MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY, 2024/12/29
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Reading:
Luke 2:41-52
Text:
Luke 2:44-45 “Thinking he was in their company they travelled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.
Message:
Have you ever misplaced something? Of course you have. We’ve all done that. Perhaps we were reading a book and put it down and then later couldn’t remember where we put it. Maybe we were watching television and couldn’t remember where we put the remote control. What do we do when we misplace something? We usually retrace our steps to all of the places we have been until we find it. Our Gospel reading today is about some parents who misplaced something. Now, these weren’t just any parents. They were Mary and Joseph – the parents of Jesus. Mary and Joseph didn’t misplace something like a book or some keys. They misplaced Jesus!
The agony of Mary and Joseph, searching for three days, contrasts sharply with the calm response of Jesus when they found him. Jesus asks, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” These same questions face us this First Sunday after Christmas, as peace and goodwill fade and Christmas leaves so many of us wanting. The text invites us to wonder why Mary and Joseph looked for Jesus in all the wrong places. Our scripture begins with the family of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus travelling to Jerusalem from Nazareth to celebrate Passover. “Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.” (Luke 2:41).
The celebration of Passover required a pilgrimage once a year to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices. This was a 3 day journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem. Jesus is noted to be 12 years old at the time of this particular journey. This is the age that a Jewish male moves from boyhood to manhood. He and his family would celebrate this passage to adulthood in a ceremony we now call Bar Mitzvah.
The text presents us with the situation: Passover was finished. Mary and Joseph packed up their things and headed home with their travelling companions. When night came after the first day’s journey home, Mary and Joseph went to look for Jesus, but he was nowhere to be found. Mary and Joseph took the only course open for responsible parents. They returned to Jerusalem to look for the boy, Jesus. They retraced their steps. They asked questions of people. They returned to all the places they’d been during the festival. Can you hear them? “Where can he be? Are we not searching hard enough? Are we looking in the right places?” When they find Jesus in the Temple after three days, Mary blurts out an accusation, perhaps tinged with that mixture of guilt and relief that most parents will recognize. She says, “How could you do this to us?” But, Jesus issued a gentle rebuke, “Why were you searching for me?” He expected more from his mother and father. Mary and Joseph searched everywhere except the Temple. They searched for three days, that is until they finally came to the Temple, the place where the Word of God was taught and the place where the Son of God would obviously be.
Sometimes we lose Jesus. We get so busy in our daily routine that we never give Him a thought. Then, one day we realize that He is missing. Do you know what we need to do when that happens? We need to retrace our steps and go back to the place we left Him. Where do we usually find Him? ?In His Father’s house! Things other than children can go missing. Many of us spend our lives looking for peace. We often look for it in things such as relationships, drugs, alcohol, food, or material possessions. True peace can only be found in a relationship with Jesus. We can find Him in His Word.
Had things become so ordinary for such a long time that they forgot about who Jesus was? Long gone are the choirs of angels, adoring shepherds, and magi. Maybe the mystery surrounding their son’s birth has begun to fade like a dream? Or maybe Mary and Joseph were aware of what their son would do and become, but figured that was years away. One thing is for certain, they have not yet truly grasped who their Son is. The boy Jesus says that his relationship with the God of heaven is the relationship between a Father and a Son. Again and again in his ministry, Jesus had to keep repeating this same idea. He is the Son, and God is his Father. In the temple at 12 years old, Jesus asserts his unique relationship with his heavenly Father and he must be about God’s business.
Mary and Joseph were looking for a child, but Jesus considered himself a man. Jesus had moved on from being a child to seeing himself as an adult.
Looking in the wrong place.
Notice something else: Mary and Joseph were looking in the wrong place. They were travelling away from the Temple. Jesus never left the Temple. They were traveling away from God. Jesus was staying with God. And one more thing to notice: Jesus was not lost! Jesus was with his heavenly Father. “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house” (Luke 1:49) Jesus was staying with God. Developing his relationship with God in God’s house. Mary and Joseph did not understand. “But they did not understand what He said to them” (Luke 1:50) Here is the irony. Jesus is growing in knowledge and wisdom while his parents remain confused about Jesus’ relationship with God. Nevertheless. Jesus was obedient and went home with them.
Mary and Joseph thought Jesus was lost and searched for him. They were looking for a child instead of a man. They searched the travelling caravan instead of the Temple. They were looking in the wrong places. They were surprised to find Jesus in the Temple. Are we looking for God in the right places? Mary and Joseph were missing Jesus because they were moving away from the Temple instead of towards it. They were traveling away from God. So what about you? On your journey, are you travelling towards God, or away from God?
That’s the point which Mary and Joseph failed to grasp. Where do you find the Son of God? Doing the things of God, about his Father’s business. Mary and Joseph searched for three days for Jesus. But they didn’t find him in the expected places – the safe confines of his extended family or the familiar pilgrim spots. After three days, Mary and Joseph found Jesus alive and well in the Temple, around the scholars. Jesus answers them, “Why were you searching for me?” Why did it take them three days to figure out that Jesus must be about his Father’s business?
More importantly, have we been looking for Jesus in all the wrong places? Why does it take us so long to find Jesus? Like Mary and Joseph we can spend not only three days but our entire lives trying to find Jesus in all the wrong places. If we fail to understand who Jesus is and what His mission was, we can end up like Mary and Joseph searching in all the wrong places. We can attempt to find Jesus trying to earn enough brownie points to go to heaven. We can attempt to find Jesus in the mystical caverns of our sinful heart. We can attempt to find Jesus in other religions. We can attempt to find Jesus in the popular spiritual fads of the day. We can attempt to find Jesus on a lake while fishing. We can attempt to find Jesus without the Church. The list can most certainly go on and on and on. But if Jesus has not promised to be there, why are we looking for him where he has not promised to be?
It is a tragedy to think you have Jesus when you do not – to think you are saved or going to heaven when indeed, you are lost.
Their presumption was wrong. (v 44)
Verse 44 indicates they supposed Jesus was in their company. It is wrong to suppose that Jesus is with you if you are careless about your relationship with Him. Make sure He is in your heart now; don’t suppose you are right with God. Verse 44 also indicates they went a day’s journey without Him. A day without Jesus is a wasted day. A life without the Lord Jesus is a wasted life. How did they leave Jesus? Mary and Joseph left Him one step at a time. One backslides from God step at a time. If there was ever a time that you loved Jesus Christ more, then you have backslidden that much. Don’t leave Christ behind this Christmas season.
Verses 44 and 45 indicate they sought for Him among family and acquaintances but did not find Him. Before one can return to Christ, he must realize that he has lost Christ. Mary and Joseph did not even allow family members to stop them from finding Jesus. Will Jesus be found among your family members this Christmas, or will you allow your family to stop you from serving Him.
The way back to Jesus; The parents found Jesus at the same place they left Him, the Temple. You will always find Jesus there. Here are some steps back to Jesus.
1. Recognize your problem. Verses 44 and 45 indicate they sought for Him among family and acquaintances but did not find Him. Before one can return to Christ, he must realize that he has lost Christ. Mary and Joseph did not even allow family members to stop them from finding Jesus. Will Jesus be found among your family members this Christmas, or will you allow your family to stop you from serving Him.
2. We must return to the place of Jesus. They sought Jesus for three days until they found Him. There was a change in their direction after thinking about their condition.
3. We must regret our past without Jesus. Mary and Joseph sought Him sorrowfully. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. The saddest person in the world is one who once had Christ but lost Him.
4. One needs to receive the person of Christ again. Not only did Jesus’ parents seek Him (v.45), and see him (v 48), they secured Jesus by taking Him home with them, (v 49) Keep Christ in your home and heart now that Christmas is over. Let Him be the center of conversation and the focal point of the family. If you have lost Him, receive Him again. Jesus is the reason for the season. Are you worshipping Him, or have you left Him behind among the tinsel, toys and tree? It is not too late to come back to Him. Don’t allow your heart to be a busy inn that has no room for Him.
Conclusion
Jesus said it was important for Him to be in His Father’s house. His priority was set. It is also important for us to be in God’s house. Why? Because His Father’s house is our Father’s house too! It is a house of worship, a house of prayer, a house of peace, a house of love, a house of joy. We must fight the urge to naturally drift away from this priority. This includes saying no to anything that keeps us from doing what matters most. Jesus knew what His priority was. Do we know that our priority should be the same as His priority? What better place and priority could there be for a child of God than to be in the Father’s house?
Finally, consider this: Mary and Joseph thought Jesus was lost, but He wasn’t. He was right where He was supposed to be. They were the ones who needed to turn around. They were the ones who needed to redirect their journey. They were the ones who needed to search for Jesus – not because he was lost. But because they were lost without Him. Search for Jesus by turning your life around and you will find God.
All of us would be lost without Jesus. Becoming a Disciple of Jesus Christ is our most important journey on earth. It is a journey towards God. This is a spiritual journey and it starts in the church with our Baptism. This morning I invite you to consider where you are on that journey. Maybe you’re just starting out. Maybe you haven’t even started. Maybe you’ve been journeying with Jesus for years, but somehow your relationship with God has grown stale. The Good News is that Jesus is right where He’s supposed to be in this room, just waiting for you to find Him.
MESSAGE FOR CHRISTMAS, 2024/12/25
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Reading:
John 1:1-14
Text:
John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only.
Message:
Here is an incredible message for us to hear; announced by the angels, received by the shepherds, pursued by the wise men, feared by Herod, ignored by the world, loved by Mary and Joseph.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
Here, wrapped in swaddling cloths in an obscure Palestinian village, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
Here is God in human form, God expressing himself in a language that we can all understand. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
Here is God becoming one with the frailty and the vulnerability of creation. Here is God becoming one with us, becoming one of us. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
The apostle John used one word to embody this revelation of God. Theologians may write long books to explain the doctrine of the incarnation of Jesus, but John epitomizes it in a single word – dwelt. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Eugene Petersen in The Message paraphrases this verse, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14). Dwelt meant “to live in a tent”. Or as military folks would understand, to bivouac.” Or as theologians define “to tabernacle.” God is here was the message the angels announced to the shepherds, that is what the wise men sought, that Herod heard, that the world did not even notice. It was the message that Mary cradled and that Joseph admired. It was the message wrapped in cloths. It was the little baby Jesus “God is here” is the message of Christmas.
Jesus, God is one and only Son, became a man. He was God in a suit of flesh. He was the visible expression of the invisible deity. God was expressing Himself in a language that we could understand. God was identifying with the frailties and tragedies of the human race. God was getting up close and personal. God was announcing to the world: “I’m here!” God became a man. The omnipotent, in one instant, made himself breakable.
So when Jesus became flesh and blood He moved into our neighborhood, He took up residence with us. Because of Jesus’ birth, because of the incarnation of God, because the Word became flesh, we now say: “God is here.” God is present in all of His splendor and glory. We don’t have to erect structures to remind us of God’s visited presence. God is already here. “God is here” is more than a theological doctrine, it has practical implications. What does “God is here” mean to us? Jesus became a man to show us God. When Jesus became a man He showed that God was not merely a principle but a person. Jesus was not an idea of God, not a picture of God, but God Himself in human form.
Two young men on a battlefield in World War II made it to the safety of a foxhole in the midst of enemy fire. As they looked out before them across the battlefield they perceived the horror of sad and dying men, twisted barbed wire the earth scarred with deep holes left by cannon fire. Men lifeless, others crying out for help. Finally one of the men cried: “Where in the world is God?” As they continued to watch and listen they soon noticed two medics, identified by the red cross on their arms and their helmets, carefully making their way across the perilous scene. As they watched, the medics stopped and began to load a wounded soldier onto their stretcher. Once loaded they began to work their way to safety. As the scene unfolded before them, the other soldier now boldly answered the honest, but piercing question of his friend, “There is God! There is God!”
When Jesus became a man He came to show us God. He came in the midst of the loneliness and the horror of a world gone mad. Yet in the chaos and confusion Jesus announced that God is here. Where in the world is God? God is here in Christ. Christ has come among us to show us who God is and what God is. Jesus shows us God in a way that we can understand. In a way that renews us. In a way that gives us hope.
God moved into the neighborhood in the frail and vulnerable tent of humanity exposed to the elements, at the mercy of the whims of human nature. He knows this neighborhood: He knows loneliness, grieving, fears, anxieties, He knows how you are hurting and He knows when you rejoice.
Emmanuel – God with us. Sometimes when we talk about God, we look upwards, we point to the sky. He’s not in the sky, God has moved into the neighborhood. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is the incredible message of Christmas that we celebrate today; the Word became flesh and dwells among us. God in the neighborhood, God with you and me. Whatever your joys, whatever your sorrows, whatever your hopes, whatever your fears – the Word has become flesh and dwells with us.
It’s through this Jesus that we are able to enjoy a relationship with God. If we want to make sense of our lives, make sense of our hopes and joys, make sense of our disappointments and sufferings, we need to go back 2000 years to that stable in Bethlehem where the Word became a human being and dwelt among us and realise afresh that, through his Holy Spirit, he dwells with us still.
He has pitched his tent.
That baby who was born in a manger 2000 years ago, that man Jesus who died on the Cross, that Word of God who was raised from the dead three days later, is alive and with us today by his Holy Spirit. Jesus was born to show us God’s heart. It is a heart that throbs with love for every one of us. Jesus is love.
Jesus became a man to feel our hurt. In one act of becoming human He identified with our pain. The pain of loneliness. He felt it. The hurt of rejection, He felt it. The sadness of losing a loved one to death, He felt it. The scars of mental or physical abuse. He felt it. When we suffer pain, we want others to understand. We want others to be like us so they can identify with us. We don’t want to be alone. We want others to feel our pain and our hurt. When Jesus became a man He understood us; He identified with us; He felt our pain, and He hurt.
Joseph Damien was a nineteenth-century missionary who ministered to people with leprosy on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. Those suffering grew to love him and revered the sacrificial life he lived out before them. One morning before Damien was to lead daily worship he was pouring some hot water into a cup when the water swirled out and fell onto his bare foot. It took him a moment to realize that he had not felt any sensation. Gripped by the sudden fear of what this could mean, he poured more hot water on the same spot. No feeling whatsoever. Damien immediately knew what had happened. As he walked tearfully to deliver his sermon, no one at first noticed the difference in his opening line. He normally began every sermon with, “My fellow believers.” But this morning he began with, “My fellow lepers. In a greater measure Jesus came into this world knowing what it would cost Him. He bore in His pure being the marks of evil, that we might be pure. He bore in His sinless soul the weight of sin, so that we could be forgiven. He bore in His manly frame the hurt and pain of injustice, that we might be understood.
God is here. He is here understanding our hurt, identifying with our pain. He feels. He hurts. He cries. Jesus became a man so God becomes touchable, approachable and reachable. Often when we refer to God’s location we point upward or look toward the heavens. Most often we think of God as being up there, far removed from the cares and concerns of this created world. But because Jesus became a man God came down here, living in our midst. We could never reach Him up there, but in love He came down here to us. He became touchable, approachable and reachable.
The point of this verse, The Word became a human being is that in the midst of our agonies in this life we are not alone.
• In Jesus, God is with us when we are depressed and hurting and sick.
• In Jesus, God is with us when we feel guilty and ashamed.
• In Jesus, God is with us when we are worried about someone we love.
• In Jesus, God is with us when we are caught up in a chain of events that we are powerless to prevent.
The good news of Christmas is that God hasn’t kept to himself, separate from all of troubles and pain, but he has come right here into the middle of all of it. He truly is Immanuel – God is with us.
People loved being around Jesus. They came at night; they touched Him as He walked down the street; they followed Him around the sea; they invited Him into their homes and placed their children at His feet. Why? Because He refused to be a statue in a cathedral or a priest in an elevated pulpit. He chose instead to be Jesus. Deity dressed in humanity. God, here among us.
As you read the gospels there is not a hint of one person who was afraid to draw near Him. There was not one person who was reluctant to approach Him for fear of being rejected. Remember that. Remember that the next time you find yourself amazed at your own failures. Or the next time guilt burns holes in your stomach. Or the next time you see a cold church or hear a lifeless sermon. Remember that it is man who creates the distance. It is Jesus who builds the bridge. I suspect that this Christmas you will receive many gifts – some you probably don’t need, most you could live without. But there is one present you can’t live without. The one present you need is the presence of Jesus Christ. The One who shows us God. The One who feels our hurt. The One who is touchable, approachable and reachable. The God that is here.
Christmas is a time of peace and joy – but it is also a time of challenge: a challenge to find new life in the loving arms of the God who became a human being in Bethlehem all those years ago: “The Word became flesh and dwell among us.”
If you need God’s love – then be assured of it.
If you need God’s comfort – then allow Him to put his arms around you.
If you need God’s challenge – then respond by turning to Him.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
This is the greatest truth any of us will ever hear – we celebrate that today.
Christmas tells us God is not aloof and separate from our world. He is in the world with us. He has come to hug us and hold us tight even though sin makes us unattractive and unlovable.
MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY, 2024/12/22
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Reading:
Micah 5:2-5a
Text:
Micah 5:2 “But you Bethlehem Ephrathah though you are small among the clans of Judah out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel whose origins are from of old from ancient times.”
Message:
So Bethlehem was a small town, too little to be considered important on its own. However, because of the one who would come from Bethlehem the mighty ruler who was prophesied to come from there, Bethlehem does rank as a very important city in the plan of God, in spite of its small size. But why Bethlehem? Why would God choose to have this ruler-the Christ, the Messiah – came from Bethlehem? Well, it goes back a ways. It goes back to a preceding ruler who was the first to come from Bethlehem. And that was King David. David was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a very unimpressive little town when compared to other cities, and David was a rather unimpressive young man when compared to his brothers – he was the youngest of the bunch, and he was off tending the sheep. Even so, the Lord singled him out, David, to be anointed as Israel’s king.
You know, the Lord has this habit of choosing unimpressive places and unimpressive people to do his work. That’s how he rolls. He can use little towns and small congregations to get his gospel work done. He uses unimpressive means – ordinary water, a little bread and a little wine – yet when connected to God’s powerful word, the Lord uses these means to unite people with Christ and to forgive their sins and to give them everlasting life. The Lord does this type of humble but mighty saving activity throughout the Bible, and he still does to this day. And so it should come as no surprise that the mighty Messiah would come from humble little Bethlehem, just as Micah prophecies in our text.
A preacher Phillips Brooks 1865 made a trip to the Holy Land and on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem where he listened to a choir singing in the church of the Nativity wrote a poem, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” which later became a Christmas Carol. We see that the first thing this familiar carol points out is that Bethlehem was a little town. God chooses to use small things to accomplish His great tasks. God’s greatest gift came to a little Town. God’s Greatest Gift came through a humble family. Mary and Joseph were not big shots in their community. Joseph was a carpenter, Mary was a simple peasant girl. They were far from rich and famous. But they are the ones God chose to parent His One and only Son. For most of their lives, Mary and Joseph simply went about the mundane little jobs of daily life … living small lives in small towns. But in the process, they protected and nurtured and raised up the Hope of all the World.
God often chooses insignificant people and events to bring about His great purposes. 1 Corinthians 12:27 – 28 says, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are…”
God loves to show His strength through human frailty. God can use you in big ways. He does not require you to be strong or extremely intelligent or amazingly talented. The one thing God requires is obedience. Joseph and Mary were chosen because they were obedient to everything God called them to do.
God’s greatest fit came as a helpless infant. God took on flesh … not to show us how God would live on this planet … but to show us how a man can live in humble obedience to God. Look again at how Malachi 5:4-5 describes the Messiah: He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace. Through his obedience, this tiny infant attained greatness that reaches to the ends of the earth. The Power of Jesus is a Power that brings Peace to every heart that receives Him.
Just as the world would have expected the Messiah to have come from Jerusalem and not Bethlehem, we sometimes mistakenly think that God will be with us only at the big and major moments of life. This holy season will give you opportunities to experience God’s grace and glory in small and seemingly insignificant moments. Don’t overlook them; take them for the gifts they are.
Now the coming of the Messiah was prophesied from of old, from ancient days, even from the perspective of Micah. Because the Lord had given a promise to King David, several centuries before Micah, that the Christ, the Messiah, would come from his line: “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom … I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” This was the Lord’s promise of the Messiah to come, who would be descended from David, as it says in the psalm: “I have sworn to David my servant: I will establish your kingdom forever; and build your throne for all generations.”
So Micah is picking up on this promise of a Davidic Messiah, “whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” But really, his origins go back further than that, further back than David. For ultimately, this is the Son of God we’re talking about, the one who was with God in the beginning. For Christ Jesus is the eternal Son of God, coming in time, in history, in the flesh, descended from David according to the flesh, born of the virgin Mary – true God and true man, one Lord Jesus Christ.
Micah prophesied at a time when things were going bad for the people of God. From the time of Micah to the time of Christ was around 700 years. During that time, a lot of bad things happened. First the northern kingdom, Israel, fell to the Assyrians. Then the southern kingdom, Judah, fell to the Babylonians. For all those years, the Israelites were scattered or taken captive or under foreign domination. And for the longest time there was no active king descended from David ruling on the throne.
So what happened to God’s promise? Would it be fulfilled? Yes. Micah is saying! “Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.” For a long time it might look like God has given up on his promises and given up on his people. But not so. Eventually, a woman will give birth to a son, in little Bethlehem, and this child born there will indeed be the great Messiah promised from of old. God never forgets his promises; he fulfills them.
What would this ruler from Bethlehem do? Verses 4-5
He will be much greater than David. David reigned and did great things for a little while, over a relatively small kingdom. But his reign was marked and marred by disobedience and decline. Not so with the reign of David’s greater Son. His is an eternal kingdom, not just over Israel, but over all nations. He will shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord and Jesus fulfilled this promise when He said, “I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, and takes it up again. Jesus is the shepherd-king. He lay down his life for us, dying on the cross for our sins, so that we would be rescued from death and damnation. And then Jesus took up his life again in his resurrection, showing what is in store for us, all of us who trust in him. Now we can go through the valley of the shadow of death without fearing any evil, for we know that our good shepherd is going with us and will lead us through, safe and sound.
We will live securely. We are His flock. He will take care of us and protect us because we are His flock. Our salvation is secure in Christ our shepherd-king from Bethlehem. The Lord is our Shepherd who leads us beside still water and lays us down in green pastures, and protects us, leads us through the valleys of life and protects us in the presence of our enemies and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. He will also be our peace.
Peace, peace. Everyone would like some peace, especially in this age of terror. In Christ, we have it. It is a peace that the world cannot take away. In this world we will have tribulation, but in Christ we have peace. For he himself is our peace, having made peace in his body on the cross. Now there is peace between God and man, peace between heaven and earth. Christ has reconciled us back to God, restoring the relationship that we had broken by our sin. Now we are at peace with God, through Jesus Christ.
And this peace is yours, my friends! God is not angry with you. God loves you, he is at peace with you, and Jesus is the proof. This alters how we live, then, doesn’t it? We can walk forward confident, knowing that our sins are forgiven and our salvation is secure, because of Jesus. This frees us up. We are free to risk. We are free to be bold. We are free to love. We know where we are headed. We know what our future is, that it is good and glorious and a free gift from God, an eternal future with God. This is liberating, and it is joyful. Today, God has spoken to us by his prophet Micah, telling us of a ruler from Bethlehem, a great king from a little town, who will shepherd his flock, who will make us dwell secure, and who will be our peace.
God has spoken by his prophets, and what he is speaking to us in each case is the same. It is the good news of our coming king. Christ Jesus. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you: righteous and having salvation.” We must follow the one born at Bethlehem and not merely pay homage to the babe in the manger. Let the last verse of the carol O Little Town of Bethlehem be our prayer today.
O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.
We heave the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!
MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY, 2024/12/15
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Reading:
Isaiah 12:2-6
Text:
Isaiah 12:3, 6 “with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation”. “Shout about and sing for joy people of Zion for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”
Message:
When we are thirsty, it is easy for us to take care of our thirst. We take a glass and fill it with water and we have a drink. Even as we travel around we buy a bottle of water along the way when we are thirsty. Today we are going to look at the thirst that we have and how the Lord quenches that thirst. Then we will also examine the joy that God’s refreshing Word brings into our life. The Lord gives us the water of life without cost. We are saved by grace and the Lord invites us as we read in Revelation 22:17, “The Spirit and the bride say “come and let him who hears say “come! Whoever is thirsty let him come and whatever wishes let him take a free gift of the water of life.” We come this morning once again at the Lord’s invitation that we might partake of the free gift of the water of life. Yes, when our soul is parched and dry it will be refreshed with God’s living water. Isaiah in the middle of our text says, ” with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation”. That becomes our theme this morning.
In chapter 11 Isaiah tells the people of all the benefits that will come their way because of the redemptive work that the Savior is going to do for the people of the world. So Isaiah was so happy because of what the Savior was going to do. So in 12;1 “In that day you will say, “I will praise the Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me.”
We see here Isaiah is praising God because He led us out of the bondage of sin and death. We were all held captive by sin and death. From the very moment of conception, we are natural enemies of God and hostile to his will for our lives. God says to worship him and serve him only, yet how many of us have made idols out of our jobs or sporting events? God tells us to read and study his word, yet we find it hard to make time for personal devotions or Bible study. We may have plenty of time to gather at the local pub, but we simply don’t have the time for God and His word.
What about the way we treat our loved ones and our neighbor? We lash out at our spouse and children with harsh words and criticism. We gossip and slander, curse and lie, steal and commit false testimony without any thought that these things are sins that God has condemned. We think that we can get away with doing anything we want, but God does not ignore our sins. The prophet Ezekiel tells us that God punishes sin. He writes, “The soul who sins is the one who will die.” (Ezekiel 18:4)
God punishes sin. There is no question about it. But the very One who punishes sin is also the One we need to run to for our salvation because God is our salvation. Isaiah writes, “On that day you will say: “I will praise you, O Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:1 – 2). Isaiah, looking to the future, sees the day that God will lead his people out of the bondage of sin and death. He tells us that God will turn away his anger from us. That day of course was Good Friday. The day where God turned his anger over sin away from us and placed it all onto his one and only Son. God became our salvation by living that perfect life you and I can never live and by dying an innocent death for our sins. Knowing what God has done for us comforts us. We can trust and not be afraid. God tells us in chapter 41 of Isaiah, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10). God has done everything, our salvation does not depend on what we have done. God the Father planned this out in eternity before the creation of the world. God the Son carried out his plan by becoming our salvation for us. And God the Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts so that we believe this message of salvation. We have reason enough to praise the God of our salvation. Is there anyone of us who cannot join Isaiah in praising the Lord for his presence in our lives? The Lord’s anger is turned away and He has comforted us. We learn something very valuable from Isaiah: reconciliation is not about our willingness to have God, but God’s willingness to have us. Deserving wrath is turned to undeserved comfort. There is no reason for God to make this change. Jesus is the means by which God is able to show us undeserved comfort. Jesus is our propitiation so that we do not receive the wrath we deserve but receive the comfort we do not deserve. Each person that belongs to the Lord will say words of thanks for receiving comfort rather than anger.
In verse 2 we read “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. “God is my salvation”. This is why the individual will trust in the Lord. God has saved me so I will trust in Him. I didn’t deserve that the Lord would do anything for me! Since the Lord has acted on my behalf, I will trust in the Lord. Notice the same three words: strength, song, and salvation. These are the three things we will have so that we will trust in the Lord and not be afraid. To sum these things up, Isaiah is saying that the Lord will be everything to us. To every individual in this relationship with God, the Lord will be everything to him or her. God is my salvation. He is enough. He is all I need. Listen to these three characteristics. As they have forgiveness, they see that God is their salvation, no longer to fear but instead trust. Then he goes on, The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” The people are beginning to see here hopefully, (as we are too) that Isaiah is referring to the Lord as salvation. God’s people are not people who are strong in themselves. They are not people who rely on themselves. They are not people to trust in themselves. We are able to live, breathe, teach, serve, act and move through the strength that God supplies. Our strength is found in God’s grace to give us comfort rather than wrath. Now I am free from fear to love and serve. My strength is found in God’s goodness towards me. That is where they are going to draw their strength. That is where their time of rejoicing and joy is going to come from. That is where they are going to find the well of salvation for their joy. He wants the people to come back to the Lord time and time and time again so that they would find in Him their salvation and they would see in Him their forgiveness.
The question we need to ask ourselves is where do we find our joy and satisfaction in life. Sometimes we find joy and satisfaction in our family, our friends, our work but that is only part of God’s joy and satisfaction that God wants to give to us. He reminds us that when we draw from the wells of salvation, we find the true joy of God’s forgiveness in Him and in His word. He says the word of God is to be a part of our life constantly because then we are going to find the joy of our salvation and then we are going to find true joy for our living.
Christmas is about Jesus and His work of salvation, it is not about gifts and feasts and decorations. It is about something greater and bigger. It is so very easy to lose sight of Christmas’ meaning. Missing the point of Christmas causes us to miss out on the joy of Christmas. Do you want to enjoy Christmas? Do you want to have a joy and happiness that transcends the struggles and pains of life on this side of eternity? Beloved, look then and think about the source of joy that God offers to us – the reason why Christmas is. If we look there, if we allow God to warm our hearts with the truth of forgiveness and peace, if we can pause, and look forward to the celebration of the coming of the Christ child, our joy becomes other-worldly – a joy inspired and fueled by the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
In our call to worship that comes from Zephaniah 3:14 there is a call to sing and be glad and rejoice and Isaiah says the same in our reading and Paul in the letter to the Philippians while he was in prison said Rejoice in the Lord always. How could these men call on us to rejoice and praise God in the middle of all their woes?
Verse 12:1 that precedes our reading from Isaiah gives us the answer, they rejoiced because they saw God’s love and forgiveness. That’s also the reason that we can rejoice: God loves us. This is a strange and awesome Biblical truth because the reality is that God has every reason to be angry with us. We don’t just make little mistakes or engage in little indiscretions. We are sinners. We rebel against God. Our lives come way short of the standard that God’s law demands. And yet, counter-intuitive though it may sound, God has directed all his wrath and anger at his own beloved Son on the Cross. And because of this, we enjoy a wonderful relationship with God because He is no longer angry towards us. Rather than being our judge, because of Christ, God has become our comfort and our salvation.
As we get closer to Christmas again, we have an opportunity to think about the season and what it means to us. You may have noticed that today we lit the rose-colored candle in the Advent wreath. The color rose has a special meaning in church – it represents joy.
Advent is a quiet, sometimes somber, season of preparation. But on this Sunday, just over halfway into the Advent Season, the theme changes. It becomes one of celebration and rejoicing. This theme is reflected in the readings, prayers and songs of the day. Today we celebrate – we celebrate because God has intervened. He has interjected Himself into a world that was spinning off its axis because of rebellion and sin. He righted it through the birth, life, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. Today we rejoice that God became one of us to free us, and restore us.
We are going to be like the children of Israel and realize, yes the Lord is angry with us because of our sin. Then his anger is turned away and He comforts us instead with His forgiveness. What joy is ours. Then we agree the Lord becomes our strength. It takes practice and it takes time to constantly turn to that word of God and find our joy in what God says. He not only talks about the water of life, the fountain of life, then he talks about light. We heard that in our gospel today too. As human beings, when the light is in the world, we like darkness because our deeds are evil. John reminds us at the end of the gospel that we, as believers, want to come into the light, the light that God sheds on us.
God’s encouragement for us today is to draw from the wells of salvation … to turn to the Lord and His word and find in it our joy and our satisfaction. A description that Peter gives us, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good”(1 Peter 2:2,3)
Have we not all tasted that God is good. He gives us heaven instead of hell, forgiveness instead of punishment. Let us draw from the wells of salvation always. Let us tell others of what God did for us that we may be witnesses of God’s love, grace and goodness, by singing and thankfulness towards God. In verse 6 we see the lovely words, “Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.” God was with them. He was in their midst. He had not forsaken them and He would not forsake them. The Lord reminds us that He is among us, in our midst, every day. Today we do not see the Lord like the children of Israel did in a pillar of smoke or a cloud of fire at night. But we do see our Lord in the day-to-day blessings that He provides for us. We see him in His word, which is the well of our salvation. The Lord says don’t be far from God’s word and you will not be far from God Himself. In Colossians we read, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). When we honestly look at our lives, we realize there is a lot to be thankful for. There are a lot of reasons to sing – he says -songs and hymns and to have thankfulness in our hearts.
Because by God’s grace through Jesus Christ He called us to be His children and He is the source of our life, we are filled with gratitude and live thankfully for all that Jesus has done for us and still is doing for us. So as believers we must live comforted, joyful, thankful and happy lives. And in this way be witnesses for Jesus to the world. Jesus says in Matthew 5;16 “In the same way let your light shine before men so that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” We get thirsty in this world and we satisfy our thirst very easily compared to Biblical times. We thirst physically and we need to remind ourselves that we also thirst spiritually. The Lord would encourage us to come back and draw water from the wells of salvation – not just on Sunday morning, not just in Bible study, not just in a special Lenten service, but constantly day after day, searching the scriptures. As we search the scriptures day after day, we become thankful and joyful that God has given us His word, which He has provided us with the knowledge of salvation.
Let us draw water from the wells of salvation and share that saving water among the nations. The praise of God should not be kept secret. Individual believers must share that saving water among the nations. The praise of God should not be kept secret. Individual believers must share what they know. The prophet writes, “In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.”(Isaiah 12:4) When people know about something good, they have a hard time keeping quiet about it. Children run home to show mom and dad the perfect scores on a test. Husbands or wives rush home to tell their spouse about the promotion and raise in pay that the boss gave them. We tell each other about a good doctor or where we can get the best deal on a new car. We even tell our friends and neighbors about a movie that we saw that was really good. How much more should we tell everyone about God and what he has done for us!
Whether or not we share the good news of what God has done isn’t our choice. We have been commanded by God to make known what he has done. In the Gospel of St. Matthew God says, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”. (Matthew 28;19 – 20). God directs each one of us to be witnesses for him. God tells us in our text, “Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.” (Isaiah 12:5).
God’s people will embrace their mission to make known the ways of the Lord to the world. This is a quote from Psalm 105:1. We will tell each other and the world to give thanks. We will tell each other and the world to call on the Lord. We will proclaim the glory of the Lord, celebrating with joy like Israel and Miriam did after the exodus. The apostles reflected this very message. As they preach, they identify Jesus as Lord and then connect the need to call upon the name of the Lord for salvation (Acts 2:21, 33; 3;13 – 16; 22:16) The whole world must know what God has done and his name must be glorified throughout the earth. Therefore the apostles and the first century Christians are recorded as proclaiming the name of the Lord Jesus throughout the earth. Verse 5 amplifies this truth. “Let this be made known in all the earth.” What should be made known throughout the earth? The Lord has done glorious things. That is why we are singing praises to the Lord and why the Lord must be known throughout the earth. The Lord has done wonderful, glorious things.
Remember the story of Jesus and the woman at the well when Jesus offers her more than water, He offers her the water of life. And whoever drinks of the water of life He offers will never thirst again. We see that the things of this world will never fully satisfy. We will thirst again but the Living water who is Christ will fully satisfy us and we will never thirst again.
Jesus said in John 4:14: ‘Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”(john 4:14) With joy, you and I draw water from the wells of salvation, day after day and with thankfulness because that water wells up to eternal life for each and every one of us.
Beloved, God loves you. In Christ, He has forgiven you and made you his child. Let God bring that joy and peace into your life. Let God bring you his comfort through the Christ Child. Let our Advent preparation allow you to express the joy of your salvation to the world. In the name of Jesus, Amen
MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY, 2024/12/08
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Reading:
Luke 3:1-6
Text:
Luke 3:4 “As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the desert, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for him.”
Message:
It is interesting how the word of the Lord comes to us in many and various ways. It came to John the Baptist in the wilderness, to Moses within a burning bush after he fled Egypt when he looked after his father-in-law’s flock, to Samuel while he was asleep while working for Eli the priest, Jonah, the Lord spoke to him at various times but now in the belly of a big fish. God eventually got through to him. And we see how God spoke to Elijah in a still small voice when in fear – he was hiding in a cave. And we see how the angels come to Mary and the shepherds. We also see how the voice from heaven said at Jesus’ baptism. “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” The word of God still comes to us all. Calling us to new ways of living and looking at our life. So what is God saying to us through John the Baptist – “Prepare the way of the Lord.”
I Prepare the way of the Lord
Advent is not intended to be preparation for Christmas, the first coming of the Christ child. It is rather a season in which we make present again that miraculous event as we prepare for Christ’s second coming, His return to complete what he began long ago. Recall that this Jesus, born more than two thousand years ago, entered history to proclaim and witness to that long awaited and hoped for coming of God’s reign. The long awaited and hoped for kingdom of God was no longer a future promise. It was a present reality, it had come, it was in sight, it had been birthed and established. Advent therefore is a season which offers us the opportunity to pray for Christ’s return and prepare for his second coming, when the world as we know it will end and creation as God intended it is brought to fruition.
II How are we to prepare the way of the Lord.
John begins proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And calling on everyone to prepare the way of the Lord. What we are to do is to repent and prepare. We prepare the way of the Lord through repentance to “prepare the home of our heart by making it clean for the Holy Spirit”. Prepare the home of our heart by making it clean for the Holy Spirit. Or, as the great Christmas hymn, “Joy to the World” puts it: “Let every heart prepare him room.” And isn’t that ultimately what all of this is about? Preparing the home of hearts for the coming of Christ? That’s what really matters this season. Preparing the way of the Lord, by preparing the home of our heart. As we decorate our homes this season for Christmas, we can at the same time reflect on how we can decorate our hearts for Christ. What items in our hearts need to be dusted off, or repaired, or simply thrown away? What things in our life need changing? What areas in our hearts might need additional decorations? These are all ways to prepare the way of the Lord through repentance. To get ready for the word of God to come to us, just as it came to John in the wilderness, and to all of God’s people in so many different and wonderful ways.
There were two beautiful pictures of what it means to repent and prepare ourselves. The first is this. Advent is a season in which we are invited to contemplate future possibilities and how we might live faithfully between the times, between Christ’s first and second comings, between the already and the not yet of God’s new creation. To repent, therefore, must have a new and different meaning than it once did, namely, to reflect on the direction we are traveling both as faithful persons and as the Body of Christ, the church, and change course when necessary.
So it is like setting out on a yacht and you have to contend with the wind, tides, currents and at night you will need the stars to guide you and then some nights there are only dark clouds – no stars to guide you.
On dead calm waters you drift out of control and in severe storms you are tossed about and you get off course. Then you need to turn around and also from time to time you need to adjust your course to make sure you are travelling in the right direction. And that is what it means to repent and live prepared in the season of Advent. In every Advent season we are offered the opportunity to reflect on our journey and to make sure that we are sailing in the right direction. Every congregation has a unique opportunity to recommit itself to a vision of God’s reign and then focus its attention on Christ’s second coming.
In the process, may we remember that God’s future may not always be the future we desire, the future that benefits us. We need to critically reflect on our lives to be sure that the future we live for is the future God envisions, the future God desires.
The second picture I love is that through repentance it means to unclutter our lives. How many of our homes are cluttered, our schedules are cluttered, our lives are cluttered. And yet we get more and more stuff. So we need to unclutter and a major part of uncluttering is to make sure there is time for God to touch our lives and shape our days. Preparing a way means to be willing to ask some tough questions and make some hard decisions. We need to learn to focus on one thing at a time. When we multi-task, when we try to do too many things or set too many goals, the result is that we can easily face a stack of uncompleted things in our lives, which clutters our days and our thoughts.
To prepare the way of the Lord means to make choices. We must decide what we are to focus our lives and days on. We must decide what we will keep.
Think with me for a moment of some of the clutter that has filled, for some, their hearts and minds, and drains, for some, the hopes and diminishes our energy. There are the regrets of things we did not do in the past or things we wished we had done. You might call this the clutter of the way not chosen. Remember the words of Robert Frost, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both.” But the truth is now only one road can be traveled at a time. How we choose can make all the difference in our lives.
The challenge is to get our lives in such order, that our hearts will be open to the way of the Lord. Once we have settled the issue of who is first in our lives, we do not have to deal with the clutter of divided loyalties. The one who was born at Bethlehem will be the Lord of our lives if we are willing to let God prepare the way. All else that could crowd into our lives is measured by the standard of His love and His grace. By failing that standard we do not allow it to deter us from following Him.
John uses beautiful words from Isaiah to help us with this, the valley shall be filled and the mountains brought low. Those valleys or low places in our lives, such as worry or grief or doubt can be filled with an awareness of the very presence of the living Christ. The mountains we must deal with in our hearts include pride, prejudice, fear, and selfishness. When these are brought low, we can see a greater horizon; we can see the way of the Lord. He also says to make the crooked places straight. We are challenged to confront those temptations in our lives that will lure us away, to push back the trivial that may fill our minds and hearts and seek God’s ways. We are being challenged to take the steps in our lives to deal with the major issues that we must deal with. And we are told to make the rough ways smooth. Always be honest. No shady dealings. Then we are told to make the rough ways smooth. In our lives, this may mean for us to forgive those who have hurt you, to refuse to allow what has happened to you to control your life. We need to make sure there is enough time for those that we care about. One can make this way open for God to come into our lives when one can trust God enough to lay our burdens down. When the unexamined, unchallenged, have cluttered our hearts, then the way is not open. Our faith is not merely to avoid evil. That would reduce it to merely rules and commandments. The challenge is to be able to set aside some of the good that keeps us from the best.
As we approach Christmas, let each of us see beyond the clutter of living to the hope that was born so many years ago in Bethlehem. We, too, can find the way home. The call for us is to find a way for God to be in our days and our hearts. Those who went to the wilderness were challenged to turn and go in a new direction in their lives, leaving behind much of what they had believed and looking for a new way. We are challenged to unclutter our lives to find the Christ who is there with us, in us, and calling for us to come and follow.
Conclusion
John’s call to repentance is much more than an invitation to express regret for our wrongs. Here is John, preaching the need for a change of mind and heart, for an inner transformation that shows up in fruitful living. John’s call to repentance is a call to transformation, and that transformation is directly connected to the forgiveness of sins.
And here’s an interesting detail: the word translated here as forgiveness also means “release”. It’s the same word Jesus will use in chapter four to state his mission: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me … to proclaim release to the captives and … to let the oppressed go free”. (Luke 4:18).
This kind of release from our sins doesn’t undo them. But it does cut us loose from them. This forgiveness, this release from sin that goes hand in hand with our repentance, paves the way for a life lived in God’s grace, a life of peace. That is why John’s message was “repent”. Repentance simply means turning around. God wants us to turn away from sin that leads to death and judgement and turn back toward God and experience his forgiveness, his peace and his loving presence. This should be our daily priority, our experience.
This is the good news, my friends. In Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven. In Jesus Christ, you can be released from your sin. It no longer has any power over you. In Jesus Christ, you are redeemed by God’s grace – that unmerited love you can never earn, but God pours out on you. In Jesus Christ, you can find peace.
And that is really all that John the Baptist is trying to get us to do today, when he calls on us to prepare the way of the Lord. He is inviting us to repent. To clean up our hearts. And to focus on our relationship with Christ. His call to repent is really a call to turn from all the stress of the season, and simply return to the Lord.
MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY, 2024/12/01
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Reading:
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Text:
Jeremiah 33:14 “The days are coming” declares the Lord “when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah”.
Message:
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent means coming or arrival. It is time for preparation for the arrival of Jesus Christ. It is that time of the year again with Christmas music on the radio, Christmas lights and trees. There is green everywhere representing the evergreen hope, love, joy and peace of the coming of our Lord. The liturgical colour is purple signifying great royalty in the coming of our Lord. The candles represent a journey, a journey each week bringing us closer and closer to Bethlehem. Today is the first Sunday in Advent and our first candle is the candle of hope.
How does your life feel like today?
Jeremiah was in jail. In fact, he was in prison, King Zedekiah put him in prison because he criticized him. He delivered a message from the Lord telling the King that the Lord is giving his kingdom to the enemies because he has been an unjust ruler. There was also a war going on and Jerusalem was surrounded by the Babylonians and it was the year before Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Babylonians. Just imagine his stress, as a prophet who cares about the nation to see the chaos in front of his eyes.
The community to which Jeremiah is speaking in today’s old testament reading (Jeremiah 33:14-16) is living in that tension. The Babylonian army has devastated Jerusalem. Some of the Jews have been deported from their homeland. Others are occupied citizens in their own land. And Jeremiah is in prison. It’s a time of turmoil and chaos, and my guess is that we all know what that’s like. And yet, Jeremiah remains faithful to God and proclaims this oracle of hope in spite of the immediate situation of hopelessness. The days are surely coming, Jeremiah prophesies, when the Messiah-King shall come to rule with justice and righteousness. At times it is difficult for people to live with hope. And yet, where there’s life there’s hope; and where there’s hope there’s life. Jeremiah was surrounded by some serious mess. The king and the government were a mess. Sounds familiar? His life was a mess; he was being imprisoned. His country was a mess; there was a war going on. The people were discouraged. Jeremiah says, “Look, look at the end.” His message was the message of hope. And he said this while he was in prison. Hope is the best stress sweeping tool. You need hope to cope. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
What stresses are you facing today or what mess do you find yourself in? Is your life turned upside down and you see no way forward? Are you facing issues that are so great that you see no way through them and you feel so alone? This was the condition that Jeremiah found himself in when he shared this prophecy.
Hope is our only way forward and this is what Jeremiah offers us today. When he says “The days will surely come” says the Lord, “when I will fulfill the promise I made. A righteous Branch will spring up and Justice and righteousness will be done in the Lord”. These are big words from a man in prison, big words for people who have been overrun, deported or occupied. They are words of hope but we have to be careful that we do not misunderstand what hope is. It is a term that can be so easily thrown around. I hope it does not rain tomorrow, I hope the wind does not blow tomorrow, I hope the Springboks win tomorrow. Let us reflect on the things we try to make us feel safe, secure and hopeful and see that they cannot deliver true hope. Things like stock markets, insurance, physical strength and material goods. It may not be some hopelessness but putting hope in wrong things. We also talk of the power of positive thinking. So hope is put on something we have to find within. Christianity is not dependent on how you feel at any given moment on what is happening within or outside you. Hope is summed up in the promises of the Lord. “The Lord is our righteousness”. It is He who puts us in a right relationship with God and with each other. Righteousness refers to uprightness in the eyes of God, which is to be in the right relationship with God and with each other. Justice is not about retribution as we so often diminish it in our society; it is about restoration. Specifically, it is about restoration to the right relationship or community. But that is not the kind of hope that is represented by the candle of hope that we lit today or what Jeremiah is talking about.
The hope represented by that candle, is a much greater and much grander hope. It represents the hope of an entire nation, it represents the hope of the entire world. It represents something that you and I often take for granted. Hope is not passively waiting for God to show up and do something. That is just wishful or wishful praying. To live in hope means remaining open to the future and refusing to let the present moment close us in. It’s the belief that the future is always better, not because it necessarily will be, but because it might be. The future holds a potential or possibility for something more or better than the actual reality of the present moment. That’s our hope throughout the Season of Advent. Each time we live in hope we are trusting that there is nothing too big or hard for God and that all things are possible.
Hope calls us to do something as we saw in the gospel reading today when Jesus says, (Luke 21:25-36), Jesus says, “Stand up and raise your heads.” “Stand up and raise your heads” when you want to run away. “Stand up and raise your heads” when you want to duck and hide. “Stand up and raise your heads” when you are tired and overwhelmed. “Stand up and raise your heads” when everything seems hopeless. It is as if Jesus is saying, “Don’t just sit there. Do something. Get a new perspective. Look from a higher vantage point. Recognize what can be changed and then make the change.” That’s what it means to live in hope. More often than not that change is about us, not the circumstances. Can we trust that God has not forgotten us and left us on our own with our own fears and dread? When we look at the hopeless, present world situation can we trust that God sees it also and is giving us strength and a reason to hope? We need Advent to force us to slow down, catch our breath and watch and wait patiently. Advent invites us to look forward to God acting on our behalf not only now but in the future.
The days are surely coming, says Jeremiah, and as we begin a new Church Year, with this first Sunday of Advent, we look forward to those coming days of waiting, watching, yearning, and hoping for our Messiah-King; for new life; for a new beginning; for justice and love; peace and joy among all peoples. Hope is real; it’s perhaps most real in the midst of suffering and hopelessness. Whether it’s the people of Judah and Jerusalem under siege by the Babylonians; whether it’s the troubled spots in the world today; whether it’s the poor, homeless, unemployed, or underemployed. The days are surely coming when a Saviour, the Messiah-King shall be born; shall grow up and live among us; shall teach and preach among us; shall work miracles among us; shall face cruel suffering and meet a criminal’s death at the hands of the corrupt and powerful; shall be raised from death three days later; shall promise to live with us and through us until the end of time; shall one day draw all people to himself to complete all of history and inaugurate the new heavens and the new earth and the new holy city, Jerusalem. Such is our hope, yesterday, today, and forever, for; “The Lord is our righteousness,” the Branch from David’s line, Jesus whom we wait for, our Messiah-King. For this is still God’s world, which God loves. He is in control. This is our message of hope to and for a suffering, hopeless world. The world still needs a Saviour, more than ever, Jesus the Messiah-King. Don’t give up, for the days are surely coming. So this Advent we live, wait and hope for the days that are surely coming. God promises in Jeremiah’s message that He will renew us – not just on the inside, but on the outside as well. He promises that He will renew the world. He will create a new future because of His forgiveness. This is the Good News that the church and the body of Christ are called on to spread to the entire world. It is the message of assurance of God’s promises that were raised to life in Christ
It is our Christ, our Savior, and our Lord who awaits us in Bethlehem. It is to him that we will journey these coming weeks, getting closer and closer to Bethlehem as we get closer and closer to December 25th. May your hearts be filled with the great hope of expectation as we journey forward.
MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY, 2024/11/24
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Reading:
John 18:33-37
Text:
John 18:37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate, Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a King. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Message:
Today we bring the Christian year to a conclusion. This last Sunday in our liturgical year provides us an opportunity to acknowledge Christ as King of our lives, and to see our King in all his glory. The Christian year begins with Advent, preparation for the birth of Jesus “let every room prepare Him room”. Then we have Epiphany which is marked by the magi following the star to Bethlehem in search of a savior King. The dominant image of Epiphany is light – Christ light shining into our darkness. It also focuses on the miracles and How Jesus dwells among us. After this we have lent where we focus on Christ’s sufferings for us and we journey to the cross and all the challenges along the way. Holy Week concludes the Lenten season. Maundy Thursday, the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Good Friday, when we pause at the cross where we are bought with a price, the blood of Christ. Then comes Easter Sunday – God’s great surprise, the great joy of the news of Jesus’ resurrection. We see that God’s promises can be trusted, new life now in Christ and nothing can separate us from God’s love for us. Later we have the Ascension of Jesus followed 50 days later by the Feast of Pentecost, the celebration of the sending of the Holy Spirit. During this season we are taught what it means to be disciples of Jesus in words and actions and take the good news to others. Lastly the church moves through ordinary time where we are called to reflect on the Kingdom of God in everyday life then it ends with Christ the King Sunday.
Christ the King
Christ the King Sunday is about the Lordship of Christ. Jesus says “My Kingdom is not of this world” By this does Jesus mean that His Kingdom is somewhere in heaven and has nothing to do with the present world at all. The point is that Jesus’ kingdom does not come from ‘this world’ but God. His kingdom doesn’t come from this world, but it is for this world. Jesus taught his disciples to pray that God’s kingdom would come on earth as in heaven. That’s why Jesus came into the world. But just as Jesus and his kingdom are not of this world, neither are his servants. Jesus, the king and his servants, don’t even use the same type of weapons as earthly kingdoms. There is, in fact, only one weapon: the word of truth. It is the gospel truth that Jesus came to the world to die for your forgiveness.
Jesus says that the behavior of his servants is different, and it’s different because everyone who is of the truth listens to his voice. Are you on the side of truth? Is your behavior different? Are you willing to accept Jesus as your king? Or do you bow to Caesar? We are tempted by the allure of secularism and deceived by the values of our culture. If you want to hear his voice, you must listen to his word as it is preached and read. Are you listening to his voice? If you are listening to his voice, then your values should reflect Christ’s values. Or, are you listening to what others are saying? The values and thinking of Jesus’ kingdom are so vastly different from those in the world. Everyone interested in pursuing the truth will embrace the values of God’s kingdom. Those who follow the world’s values will reject the true kingdom represented by Jesus. Let us take this opportunity to remind ourselves that we serve a king like no other. Jesus is not a king that the world would ever recognize. Kings have power; kings have wealth; kings lord it over others. Kings use force and killing to get their way. With Jesus, none of these is true. This is a king who speaks to the lowly and the rejected. This is a king who came to serve rather than be served. This is a king who enters the holy city, not triumphantly on a horse but seated on a donkey. He is a king, unlike any other king, and his kingdom is unlike any other because it is not of this world. Jesus is a king who is killed by those with political power, not a king who is victorious over his enemies by defeating them in war.
Consider the difference between Pilate and Jesus. Pilate uses power and authority for selfish ends with no concern for the building of community. Pilate hoards power and lords it over people even to the point of destroying them, on a cross or otherwise. Jesus empowers others and uses his authority to wash the feet of those he leads. He spends his life on them, every last ounce of it; he gives his life to bring life. Pilate condemns. Jesus forgives. Pilate’s rule brings terror, even in the midst of calm; Jesus’ rule brings peace, even amid terror. Pilate’s followers imitate him by violence to conquer and divide people by race, ethnicity, and nation. Jesus’ followers put away the sword to invite and unify people. Pilate’s authority comes from Caesar and is temporary. Jesus’ authority comes from God and is eternal. Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth. The King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Behold your King. He’s not much to look at by the world’s measure of kings. But, the truth is that mankind is doomed without him. The truth is that only through faith in him can a person become a member of his heavenly and eternal kingdom. It is only Jesus who is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). This is the only King who can save you, the only one who has saved you by His death. This is the king who chose the way of suffering and death. He was willing to suffer rather than inflict suffering, willing to be killed rather than kill. He showed love even to those who crucified him. This is the King who will fight to the death for you, who will lead you through your death to eternal life. This is the King who drew you to Himself in His death and who will draw Himself to you in your death. “Put not your trust in princes.” Trust not in Pontius Pilates and King Herod by whatever name or title they come. Don’t trust them for a moment. Trust Christ the King, who alone can save you.
As Christians we should also seek to humbly serve others, rather than seek earthly power. Do you desire to serve others rather than be served? Are we citizens of God’s Kingdom? So on Christ the King Sunday we think about Jesus. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, he says at the close of Matthew’s Gospel. And Paul, writing to the Philippians, says: “every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (2:11). To follow Jesus is to profess him as Lord. This is the basic Christian conviction and creed. To believe that he is Lord of all is to honor and glorify him, above all else, and above all other rulers and authorities. He came upon this earth to establish the Kingdom of God, an alternative to the kingdom of Herod. He spoke not of the love of power but the power of love. And he clearly gave his presence, his spirit, his authority, to his disciples, to spread his influence, his teachings, his goodness upon this earth until he comes again. And so on Christ the King Sunday, the readings from Scripture and the hymns associated with this day not only magnify the Lord, they call upon us to be a part of establishing the kingdom of God upon the earth.
So we must do it Jesus’ way who came not to be served but to serve, who washed the feet of His disciples. He was a servant leader. Jesus lays down his life, and the power comes to him as a gift from God – he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, Paul writes, therefore God has highly exalted him. The self-emptying life of Jesus is a life given for others. Herod used his power for his own personal gain, Jesus used His power for common good. Jesus said, the gentiles in their positions of authority lord it over those beneath them, but it is not to be so for you. Whoever is the greatest must be your servant. It is not about being great, it is about serving.
Churchill had a saying “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give”.
Jesus Christ the King on this Sunday calls us to continue His mission of welcoming strangers, visiting those in prison and the sick and feeding the hungry (Matthew 25). We see that Jesus does have a kingdom. A kingdom that’s not from this world. A kingdom where hospitality reigns, because when there was not enough food for the gathered crowd, five loaves and two fish became an abundant amount of food. It’s a kingdom where the leaders weep alongside their people out of love for their friends, a kingdom where a woman, scorned by her community and all alone at a well is offered not only conversation, acknowledgment of her human dignity, but also the living water of eternal life.
Jesus’ life and mission are models of this for us. In Jesus, we learn that truth is not just a matter for quiet contemplation, it is fuel for faithful and living witnesses. It is something we do. On this Christ the King Sunday, we are invited to take a deeper look into what Christ’s kingdom would look like, does look like, will look like. As his crucifixion and resurrection make clear, Jesus’ kingship is indeed not of this world. We see in the news about how worldly kings take power from others: by winning battles, or at least through successful diplomacy. Jesus does not fight, nor does he allow his followers to do so. He doesn’t mount a defense against those who are against him. Instead, he offers an alternative. In his kingdom, peace reigns over war, violence is not the first answer, it’s never an answer. In Christ’s kingdom, no one will be turned away.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr said: “Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact violence merely increases hate!” Someone once said, Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. This is what Jesus came to show us and this is what He calls us to. Jesus came to show us new kingdom values to live by the greatest of which is love, the love of God who came to give Himself for us despite our sinfulness and also that of servanthood. Jesus is our servant King and we saw how He humbled Himself in service for us despite who we were. The life to which Jesus calls us originates in God’s gracious and merciful love. So may the light of Christ shine through us that there may be the light of Christ in our dark world.
Response to the King of kings and God our Father:
1. I am the king. I control my own life. Frank Sinatra “I did it my way”. I do and control the destiny of my life. Selfishness is OK, I just have to look out for myself. No one can tell us what to do or how to act. It is all about my personal comfort.
2. Compromise, the King and I control my life. There are areas in our life that we turn over to Jesus. Then there are areas that we keep for ourselves. We know that there are still areas in our hearts that we need to repent and ask for forgiveness.
3. This is where King Jesus has complete control of our life. We fall on our knees before the Lord and ask Him to have mercy on us and forgive us. We will then feel His mercy, love and compassion as He lifts us up. Here we let go all of our pride, selfishness and offer my all to the King of Kings and live out His Kingdom values in our lives.
How Christ rules in our lives. We are called to acknowledge the many gifts our Lord gives us and we are empowered to put those gifts to service. Year after year we are reminded of the depth of God’s love for us as we learn about Jesus’ life and mission. Our church seasons help us to refocus on the source of our lives: God’s goodness and gracious gifts to us in the Son of God and in the Spirit of God. We know our God is faithful and steadfast. We are reminded in the church year that God’s love never ends and we are given the strength to prevail in the midst of life’s challenges. We are given the courage to share the wondrous message of peace, hope and life in Christ Jesus.
God is with us, supporting and guiding us. That is how Christ is the King.
MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY, 2024/11/17
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Reading:
Hebrews 10:11-14; 19-25
Text:
Hebrews 10:19-21 “Therefore brothers since we have confidence to enter the most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain that is His body and since we have a great priest over the house of God.
Message:
In the first 10 chapters of Hebrews the theme has been that Jesus is the Great High Priest. That Jesus is a superior priest to anything that Israel ever could experience. Remember that Hebrews is written to a primarily Hebrew audience. Christians who have converted from Judaism and the Law of Moses in the Old Covenant. They would have been familiar with the priestly and sacrificial system of atonement for sin described in the Old Testament. When they were converted to Christianity, or as other parts of the Bible would put it, when they were “saved” or “born again”, they learned that Jesus came to establish a new way of relating to God, a way for both Jew and Gentile to finally be free from their sin, finally right with God, and finally free to be in close relationship to their creator.
Because of His greatness, He is sufficient for us as a High Priest. And the author says there is no need to look anywhere else but Jesus to find one who is a mediator for you, one who can bring you into the presence of God, one who can make atoning sacrifice so that you can fellowship with God, one who can make atoning sacrifice so that your consciences will be clear and not wracked by guilt. The “sanctuary” or “holy of holies” was a very special interior room in the tent that only a priest could enter. The priest had to pass through a curtain that screened the sanctuary from view. That curtain was very special. Luke 23:45 describes how the day Jesus was crucified, just before he died, this curtain was miraculously torn in two. Now the sanctuary was open to all, not just the high priest. This is what verse 20 means. Before Jesus, the only way for man to be close to God was for the high priest to go through the curtain into the sanctuary, (the “holy of holies”). But now that Christ has come and offered his final sacrifice once and for all, the way for man to get close to God is “through his flesh” – through Jesus. And so the author says, now that we can finally approach God, through Christ, we can approach God boldly with faith, hope, and love.
That curtain was the entrance way of the priest into the very presence of God, symbolized by the mercy seat. He is saying, ‘Jesus’ flesh was like that curtain. His incarnation, His taking on our humanity and dying in our place, was like the curtain, the only curtain through which we enter into the presence of God.’ He wants us to be confident, not only because of the shed sacrifice of Christ, but also because the sacrifice of Christ is the very entrance curtain into the presence of God.
Here the author of Hebrews says, “In the light of these things I want you to live this way. The first thing is:
1. Faith (Let us draw near in faith)
With faith that Christ’s sacrifice really is the payment for all our sin and since it has been paid we are now clean. Our sin is gone. We can be close to God. We now can enter into the heavenly place where Christ has entered into the presence of God Himself. Hebrews 9:24
So we enter with great confidence (boldness) (verse 19) and with a sincere heart and without any doubt in full assurance of faith, (verse 22). We are able to “enter” God’s presence because Jesus has consecrated a new and living way through the curtain, His body. In the Old Testament there was a veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple and only the High Priest could enter it to make atonement for people’s sins by an animal sacrifice. But when Jesus died on the cross the veil was torn in two and now Jesus is the High Priest who opened a new way for all of us into the House of God.
We are able to “enter” God’s presence because:
(a) Jesus has consecrated “a new and living way, through the veil” – Heb 10:19-20
(1) There is now a new way to approach God in heaven, through One who lives!
(2) It is made possible by “the blood of Jesus… His flesh” (His death on the cross)
(b) Jesus now serves as “a High Priest over the house of God” – Heb 10:21
Who is able to come to our aid and who sympathizes with our weakness and who even lives to intercede on our behalf. We are able to enter God’s presence because we have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and our sins are washed away. We received the freedom to enter into God’s presence continually and with confidence. When Jesus gave His body upon the cross, the curtain in the tabernacle was torn into two, and a new way was provided to meet God. We have direct access to God through the shed blood and torn body of Jesus.
As the priest had to be cleansed before he entered into the presence of God (Lev.16), believers have to deal with their sin before they can have fellowship with God. We have to allow the shed blood and torn body of Jesus to cleanse us. We are cleansed by confessing our sins and receiving forgiveness and righteousness from God (1 John 1:9). When we enter into God’s presence with a cleansed heart, we become priests. We do not need anyone to enter for us. We can personally fellowship with God.
We must draw near with a true heart – it means with sincerity or genuineness. We must come with godly faith and confidence as you come to the Lord. A confidence on what Jesus has done for us on the cross. Also with a clean heart knowing that you are declared not guilty by what Jesus did on the cross. We are justified by grace through faith. What is the author of Hebrews saying here? He is saying that he knows that it is sadly possible for Christians not to realize the blessings that are theirs in Christ. And he is saying, “Don’t do that. Don’t walk through this life as a believer and not realize the significance of what Jesus has done for you. Don’t waste this time. Don’t go for years and then realize what you have been given in the Lord Jesus Christ.” He is saying, “draw near with a full assurance into the presence of God.”
2. Hope
We can endure because of God’s future for us – verse 23 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for He who promises is faithful.” He tells us to hold on to that truth with hope – we now have hope because God is faithful to his promise that he has made us clean by the blood of Christ. We are going to be tempted to doubt… “Maybe this time was too much. Maybe this time was too far. Maybe this time God won’t love me anymore.” Have Hope the author says – God is the one who promised. What did he promise? Look at verse 17 (Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more). When will God remember our sins? Never. He promises. Those who are saved have the hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ and with Jesus Christ. We can endure because of God’s faithfulness to us. Even though we are at times unfaithful, God is always faithful and will keep us secure. Holding unswervingly means perseverance, constancy. Notice that the objective ground for our hopefulness is explicitly mentioned. What is it? “For He who promised is faithful.” He says, “Look, this is why you ought not to let go of this profession of faith that you have made. This is why you ought not to let go of your confession of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the One who promises is faithful.” The author of Hebrews has already figured you out. He is saying, “Your confidence is not based ultimately on the promises that God has made to you, but on the promises that God has made to Christ. Do you doubt them? Do you doubt the promises that God the Father has made to His Son? When God the Father promised to make Him a priest according to the Order of Melchizedek forever and when God the Father promised His son that He would give you into His hands, do you doubt that promise? You see, it is easy sometimes to doubt that God might be faithful to us. That is because of our lack of faith. But you know, even when we are struggling with our own faith, we know enough about our God to know that He is not going to break a promise to His Son. So the writer of Hebrews says “I want you to hold fast to your confession and to your hope because your hope depends ultimately on what God promised His Son and don’t ever think the Father will not fulfill His word to His son. Even in the weakness of your faith and doubt, you wonder whether He is going to fulfill His promise to you, don’t ever think that He is not going to fulfill His promise to His son.” And His promise to His son is to give you into His hands. The Son is not going to let you go. Our hope depends on what God did for us in Jesus. For in Jesus we see God is faithful towards us that even while we have sinned against Him, He still came in the Son in His unfailing love for us and died on the cross for us and rose again to open a new way of living for us. Here lies our hope. So the author of Hebrews says, “You draw near and you hang on, because God has made promises to His son.” We can depend upon God to keep His promises. But will we remain faithful to Him? To help and ensure we will need the third part.
3. We need fellowship (Love) verses 24-25
Finally he says this in verses 24 and 25: “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.” Doesn’t the King James put it to “provoke” one another to love and good deeds? He is calling us to entice one another, to stimulate one another, to provoke one another to love and good deeds. He is wanting us to see the consequences of Christ’s work, not only for our assurance and not only for our hope, but also for our fellowship with others. Provoke one another to love and good deeds. In light of all this truth, you stimulate one another, you entice one another. He is reminding us of the resultant responsibility that we have to one another as brothers and sisters because we have been made brothers and sisters by the finished work of Jesus Christ. If it is true that we have assurance because of what Jesus has done, if it is true that we have hope because of what Jesus has done, it is also true that we have obligations to one another because of what Jesus has done. So He tells us to love one another, stimulating one another to love and good deeds. Isn’t it interesting that the specific application of our encouraging one another is given as not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. You know it is a discouragement to the brethren when we don’t assemble together to encourage them in worship and in fellowship. The author of Hebrews is here saying that we need to care about others so much that we gather together for the sake of studying the word, of lifting up prayer to God, worshipping together, and engaging in mutual and shared life. The author is telling us there that Christ’s work has just as dramatic an implication for our relationship to one another as believers as it does with our relationship with God the Father. We are not only drawn into a relationship and fellowship with God but we are now also drawn into a renewed relationship and fellowship with one another.
Accomplished through frequent assembling.
In verse 25 the author of Hebrews goes further and says let us not give up meeting together.
An important purpose of our assembling is to “stir up love and good works”
(a) Yes, we do come to worship and praise God
(b) But, we also come to edify and exhort one another! (Heb 10:25a)
Therefore we must not become guilty of “forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.”
(a) The word “forsake ” means “to abandon, desert”
(b) I.e., to stop assembling with the saints altogether
(c) Some evidently had done so (“as is the manner of some”)
Exhorting one another through assembling is even more imperative “as you see the Day approaching.”
Are you Christian?
Let us remember this not only for our own sake, but also for the sake of others.
“Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing.” (verse 25a)
There are some who give up meeting together in the community of God. Some think they are Christians, but do not go to church services. It’s possible that some say “I’m Christian” but give up meeting together with God’s people, in God’s house, on God’s day. We are not called as Christians into isolation. We are called into the family of God. We are brothers and sisters. We are called to encourage, inspire and correct one another. We are His body, we are His church and the various parts of the body need each other.
We cannot live a Christian life while neglecting the fellowship of believers. This is a valuable time for our spiritual nourishment. God did not design Christians to be completely independent, but rather to be interdependent – to depend on one another to encourage them. Church cannot be substituted with our personal study, nor with only watching it on TV or the Internet. The church is the body of Christ, the community of believers, and it is imperative that we continue meeting together. Together is very important.
“But let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (verse 25b)
Let us encourage one another.
One of the highest human privileges and duties and responsibilities = encouragement.
This world is full of discouragement and discouragers.
Many times, a word of thanks, praise, or cheer, has kept a man on his feet.
Remember Jesus’ blessings in Matthew chapter 8 “Blessed are the …
Let me add another blessing:
“Blessed is the one who encourages others, for theirs is encouragement.”
We need encouragement together. Here I find such a true and beautiful illustration of when we have a braai, look at how the coals that lie together keep burning and keep the heat. But then take one coal out and leave it on the side alone by itself and see how quickly it dies and grows cold. Is this not so true about our walk with God. We need each other to keep the fire burning. How is your fire in your relationship with God?
Finally, our duty as Christians together = “all the more” pressing because the time is short and the Day is approaching”.
Conclusion
We are encouraged to:
(a) Draw near to God in full assurance of faith
(b) Hold fast the confession of our hope
(c) Consider one another to stir up to love and good works.
As motivation to heed this call, we are reminded of:
(a) The “new and living way” now open to God, made possible by Jesus’ death
(b) The High Priest who now serves for us over the house of God
(c) How we have been “consecrated” through having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water
(d) How He who has promised is faithful
(e) How we have each other to encourage us along
(f) The approaching Day, in particular the Day of Judgment.
If we truly appreciate the blessings we now have in Christ, we will do all that we can to draw closer to God, hold fast that hope which we confess, and utilize the opportunities we have to encourage one another in love and good works!