The Divine Crash

Dear Jesus, today people are adoring you and worshipping you, sacrificing their clothes for you.  For those who today will love you and will hate you on Monday morning, have mercy on them. They don’t know what they are doing.  For those who worship you on Sunday and worship Money on Monday forgive them.  For those who sell you out for political gain, have mercy on them.  In today’s American culture it is easy to turn you into an object to become popular.  Forgive us when that happens.  In all the ways we have forsaken your name, forgive us.  - Amen.

Ask your average church attender what their church is against and you will find a huge list of things.

Gambling, Drinking, Dancing, Homosexuality, Fun, Eating, Breathing, etc… the list goes on for hundreds of pages of things that they are against.

But if you ask an average church attender what is their church “for” what is the answer? If you have a well educated church attender you might get “The church is for Jesus.”

Really? That seems somewhat limited. Shouldn’t the church be for Grace, Second-Chances, Redemption, Holiness, and even salvation?

When the organization turns into being against things it can’t survive.  Instead, what if church was no longer about what we are against and became what we are for?

Yes, we are for Jesus, we are in the business of giving grace to those who eat in the sanctuary and we are even in the business of giving second chances to those who gamble for clothes.

For churches, there are some things it is good to be against. I would suggest the only thing we should be against is Sin in all forms. That is what we should hate.  However, just as much as we hate sin we should always be on the side of people. Love all people and do whatever it takes to bring people closer to God, even if that means we have to be “For” things we wouldn’t normally agree with.

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe hating people is better? I mean the last guy who loved everyone got hung on a cross, so maybe it is better to hate people different from us? To be against all actions we don’t like.

We are continuing to work our way through the Bible’s book of Hebrews.  Feel free to listen to the audio (which worked this time) and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

 

This is the continuation of what do we do now. Now that we call ourselves a Christian how do we survive the marathon of the Christian life. Sometimes it is hard. Sometimes it feels like it is killing us. but how do we get through it all. How do we live in to 2 Timothy 2:15 “Make an effort to present yourself to God as a tried-and-true worker, who doesn’t need to be ashamed but is one who interprets the message of truth correctly.” I think Hebrews deals with this specifically.

Verse 11

Therefore, let’s make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience,

- The author of Hebrews doesn’t want anyone to miss the rest that God has planned for them.

- For the author of Hebrews it becomes very important that EVERYONE knows and accepts God’s grace.

- This is our call. To make EVERY effort to get EVERYONE in to God’s everlasting love.

- Every Effort to get EveryOne.

- No exceptions.

- The message of God’s Grace is so important that we must tell everyone.  If we love someone we must tell them.

- We say things like “My kids will know about God on their own” or “My spouse will see me being a good person and ask.” That is garbage theology at best. If you do not tell people about your faith you do not love them.

This doesn’t say beat them over the head it says you make every effort to get every one. Yes, be a good person that is important but there are lots of atheists that are very good. What separates Christians from other “nice” people is the message of Jesus and if you are not making every effort to make that known then you do not love the people around you.

- If you have the cure for cancer you do not think to yourself “If I live my life cancer free people will ask me how I did it.” No you tell everyone who has cancer about the cure that you have found.

- If you are a beggar who finds a place giving out free food you don’t keep it to yourself. Instead, you start pointing other beggars to the place where you just found free food.

-The same things goes for the Grace of Jesus. You don’t walk around being sin free and hoping people will ask you. That is stupid. Instead you tell everyone who is afflicted with sin about the freedom and grace you found in Jesus.

- Maybe you start the story with what your life was like before Jesus. Then turn to how you found out about Jesus and then finish with what your life is like now.  Maybe you talk to your friends, kids, spouse, everyone you love. You invite them to coffee or a meal or whatever and you start talking. You don’t have all the answers but all you know is your were a homeless beggar who found the bread of life and you want others to have some of this great bread.

Verses 12-13

12because God’s word is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates to the point that it separates the soul from the spirit and the joints from the marrow. It’s able to judge the heart’s thoughts and intentions. 13 No creature is hidden from it, but rather everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of the one to whom we have to give an answer.

- First, this is not about the Bible. The word used here for “Word” is “Logos” which is about spoken word.

- In the Jewish world spoken words had power. It was more than just sounds with meaning it was powerful and went out and did things.

- When people spoke words those words took on almost a life of its own. Jewish people believed that words once spoken could never be removed and had the power to change the world.

- Look at this. In 1987 Pope John Paul II wanted to visit Poland. The government was afraid. If they let him he could start a revolution but if they said no it could start a revolution because the government was afraid of 1 person. So they let him come but they scheduled his trip out-of-the-way of press and did not advertise it. The Polish Communist government tried to keep it a secret but when he landed in Warsaw Poland on June 14, 1987 he was greeted by 250 thousand polish.  He stood up and he gave a sermon. A Quiet sermon and he said this:

We know how history flows on earth, how far we can go [in understanding

that history] with the help of our cognitive methods. We know how

history has flowed over the course of the last few millennia, as the supply

of evidence has continually increased. In recent times this increases in an

accelerated, absolutely stunning tempo. We know a lot. We know ever

more. At times even that which we know can hinder us in perceiving that

which is most important. We know too how history has flowed in our

fatherland within the limits of one millennium of history, already after

Christ. Already within the limits of what St. Paul called “the fullness of

time” (Galatians 4:4). We know that in our century resistance and

opposition against Him who “so loved the world” has risen—opposition

and resistance that extends to a negation of God. To programmatic

atheism. But none of this can change the fact of Christ. The fact of the

Eucharist. No matter how much God the Father, the Son, and the Holy

Spirit is rejected by people. No matter if people and societies govern their

lives by ignoring God, as if God did not exist. No matter how far negation

and sin goes. None of this changes the basic fact: there was and there

continues to be in the history of mankind—and in the history of the

universe—a Man, a true Son of Man, who “loved to the end.” He loved God

with a love that is worthy of God, like a Son for a Father. Love above

everything, with all His heart and all His soul, with all His strength, all the

way to its ultimate depletion in the agony of Golgotha. . . . That man,

Jesus Christ, is a “sign of opposition.” But no matter how far that

opposition towers over human heart in history, in the history of societies

and world-views, His love “to the end” remains human. And that is the

love of redemption. That is the love of salvation. . . .

     - And it started a peaceful revolution of love that toppled all of communism in less than 2 years.

- The words of one man became a rally cry that change the world. Words are powerful.

- If words from humans are that powerful how much more powerful are the words of God?

- Genesis 1 when God spoke words planets, stars, neurons, protons, giraffes, chickens, and Duck-Billed platypus all came in to existence…but not cats. They were a mistake when God stubbed his toe on the coffee table.

- Isaiah 45:23 says that God’s word is always effective. It is always doing something.

- John 1 the Logos, the spoken word was with God and that spoken word was God and everything that exists came into being because of the Spoken word. Verse 14, that spoken word that created everything became flesh and made his home among us. One translation says it this way “God’s voice gets flesh and blood, skin and bone and spends time with us.

- The word of God is Jesus.

- So then, this spoken word of God that became flesh and blood and is named Jesus is so powerful that he gets into your bones, gets in to those dark places of your soul that you don’t show anyone. This Jesus knows what is in your heart and even knows the real reason why you do what you do. Nothing can hide from Jesus. Everyone and everything that has ever existed has faced Jesus as if they were naked.

Imagine if the worst things you have ever done were suddenly exposed for the whole world to see, they were posted on Facebook and everyone saw them. We have to give an answer for it because everyone saw it. That is what Jesus sees and we have to give an answer for it.  any answer will not cut it. anything other than “forgive me” will not cut it.

Verses 14-15

14 Also, let’s hold on to the confession since we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, who is Jesus, God’s Son; 15because we don’t have a high priest who can’t sympathize with our weaknesses but instead one who was tempted in every way that we are, except without sin.

- So then, this spoken word of God that became flesh and lived among us passed through heaven and is our high priest.

- Remember priests are about bringing God’s words to the people and the people’s words to God. This is what Jesus does. Jesus is perfectly able to relate to God our hopes, hurts, dreams, and fears even when we don’t speak them.  This is why we pray for the “unspoken” prayers in church. Because Jesus sees our inmost parts and knows exactly what we need.

- When we hurt, when we are lonely, afraid, tired, worn out, and ready to throw in the towel Jesus knows exactly how we feel because he went through it with us. Jesus was there when everything went wrong. Jesus was there with you when that phone call comes in that changes your whole life.  Jesus was there with you in those moments when you felt utterly alone.

Verse 16

16 Finally, let’s draw near to the throne of favor with confidence so that we can receive mercy and find grace when we need help.

- Because Jesus was with us, went through it with us, and now Jesus is in heaven rallying for us, then we can go to the throne with confidence, not arrogance that we deserve something but with confidence that we have been given mercy and grace when we needed it.

- And maybe that is where you are. You have zero confidence in the mercy and grace of God. You feel alone, tired, worn out and ready to toss in the whole towel. In those moments, Jesus doesn’t promise to rescue you and make everything perfect. What Jesus promises is that even there, He is with you, guiding you, and even though it doesn’t make sense Jesus will be there every step of the way.  That even when we can’t figure out the end Jesus is with us in the midst of our hurt. and when we stand before him naked and exposed and trying to find the right answer to give. we will hear “I know. I was there with you. right beside you and I had better plans for you but I know you love me and I love you too. welcome to the rest that I created for you. ”

We only get to here that if we put our hope and faith in Jesus. not a prayer but always a constant choice to follow Jesus.

Sermon Audio

 

Sorry this is late, I really do try to post these by Monday but I have been fighting with my recorder.  For some reason it didn’t record beyond 4 seconds.  I will change batters and empty storage on it and see what we get.  Either way, enjoy the notes.

Verse 1

Therefore, since the promise that we can enter into rest is still open, let’s be careful so that none of you will appear to miss it.

• Last week we talked about the fact that we must follow God while it is still “today” since you are still here and alive then it is still today and you can still accept God’s grace.
• As long as you still have a pulse it is still possible to accept God’s grace and begin to follow Jesus.
• Following Jesus leads to rest, real rest. True rest. Rest from work and toil and hardship. Rest to be you and simply take a deep breath and just chill out.
• Hebrews doesn’t want their audience to miss out on this rest. Too often people work so hard that they exhaust themselves and when you are exhausted, worn out, and just tired you can’t make disciples. And if you can’t make disciples then the church will die.
• If you are exhausted and worn out than other people who are worn out and exhausted don’t care about the gospel because it doesn’t change their situation. They are still exhausted.
• There is also evidence then when you get tired you are more likely to get sick and get hurt.
• When you work to hard and you refuse to rest your injuries and your illnesses will become your rest.
• This verse is talking about an eternal rest. A rest with God. But there is truth in the physical rest too. You need to take a day off. You need to slow down, treat one day a week differently than the rest so that you don’t burn out.
• when you are tired and frazzled no one cares about your gospel because you are no different from them. so why should they add one more thing to their schedule. they are busy enough.

Verses 2-3

We also had the good news preached to us, just as the Israelites did. However, the message they heard didn’t help them because they weren’t united in faith with the ones who listened to it. 3 We who have faith are entering the rest. As God said,

And because of my anger I swore:
“They will never enter into my rest!”

And yet God’s works were completed at the foundation of the world.

• The Israelites weren’t helped because they weren’t united in faith? reference again to the people in Exodus whining about water and Moses disobeying God.
• You have heard the good news, the church Hebrews was written to has heard the good news. The ancient Israelites in the desert heard the good news. But the good news didn’t help the Israelites, why? Because they weren’t united in the faith with the ones who listened to it. The people who heard the good news decided not to listen to the ones who taught it to them.
• When the teacher teaches a lesson and the students ignore it the lesson doesn’t help the students.  It isn’t until the students join in with the teacher and actually learn the lesson that it helps the students.
• If a Doctor gives you orders and you don’t follow them then the doctor has wasted his/her breath and you have wasted your time and you wonder why you aren’t better?
• This is why church is so important.  You can hear the good news but if you don’t unite with the people who teach it and preach it then it does you no good.
• You cannot be a Christian and be alone. Christianity is a religion of community. We join together and hold each other up.  When everything goes wrong you need a community of Christians to help you.
• This is where our Cell Groups come in.  We have church and we come together but it is still possible to sit here for an hour and in a group of people still be alone.  But when you join together with other Christians in a small group of people you suddenly can’t hide. You become part of a group and you grow together, you unite with those who teach and those who listen and suddenly the good news actually helps you.
• J.I. Packer writes that if you are only in church on Sunday and not in a Cell Group during the week your spiritual life in unbalanced.
• He is right.  If all you do is come in and celebrate how good God is then you miss growing closer to that good God and closer to God’s other children. Your life is unbalanced. Like a bird with one clipped wing you can’t fly well.
• So you need a two-winged approach. Celebration of how Good God is on Sunday mornings and a Cell Group that grows you closer to God during the week. Unless you have both you are not united with each other and your life will be unbalanced.
• recently a cell member had full intentions of cashing in her savings and traveling the u.s. until she ran out of money. she puts it as she had no plan and just wanted to find herself. then she got invited to cell group and after finding her connection to other believers there she now says she has found her spot and says the song “I once was lost but now am found describes her life since coming to cell group.

Verses 4-10

4 Then somewhere he said this about the seventh day of creation: God rested on the seventh day from all his works. 5 But again, in the passage above, God said, They will never enter my rest! 6 Therefore, it’s left open for some to enter it, and the ones who had the good news preached to them before didn’t enter because of disobedience. 7 Just as it says in the passage above, God designates a certain day as “today,” when he says through David much later, Today, if you hear his voice, don’t have stubborn hearts.8 If Joshua gave the Israelites rest, God wouldn’t have spoken about another day later on. 9 So you see that a sabbath rest is left open for God’s people. 10 The one who entered God’s rest also rested from his works, just as God rested from his own.

• Hebrews quotes Genesis 2:2 that God rested then switches back to Quoting Exodus where God says his people will never enter rest. but then switches again to say that it is still possible to enter rest as long as we aren’t disobedient like those with “stubborn hearts”
• I think it is this: God rests. God wants us to rest. If we don’t decide to rest then we won’t rest. But if we refuse to rest in God then we will be restless until we do. And the only way to rest in God is through Jesus.
• But this isn’t temporary rest. It isn’t a day off here and there it is a final and perfect rest. A rest filled with the presence of God and lasting for all eternity.

So then.

• Perhaps last week you made a decision to hear the voice of God and start following Jesus.  That has consequences to it.
• We can relax right now, physically take a breath and just relax because eternity is dealt with and you don’t have to try to figure that out anymore. We don’t know the specifics of tomorrow but now we know that Jesus holds our tomorrow.
• We need to unite with other believers. Not just here for an hour but in a Cell Group as well. You cannot be a Christian alone. You must be in community with other people.  If you say “I can be a Christian without going to church” you are only fooling yourself. Hebrews says if you are not united in faith with other believers you will not be saved. You can be Baptist, Methodist, catholic, or whatever…what matters is you find a community of believers and you unite with them, for more than just 1 hour a week.
• We need to make a conscious decision to rest in the way God wants us to rest. When we say things like “I need 5 or 6 beers a night to relax” or “I can’t relax unless I do _______” then we are still living in the old way that says we figure it out.  Where as we need to say “God, I’m exhausted help me to relax” and then we need to make the decision to do that on purpose.

 

Last week, my family went to the Carnegie Museum of Natural history.  We went to celebrate my son’s 4th birthday.  He wanted to see the dinosaurs.

Have you ever been to a museum? There are so many rules. No cell phone, no flash, no touching, no stealing, no smoking, etc… it is easy to know what not to do.

However, one thing most people miss is how to see everything.  There is an unwritten rule of etiquette for a museum.

The best way to see all the displays is to always turn right.

If you enter the front door the ticket booth is either directly in front of you or on your right. And once you enter the exhibit hall always turn right. Fall the wall and when you have an option you turn to your right.  Eventually, you will end up back at the start and you go to the next floor and do the same thing and when you are done you will have seen everything. Make sense?

but the question for me has always been, how do you know this rule?  If you don’t know it you become one of those n00bs that run around the museum like a squirrel, and it means you might miss something.

The only way to know this rule is to have someone teach it to you. If no one teaches you, you won’t know.

You can see everything without always turning right but you end up walking more, disrupting more, and just showing off how much you don’t know about museums.

I think this is what it is about church.  The big rules are put out there for all to see, but the small ones. The small unspoken rules that show a person how to fit in are often not taught to outsiders and so people don’t get to fit in and they are left to figure it out on their own which means they will leave the church.

Matthew 28 Jesus says to make disciples and teach them.  How many unreal expectations do we have for people who are not in our local church? Do you say the Lord’s Prayer on Sunday mornings? What if I don’t know the Lord’s Prayer? Suddenly, I don’t fit in, I might get to be a part of it or I might not, because no one taught me yet I am expected to know.

So then, if we are going to treat church like a museum someone needs to teach everyone else the proper etiquette.

Dear Jesus, as we get ready to celebrate your resurrection may we get beyond the hype of food, family, and rabbits and remember the reason for the season, that you are alive again….forever. – Amen.

Let me set the scene.

We get this great vision from God.

We get the plan in place.

It starts to work, maybe a little slowly at first but it starts to work.

It starts to gain momentum.

Then there is a hiccup. Something goes wrong. Usually a small glitch.

In the room walks doubt.

Doubt that it would ever work.

Doubt that it was from God.

Doubt that you can do it.

Doubt….the demon of all good ideas.  If doubt gets enough room to roam it will eat everything and leave you striving for mediocre and hoping that as long as we “don’t make any waves” then everything will be fine.

 

I SAY NO! DEATH TO DOUBT! DEATH TO MEDIOCRITY!! 

When doubt creeps in and tells you that it can’t be done, remind that doubt who is really in charge. Who really owns the show and who is big enough to overcome the hiccups. The God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the God who formed the universe is the one who gives visions and

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