Reflection: What a King! (November 24, 2013)

Christ the King Sunday
Malachi 3:13-18; Colossians 1:13-20; Luke 23:27-43

“What a King!” the people of Israel might have said as a complaint about how the Lord was dealing with the evil people in their midst. They knew God’s warnings that He would not tolerate those who rebelled against Him. But they also knew that people doing evil things weren’t facing God’s wrath but were prospering. They questioned why they should serve and obey Him when those who did evil “not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape” (Malachi 3:15). What kind of King puts up with such insolence and arrogance?

“What a King!” captures the disgust and disappointment of those who gathered at the Cross of Jesus. Mocked, beaten, and crucified, Jesus didn’t look anything like a king — and certainly not the king that they wanted for themselves. They were looking for a warrior king who would destroy their enemies and free them from the Romans. But the words “This is the King of the Jews” were posted over Him by the Roman governor to mock the Jewish people, who, in turn, mocked and insulted Jesus. “If you are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” they screamed. What kind of king would allow such abuse?

“What a King!” is the underlying attitude toward Jesus in our culture. Immersed in self-centeredness, entitlement, and excessive freedom, we have no place for kings in our lives. But if we did, we’d choose a far better king than Jesus; one who would promise what we desire, tell us what we want to hear, and guarantee our prosperity. In contrast, Jesus calls us to suffering and sacrifice, to deny ourselves, serve others, and live in humility. What a king!

Jesus is not the king that the world wants, but He is the King that it needs. “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:13). The callous inscription above Him on the Cross was ironically true, but not the whole truth. Jesus is not only the king of the Jews but He is the king of all people, even those who mock, ridicule, and reject Him. He holds the keys to death and hell as well as the keys to His Kingdom of Grace. When He returns in glory “every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:10–11). In fear or in joy, every person, every ruler, every world leader from every age of humanity will bow down to Jesus. What a King!

Click here to listen to the sermon "What a King!" (or right-click to download the MP3 file).

Reflection: This Will Be Your Opportunity ..." (November 17, 2013)

The 26th Sunday after Pentecost
Malachi 4:1-6; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-28

Thomas Edison once said "The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work." Jesus would probably find a lot to agree with in Edison's comment. However, Jesus didn't describe opportunity in terms of hard work but of hard circumstances. As He explained to His disciples how terrible things would get when the world’s resistance to the Gospel grows more and more intense as the Last Day approaches, He gave them (and us) His perspective of those terrible days. “This will be your opportunity to bear witness,” Jesus said. Time has proven Jesus to be right. Whenever the Church has faced great hardship and persecution faithful disciples of Jesus have used the opportunities to share the Gospel. Many were put to death for bearing their witness. But, as the early church leader Tertullian (160-225 AD) wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

Why is it that Christians under persecution, even facing death for the Faith, can see in their hardships opportunities to bear witness to Jesus while we consistently and habitually miss those opportunities in our safe and protected circumstances? Even though our religious rights are eroding through legislation and court actions, we are free to speak of Jesus in our everyday lives with little or no risk of persecution. And when we do face some hardships for bearing witness to Jesus, our troubles are trivial compared to Christians in different eras and believers in other parts of the world today. We’re not very good at recognizing opportunity in hardship. But, given that the hardships of being believers in our culture are only going to grow more widespread and more intense, we need to get better at it.

The inevitability of the hardship, suffering, and persecution of Christians is found in God’s Word. “The day is coming” Malachi declares. “The days will come” Jesus plainly states. “You will be delivered up” He warns us. It’s only a matter of when and where these things will happen to His Church. He tells us to be ready, to “not grow weary in doing good,” and to “straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” And our redemption is drawing near and through us it is also drawing near to those who do not know the love, joy, and peace of Jesus but can and might if we take to heart that in these things will be our great opportunity to be witnesses of Jesus.

Click here to listen to the sermon "This Will Be Your Opportunity ..." (or right-click to download the MP3 file).

Reflection: Approaching Jesus (November 10, 2013)

The 25th Sunday after Pentecost
Exodus 3:1-15; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, 13-17; Luke 20:27-40

As our culture’s celebrities try to outdo one another in exposing themselves through revealing clothing, it’s clear that we’ve let our casual attitudes go too far. While our culture once held to the axiom that “clothes make the man,” there seems to be little regard today for what was once accepted as proper dress. One example of this is how people dress for court appearances. While lawyers still dress up their clients to make a good (if misleading) impression of defendants, many others see no problem coming before the court wearing whatever’s comfortable. In some cases such people have been sent away until they can present themselves in attire suitable and with an attitude appropriate for approaching the court.

It’s the underlying attitude, rather than the outward clothing, that is the real problem we have in our culture. People see themselves as perfectly worthy of approaching whomever they care to (or have to) in whatever manner they feel like. If such an attitude is not tolerated by human judges, how much more harshly should such an attitude be dealt with by the Judge of all creation? Yet people continue to approach Jesus as though they are entitled to come into His presence and He should be happy that they’ve made any appearance at all. They approach Jesus just as smugly and confidently as the Sadducees did when they came challenging Him with their silly question about the Resurrection. What a contrast to the way that
Moses approached God when he saw the burning bush on Mt. Horeb. Once Moses understood that he was in the presence of the Almighty, he covered his face and turned his eyes away to keep from looking upon our holy God. Moses realized that he  had no business being in God’s presence and no right to approach Him. It was only by God’s Word and through His mercy that such a sinful man could come into the presence of the Lord.

How are you approaching Jesus? Do you have the attitude of the Sadducees and the people of our culture? Or do you shy away from God’s presence out of fear and shame? Actually, Jesus is inviting you to approach Him in an altogether different way: as one whom He considers worthy to attain the Resurrection, chosen by Him to be saved, and who can approach Him in the confidence that comes through His forgiveness. By His grace you can stand firm before Him now and in the day of judgment which is coming with the approaching Jesus.

Click here to listen to the sermon "Approaching Jesus" (or right-click to download the MP3 file).

Reflection: It's a Love/Hate Relationship (November 3, 2013)

All Saints Sunday
Revelation 7:9-17; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

We know about love/hate relationships. Some are between us and our possessions, especially our devices. We love our mobile phones and all of the amazing things they can do; and we hate them when they malfunction, drop a call, or make us feel inept. We also have love/hate relationships with our sports teams. We love them when they’re winning and when they make it into post-season play, but we hate them when they have losing streaks or blow an important game. The more difficult love/hate relationships that we experience are the ones we have with the people in our lives whom we love even though they do or say things that anger, hurt, or disappoint us. But the one that is most destructive to us is the love/hate relationship we have with the world.

We love the world. We embrace its ideas of success. We pursue the goals that it says are important. We seek worldly comfort and security. We expend our time, money, and energy trying to win the favor and blessings of worldly people. As much as we love the world, the world hates us. But we won’t admit that the world hates us. And even if we do realize that the world hate us, we don’t understand why it does. We've forged a dysfunctional, co-dependent relationship with the world and live in a dangerous denial. We adjust and adapt to the world’s mistreatment in order to get what we can out of the hate-filled object of our affections. When we do, we’re missing out on the greater blessings of living in active opposition to the world.

When Jesus said, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account” He was calling us to end our love affair with the world and live as the children of God. As the children of God our first and only love is Him who has shown us the extent of His love by suffering and dying for us — and for the world that still hates Him. When we reject the self-serving advances of the world and find our hope, peace, safety, and security in the arms of the God who unconditionally loves us, the world reviles us. When we seek to share His love to liberate those who are captive to the  lusts of the world, the world persecutes us. When we model the love of Jesus in our lives, the world speaks all kinds of evil against us. Why? Because we are His saints, we are His children, and even though He loves the world the world hates Him. The world hates us because it hates Him. When we see this we find in Jesus the strength to ending our love/hate relationship with the world. Jesus has given us His Kingdom and freed us to rejoice and be glad in the loving relationship we have with Him — a love no hate can overcome.

Click here to listen to the sermon "It's a Love/Hate Relationship" (or right-click to download the MP3 file).