What does it mean to actually enter the kingdom of heaven? What does it mean to live our lives under the rule and reign of Christ, here and now? Given that his kingdom is here – and truly among us? As we’ll see this morning, the values, standards, beliefs, and behaviors that govern all who truly submit to his rule and reign, were like nothing that had ever been seen or heard before. They completely stood on end both the secular and traditional, liberal and conservative values of his day. Jesus begins with a set of eight foundational principles for kingdom living that have come to be known as the Beatitudes. In Matthew 5:3-6 we’ll take a close look at the first four of those principles in a message entitled, “A New Set of Values: Part I”.
Archive for Sermons – Page 21
During the first days of his public ministry, as large crowds were just beginning to follow him, Jesus slipped away to a remote and quiet place on a hillside. A small group of his earliest disciples came to him, and there seated before them, Jesus delivered one of the most foundational and consequential messages in all of scripture. Known to us as the Sermon on the Mount. As we’ll see, it is nothing less than a manifesto on the values and standards, beliefs, and behaviors that govern all who truly submit to his rule and reign. In Matthew 5:1, 2 we’ll be introduced to that timely and much-needed message, in a sermon entitled, “A Primer on Kingdom Living”.
Christians in North America have come to expect conditions conducive to the free exercise and propagation of our faith. Despite the undeniable fact that through most of history, most Christians in most places have lived out their faith in decidedly uncongenial circumstances and conditions. And despite the clear scriptural premise that it is “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). This past year came as an unexpected reminder of that clear historical and doctrinal truth. This morning we turn our attention to a defining moment, early on in the life of the infant church, when the heady days following Pentecost suddenly gave way to the threats of authorities seeking to shut them down. What was their response? And what can we learn from that response? We’ll take a close look at Acts 4:23-31, in a message entitled, “Voices Raised….In Prayer to God”.
The fourth and final scene of Advent seldom makes its way into our collective imagination. Either by way of our Christmas scenes, or Christmas cards, or Christmas pageants . It is nowhere to be found in our depictions, and yet it is an integral and central part of the story. Every bit as immediate and significant as the manger birth, or the angel announcement to the shepherds, or the journey of the Magi. In fact, it is indispensable to Matthew’s telling of that story, and the primary subject of his second half of that story. This morning we turn our attention to Matthew 2:13- 23 and that often neglected scene, in a message entitled, “For Still Our Ancient Foe”. A timely word to us as we close the books on 2020.
From his inconspicuous birth in a Bethlehem cattle stall, to the handful of obscure and remote shepherds to whom his birth was announced, we turn to the remarkable visit of a mysterious group of pagan astrologers, who came from the distant east, led only by a rare stellar phenomenon, that had somehow communicated to them the birth of the king of the Jews. To which, for some reason, they were deeply drawn. Just as significant as the shepherds being the first to hear, were the Magi being the first to respond. Who were they, why did they come and what was God revealing by their unexpected and unusual visit? Matthew 2:1-12 is memorable witness to the scope and extent of God’s saving work, as we’ll see in a message entitled, “The Far Away Have Been Brought Near”.
The first two scenes of the Christmas story ooze an atmosphere of humility. From the birth of Jesus in the cattle stall of a small barn, the scene immediately shifts to the remote and lonely night of a shepherd’s watch. Neither of which seem at all in keeping with either the profound nature or eternal significance of what was happening. Or were they? This morning we turn from the humble circumstances of the birth of our Savior to the equally humble circumstances and status of those to whom that birth was first made known. We’ll ponder anew the meaning, significance, and application of that revealing scene recorded in Luke 2:8-20 in a message entitled, “The Last Were the First to Hear”.
Jesus’ inauspicious entrance into the world revealed a great deal about the nature and purpose of God. It was not just about what God was doing, it was about the way God was doing it. God himself, in the person of his son Jesus Christ, taking on human nature for all time and eternity in the mystery of the incarnation. And doing so through an inconspicuous birth in a cattle stall, announced by the host of heaven to a remote handful of shepherds under the night sky, attended to by a mysterious group of astrologers from the East, arousing the machinations of a narcissistic king. None of which was without particular meaning and significance. Over the next four weeks we ponder anew what it meant and what it means, beginning this morning with Luke 2:1-5, in a message entitled, “The High Road to a Lowly Manger”.
It’s doubtful that Naomi and Ruth ever gave a thought to the possible impact of their lives. Given their obscurity and the shattered nature of their circumstances, they were simply hoping to have some semblance of a life at all. But God’s economy does not yield itself easily to human measurement or estimation. Often the greatest faith and faithfulness are demonstrated by those with the least, facing the most difficult. And often, those are the very lives of greatest significance and most enduring impact. Ruth 4:1-22 brings our story to a telling end and surprising conclusion, in a message entitled, “The Measure of a Faithful Life”. (Fifth in an expositional series of messages on Ruth: Faithful Lives in Fateful Times).
The faith and faithfulness of Ruth had sustained Naomi when her own shattered faith would not. But the faithfulness of God, so clearly demonstrated in the providential generosity and kindness shown to them by Boaz, had been the gracious means by which Naomi’s faith had been wonderfully restored and fully renewed. Now it was Naomi’s turn, it was her faith and faithfulness that stepped in to take center stage in securing the future of both Ruth and herself. Ruth 3:1-18 recounts one of the most daring demonstrations of faith recorded in all of scripture, in a message entitled “Operation Resting Place”. It is a gripping account and an important reminder that sometimes the life of faith can be a high risk, high stakes venture. And, as James reminds us, that true faith is a faith that works.
It would be difficult to exaggerate how bleak the lives of Naomi and Ruth appeared upon their arrival back in Bethlehem. To be a widow without a male survivor, accompanied only by a widowed, Moabite daughter-in-law, returning to your home and community only after a long time away, while other’s lives had moved on, was about as dim a prospect as could possibly exist. In the words of Naomi, they were “empty” (1:21). Their only consolation was that food was available again, and at the very least they would not go hungry. But one important factor was missing from that equation, as we’ll see movingly revealed in Ruth 2:1-23, in a message entitled “The Never Ending, Never Failing, Steadfast Love of God”. It’s an important reminder that what often looks like the end of the road, may be just the beginning.
Glorifying God by Encouraging
All People to Pursue a Lifelong,
Joyous Relationship with Jesus Christ