecclesiastes without the redemption of God that book finally reaches at the end. If there is no redemption, if no salvation, if no resurrection or future hope, then the best we can do in this life is to try to make ourselves comfortable. Eat and drink; ease your pain. Why face adversaries that could be described as “wild beasts?” It’s just not worth it.

But it is worth it to Paul, precisely because Christ has been raised and the dead with him. There is hope; there is Good News. So Paul presses on to share the Gospel of Christ.

21st Century Church

Earlier I asked if the kind of opposition and challenges in Ephesus were only a feature of early Christianity or whether we might face similar challenges. I believe it is the latter. Being the Church is an inherently counter-cultural thing precisely because culture is what WE make and the Church belongs to God. And we have created a culture that caters to our needs and wants and comfort.

Particularly in the United States, and especially in the South, we have been lulled into thinking that Christianity can be a low-key, low-risk, comfortable thing, but I believe we have just deceived ourselves. Want to see a vibrant, living, Resurrection-powered Church? Look in China, Sudan, or Egypt. They know what suffering and persecution and adversaries look like. In contrast, and increasingly so, if you look for a “successful” church in the United States, you see something else entirely. First of all, the measuring stick of being “successful” is fairly alien to scripture. But what many will point to will look like pop culture success: pastor rock stars, stages and sound and lights, big budgets and fancy cars. That is more Hollywood culture than God’s Kingdom culture.

My point is not to gripe about American consumerist churches; rather it is to challenge us to continue to “seek first the Kingdom” – and here’s the focal point today – to expect “wild beasts and adversaries.” Faithfully being the church should not feel like a membership at the club or a golf outing with friends or a dinner date. It should have more in common with the camaraderie of serving on the front lines together or of running a strenuous race or facing an animal in the wild!

Do note that though Paul describes those who oppose him as adversaries, he is laboring that they might hear the Gospel! He is embodying Jesus’ teaching to love one’s enemies. As we will sing in our closing song, our only true enemy is Satan; we are to “wage war” in the world with the love and grace of the Gospel.

A Wide Door

Considering that, look at where Paul ends up in 1 Corinthians 16. This Resurrection Good News, which Paul really explores in chapter 15, isn’t just comfort through trials and suffering, it is jet fuel for the mission of God! He writes, “I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” (vv. 8-9) And Paul did stay on in Ephesus. Next week we will look at his ministry there. He was “pastor” for three years and we’ll see what his ministry and the ministry of the Christians in Ephesus looked like.

This is our opportunity as well – a wide door open to us! We are not to huddle away from the world, but are sent forth into it in the name of Christ. It is what we have been pursuing as a lighthouse-searchlight church. And it is precisely because we have been pursuing that mission that this study is relevant and important, because we WILL face obstacles, challenges, and even adversaries.

That sounds scary and exciting to me. Frankly, if church is about being comfortable, there’s better places to go for comfort. And any wobble, challenge, or obstacle (much less adversary) will frighten us off. Perhaps that challenge is also what has created such inertia for the church in the last 50 years to focus more and more inside the walls and away from culture. That way we don’t have to face wild beasts. But as we accept this lighthouse-searchlight challenge, this missional challenge, to be good neighbors, to be Church in the world, to be salt and light, to be the Church in this neighborhood and place and time, we will run up against new obstacles, challenges, and even adversaries.

What today’s text holds up to us – and what we’ll be focusing on in May – is a picture of Church that is vital, adventurous, scary, and fulfilling. And what will sustain us is not charisma or preaching, a big budget, our buildings or huddling together in them, youth and children’s ministry, or anything other than the very Resurrection hope of Jesus Christ.

Being the Church is a challenging and dangerous activity, but the truth and power of the Resurrection makes it worth it. Amen.

Lifeblood: from Exodus to Easter (1 Peter 1.17-21, Luke 24.2-23)

2011-04-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
April 17, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude: "This Joyful Eastertide" (Ferguson)
Hymn of Praise: "Thine is the Glory" (MACCABEUS)
Children's Handbells: "Gethsemane" (arr. Stults)
Worship Team: "You Never Turned Away" (Proctor)
Choir and Jazz Trio: "Agnus Dei, from 'A Little Jazz Mass'" (Chilcott)
Hymn of Praise: "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" (EASTER HYMN)
Worship Choir: "Stay with Us" (Hoyland)
Song of Praise: "Come, People of the Risen King" (Getty/Townend)
Worship Choir : "God's Son Has Made Me Free" (Grieg)
Offering of Music - worship team and choir: "Behold Our God" (Baird, Altrogge)
Song of Sending: "Let God Arise" (Tomlin, Cash, Reeves)
Postlude: "Toccata on 'Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bands'" (Diemer)

Easter Music Mix (edited to approx. 10 min.)
follows list above excluding prelude/postlude

Lifeblood: from Exodus to Easter
Text: 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:2-23

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

A blessed Easter to you! In today’s service you have heard the re-telling of the Passion of Jesus in scripture and music. It is a bit unusual to back up to the betrayal, suffering, and death on Easter Sunday; typically we dwell on those somber things during Holy Week and it’s all celebration on Easter morning. But Easter morning is the culmination of all that has gone on before, and we wanted to remember what has led up to this joyful declaration that “Christ is risen!”

We wanted to remember because remembering God’s story and God’s faithfulness has been one of the recurring themes in recent weeks as we’ve worked through the epic Exodus story of plagues, Passover, and deliverance from slavery and death. In that story, too, we see a culmination in the Passover event; God has delivered and redeemed the Hebrew people from slavery and death to new life and promise. We’ve also seen that the Exodus story itself finds its complete culmination in Jesus, and in fact here on Easter morning.

So this Easter is all about the back-story: God’s past faithfulness pointing us to God’s present and future faithfulness; God’s one-time epic redemption in Exodus pointing to God’s once-and-for-all cosmic redemption on the cross; and God’s ancient, abiding covenant promise of a future and a home and overflowing blessing seen in the Resurrection of Jesus.

Today we will connect God’s story from Exodus to Easter, announcing the Good News that all this is not just ancient history, but God’s loving gift for all who believe, even today, even now.

The Exodus Story is Our Story

The main text for this morning is the one you just heard from 1 Peter, though I certainly am drawing on all that you’ve heard, including the one from Revelation. But Peter combines both the Exodus story and the Easter story into just a few verses. Let’s focus first on verses 18-19:

…you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. (1 Peter 1:18-19)

This choice of imagery and language leaped off the page at me after having spent some 10-12 weeks in the Exodus story. That Exodus story describes God’s people, enslaved for generations by the choices of their forefathers, who had no way out – no redemption. Peter begins this letter (1 Peter 1:1-8) contrasting silver and gold which tarnish and salvation that does not (nor is it at risk of theft like silver and gold). But I am also reminded of the silver and gold of the Egyptians, which are present but are anything but redemption for the enslaved Hebrew people. Rather, the silver and gold of the Egyptians are a symbol of both the pagan gods and the enslavement of the Hebrews. Later in Exodus, that same silver and gold, plundered from the Egyptians, becomes the basis for the golden calf, another false god created which cannot save.

In contrast, Peter describes the means of God’s redemption, both in Exodus and on the cross. It is the life-blood of a mediating sacrifice. In the case of the Hebrew people in Exodus, it was an unblemished and spotless lamb, sacrificed and prepared for Passover, and its blood applied to the doorposts and lintel of their homes to fashion an altar and atoning sacrifice to God for their lives. Peter uses that same description and imagery to describe what was accomplished by Jesus on the cross: his life-blood given as a mediating and atoning sacrifice for our lives, that God’s judgment might pass over us and onto Jesus himself.

The Exodus story and the Good Friday story are our story. Like the enslaved and bound-up Hebrew people of old, we are caught up in a slavery from which we cannot deliver ourselves. That slavery is a slavery to sin, disobedience, selfishness, idolatry, self-rule; however you want to describe it, a life that is not given to God is given ultimately to death. That’s how the Bible describes the human condition; that’s what needs “redeeming.” And only God can accomplish that. Not gold or silver, power or influence, intellect or strength; only God.

The Easter Story is Our Story

But Peter goes on to say that the Easter story is also our story. He writes of Jesus:

For he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:20-21)

I appreciate Peter’s focus here, in several ways. First, this death and resurrection were not a last-minute or backup plan, but was God’s plan from “before the foundation of the world.” We likewise saw that God has a purpose for His people, Israel, one that was announced to Abraham years before. And it would not be thwarted or undone by human sin, disobedience, earthly power, slavery, or even the direct opposition of Pharaoh.

We also see that Peter, who has just highlighted the surpassing value of the cross as the means of God’s redemption does not stop there (at Good Friday). So often we stop there, at belief in Jesus dying on the cross. And it is the redemptive act that saved us! It is the eternal Passover event that set us free from slavery and death.

But listen to what Peter says next! This God, in whom we believe, is the one who “raised [Jesus] from the dead and gave him glory.” That’s Easter! God raised Jesus from the dead. God’s story is not just deliverance FROM death, it is redemption TO life. The Passover night was not the end of the Exodus story, but a new beginning for God’s people as He led them to the Promised Land.

Salvation through belief in Jesus’ saving death on the cross is not just the end of sin and death; his Easter resurrection is the beginning of a new life in Christ. Scripture is full of that language – rebirth, a new start, a new life, a second birth, being born again.

And here’s the last part of verse 21. That Resurrection is the basis of our faith and hope. Belief in the cross is largely a backward-looking thing. And there’s nothing wrong with that; it is commended and required! But that’s God’s past faithfulness. It was promised and it has ongoing implications and benefits for those who believe, but it is past. It is done; it is finished; it is accomplished!

But Easter resurrection – that is all that God has in store for us, for you, day by day, moment by moment, and for eternity. Faith and hope are present and forward-looking. Rooted in God’s past faithfulness, they are expressions of trust in God for today and tomorrow – that God is and will be faithful! God has a purpose for your life and invites you to discipleship, to a life of following after Jesus.

That’s why the Easter story is also your story and my story. Jesus didn’t just die for your sin; he was raised for your life and the living of it.

So the invitation that runs from Exodus to Easter, throughout all the Bible, is the same invitation Jesus spoke during his earthly ministry. And that is the same invitation I would speak today, to come, believe, and follow:

Come, whoever you are and wherever you’ve been – God knows and God wants you;

Believe, for God has ever been faithful and the blood of the Lamb has been shed to make things right with you;

Follow, for God has raised Jesus and there is new life and a new start, a new future with God and for God.

Amen.

Smite the Enemy? (Exodus 12.23-32, Matthew 21.1-9)

2011-04-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

Sermon by: Robert Austell
April 17, 2011

Some Music Used
Prelude: "All Glory, Laud & Honor" (Phillips)
Hymn of Praise: "All Glory, Laud & Honor" (ST. THEODULPH)
Song of Praise: "Hosanna, Praise is Rising" (Brown, Baloche)
Special Music: "On My Knees" (Billy Howell)

Choir: "Lift Up Your Heads" (Pote)
Song of Sending: "Lord, Reign in Me" (Brown)

Smite the Enemy?
Text: Exodus 12:23-32; Matthew 21:1-9

(download) **Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes - search for "Good Shepherd Sermons or Robert Austell"**

For the past two weeks we have been in a kind of interlude in the Exodus story. We’ve been through the burning bush and the plagues, and just as we got to the announcement of the last plague, the story paused for a description of the two memorial events commanded by Yahweh: Passover and the Feast of Unleavened bread. Today we heard the end of that interlude, then the action picks back up in verses 28-29.

What I’d like to focus on today is the question, “What is Passover about?” This is the same question raised in verse 26 by the children, and it is incorporated in family Passover meals even today. As I was pondering the answer to that question some months ago in preparation for this series, I realized that the question raised here is fundamentally the same question raised by the events of Palm Sunday. So, we will also ask the question, “What is Palm Sunday about?”

After asking those two questions we will return to the Exodus 12 text for some words of application and challenge.

What is Passover About?

There are longer ways to answer this question, but we’ve already gone through the symbolism of the various parts of the meal. We are also going to have a “Jesus in the Passover” service this Thursday night, and we will explore the meaning of Passover in greater detail.

Today I want to focus on a particular way of answering the question, “What is Passover about?” In verse 26, the children ask this same basic question, “What does this rite mean to you?” Let’s look at the answer given from Yahweh to Moses in response: “You shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’” (v. 27)

First of all, it is a sacrifice to the Lord – an act of worship, remembering, and thanks. We’ll see that this is where we end up as well.

But look at what comes next. What did the Lord do that we remember and for which we give thanks? Yahweh “passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians…” So here’s the basic choice – and I’m not sure it’s an easy or clear one. If you were a Hebrew father or mother, enslaved for generations to the Egyptians and suddenly about to be set free, how would you answer your child’s question? Will Passover be about the Lord smiting the Egyptians? Or will it be about freedom and a new start? Would you focus on vengeance and judgment or on mercy and grace?

The wording of the answer in verse 27 has the focus on worship and then on the mercy and grace of deliverance. Smiting the Egyptian slave-masters is subordinate to that and simply part of the context and story, not the center of the memorial meal. But, how hard would that be to get right!

What is Palm Sunday About?

That dynamic of choosing to worship God for His mercy and grace rather than the possibility of vengeance and judgment is also the dynamic of Palm Sunday. We heard that story as the call to worship today. Jesus was fulfilling all the Messianic prophecies, specifically one about riding a colt through a certain gate of Jerusalem. The crowd celebrated and received him as a potential Messiah, shouting the Psalm-cry, “Hosanna!” (“Save us now!”).

For several generations there had been a growing Messianic hope – that God would send the heir and descendant of the legendary King David to come and once again make Israel a great nation. This God-anointed king would take on the Roman conquerors and throw them off, restoring Israel to a place of prominence and power. The people were looking for a certain kind of vengeance and judgment on the empire that had been oppressing them for generations, not unlike the way Egypt oppressed Israel in the days of Moses.

But we know from Jesus’ teaching that he was not THAT Messiah, though he was God’s anointed one. But he came teaching about a different kingdom – not an earthly one, but the Kingdom of God. And he came preaching mercy and grace, a new birth and a new start for even the most outcast of people.

And so, those Palm Sunday worshipers were faced with a similar choice. Would they shout “Hosanna!” for the sake of vengeance and judgment against the Roman Empire? Or would they shout “Hosanna!” as a prayer to God to show them mercy and grace and to provide a new start like the Hebrew people of old experienced in the Exodus?

Rise Up, Worship, and Bless (vv. 31-32)

These two stories, with their similar dynamics, touch on a question that is not far from our own experience. Do we seek to use God primarily to smite our enemies or to lead us in our new life as Christ-followers?

Well, put that way it’s a no-brainer, right? I’m guessing no one here actually wants to smite any enemies. Or you certainly wouldn’t admit to it if you did. But, let’s press on that a little. In both the Exodus and the Palm Sunday story the people were in the midst of conflict, oppression, struggle, and discouragement. Are there ways in which we desire God’s vengeance and judgment in the here and now? While we would be slow to name someone as a literal “enemy,” do you have enemies by some other name? A boss? A bully? An employee or co-worker? That cranky parent on your kid’s soccer team? The teacher that seems so inconsistent and unfair? Foreigners? Young people? Old people? The poor? The rich? That OTHER political party from yours?

Once we get started, they come easier and easier.

And what did Jesus teach about enemies? To love them… really, Jesus?

In Passover and Palm Sunday, the text may not go that far, but it does summon our focus and prayers and praises beyond vengeance and judgment to mercy and grace. Both texts and stories are about God delivering enslaved and bound people into a new life. The Good News of Exodus and the Good News of Easter is not about crushing earthly enemies, but about a new start and birth as children of God.

That’s significant; that’s a lot to take in and live out. My prayers and praises are to be focused on God’s mercy toward me and the gracious re-start He has given to me.

But that’s not all. In fact, that is just the start, the “delivery moment.” Look back in Exodus 12 at vv. 31-32:

“Rise up… and go, worship the Lord… go, and bless me also.”

The Lord was speaking to Moses and Aaron, and all the sons of Israel, but these are also the Lord’s words to us, not unlike the Great commission.

Why have we been delivered, saved, and given a new life and a new start?

It is so that we might rise up, go worship (serve) the Lord, and bless the Lord as we go.

That’s ultimately the PURPOSE of Passover and Palm Sunday. God has saved us for a purpose and that is to get up and get out. Our new start and new life are as followers (servants/worshipers) of the Lord. We are to be a “blessing people,” speaking and extending not the vengeance and judgment of the Lord, but the mercy and grace we have experienced ourselves in Christ. We are blessed to be a blessing.

This is what Jesus meant by “love our enemies.” This is what Jesus meant by “Come, follow me!” This is why we reach out beyond our walls in Christ’s name, seeking to be a good neighbor in this community and beyond. God has rescued us for a reason and that is to bless His name through serving Him in the world.

Jesus would later say, “Come, believe, and follow me.”

Hear God’s Word from Exodus: “Rise up, get out, go serve the Lord, and go bless the Lord in all you say and do!” Smite your enemies? No; bless your enemies in the name of the Lord. Amen.