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When you spend a long period of time alone, you get to thinking.
At first, the thoughts might be fun. Like: It isn’t fair that coffee stains your teeth brown, but milk doesn’t stain your teeth white. My dog probably thinks "fetch" is a game that I made up and he loves me for that. Who is Mr. Dorito and where do I find him? And is the factory just like Willy Wonka’s? And if I attended would I eventually fold to pressure, sample the Cool Ranch Carnations will I be turned into a Dorito and be trapped there forever? But eventually… The things you think about, become less fun. “Look! On Facebook, there’s that one girl you knew way back in high school. Do you remember what you did to her? That was awful. You’re a terrible person.” “Do you see that couch over there? It’s a nice and comfy place to rest and be very rude to your spouse. Remember? You did it, yesterday!” “Check out the empty beer cans in the trash. Remember when you drank way too many of them and made a fool of yourself and everyone saw!” “Oh Listen! Do you hear that? It’s quiet. Because your kids don’t live here any more and they don’t call you because of the awful way you’ve treated them. You should be ashamed of yourself.” Shame is difficult thing to master. It can come out of nowhere. Today we’ll see how Jesus gives us VICTORY OVER SHAME. Before we do that, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth. Your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; and open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. Corinthian Shame Today’s lesson is from a book in the Bible called 1st Corinthians. It is the first letter written by a pastor named Paul to a church in a Greek city called Corinth. He writes this letter to encourage the believers, because a lot of these church members had been feeling ashamed. In Corinth, there weren’t a lot of believers. Most people believed in reason. They believed in science. They believed in what was socially acceptable. Some guy dying on a cross to take away our sins? That wasn’t reasonable. That same guy coming back to life? That wasn’t scientific. That guy being the one and only true God? That wasn’t very socially acceptable. And so… Society shamed the believers. The produce merchant grabbed the shiny red apple from the believer. “You believe in Jesus. Here. Have him bring this rotten, worm-infested apple back to life.” The neighbor knocked on their front door. “Listen! I heard you praying out loud from your front window. I don’t need to hear that. Keep that junk to yourself.” The church’s maintenance man got to church and did a double take. The decorated cross? It had more decorations in the form of a graffiti telling them to get out of town. The shame affected the believers. Some were questioning their resurrected Lord. Some were engaging in sinful things of the world in order to fit in. Some were trying to make themselves feel better by shaming other believers. In fact, there was a whole group that made it a point at each church to be divisive: “You were baptized by Pastor P? Ha. He’s kind of a dork. I was baptized by Pastor A. Pastor A is the real deal and so are his followers. The world might shame us, but at least I’m not as shameful as you.” God inspired Pastor Paul to write this letter to correct their thinking. He writes, “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. (1 Cor. 1:26) Take note of the verb. “Were.” It’s past tense. The adjectival quality ascribed to the Corinthians by the verb was true before they were believers. But now that they are believers. It’s no longer valid. They were not wise. They were not influential. They were of not of noble birth. Now? They were not, not wise. They were not, not influential. They were not, not of noble birth. To put it simply, the Corinthian believers had no reason for shame. If they were still feeling shameful? it was because… TRUTH: They were measuring their level of SHAME with the WRONG STANDARDS. It’s kind of like baking a cake. You need to follow the directions and use the correct measuring devices. If the recipe calls for a teaspoon of vanilla, putting in a tablespoon may mess up the consistency. If it calls for a ½ cup of flour, putting in a full cup may cause it to taste starchy. If it calls for one cup of sugar and you put in one quart, well, you’re following some six-year-old’s recipe for Kool-aid. The same thing is true for believers. When we’re measuring shame, we can’t use the wrong measuring device. II. Human Standards of Shame What were some of the wrong measuring devices? If you examine verse 26-27 closely, you can see the very standards. They are standards that are still around today and that can infect our mindset on shame. (1) Intelligence Paul begins by writing, “Not many of you were wise by human standards… (v.26) In preparation for our trip to Colombia, I am studying Spanish. I’ve been using phone book, telephone apps, and children’s books to practice. The other day I go to practice Spanish with one of my Spanish-speaking neighbors. And I said something to him in Spanish, the neighbor said, “Tu hablas Espanol?” which means, “Do you speak Spanish?” I replied, nonchalantly, “Si. Yo hablo un poco,” which means, “Yes, I speak a little.” To which my wife Julianna replied, “No. Tu hablas un poquito,” which means, “No, you speak a very little bit.” To be fair, that’s accurate. But I felt embarrassed and couldn’t wait to be described as “un poco” Spanish speaker. I use that phrase to bolster my Spanish speaking ability, because I was ashamed. I was ashamed because I was measuring my shame by intelligence. This happens to all of us. When our friends are mentioning the high-level universities they graduated from, we might feel ashamed of our Community College experience. When we’re in a conversation with people and they tell a joke that we don’t understand, we feel ashamed and laugh anyways to appear smarter. When someone points out that we misspelled some words on our social media post, we get mad. And block them from future posts. Even if you are intelligent, when the knowledge is from an area that you don’t know much about you downplay it. Like if you’re playing one of those trivia games at the local pub and you’ve been knocking it out of the park as you showcase your knowledge of history, arts, and literature. But the next question is: What is the biggest Football Game of the National Football League? And you answer: The world series? To save face, you start talking about how, “sports are the drudgery of society,” and, “true intellect is not measured by your ability to name batting averages.” But we say that, because we are ashamed. We’re ashamed because we’re measuring shame by intelligence. But your intelligence doesn’t determine your level of shame. (2) Power Paul continues, “Not many of you were influential…” (v.26) The word in Greek refers to “being able to do something” or “to be powerful”. This word is used to describe two different types of power, both of which, we often use to measure whether we should feel shame or not. (2a) Physical Power This is the reason that people can be so very intimidated to go to the gym. We measure worth by how much we can lift. If the muscle-bound monkeys are throwing a couple hundred pounds over their heads over there and I’m over here pulling apart a pink rubber band, I feel ashamed because I’m measuring greatness by physical power. Maybe this happens to you: Maybe you feel ashamed because your physical health isn’t where it should be. Maybe you feel ashamed because you aren’t as athletic as your friends. Maybe you feel ashamed because you ate a whole bag of Doritos for morning snack. But there’s a second kind of power that also induces feelings of shame: (2b) Influential Power This is the type of power that fits better into the context of 1 Corinthians. It has to do with influence in the community, at your job, in your family, or even in your church. Are you embarrassed by how many YouTube followers you have? Do you like your own Facebook posts just so it looks like you have more influence? Are you self-conscious about how your spouse has a better job title than you? So, you made up a title for yourself? Are you jealous of someone at church because they are in a leadership position? So, at every chance you get, you say things like, “That position’s really unimportant.” Be careful. Your level of influence doesn’t determine your level of shame. (3) Social Status Finally, Paul writes, “Not many of you were of noble birth… (v.26) The word in Greek here literally means “well-born”, that is, “born while well off.” It has to do with your genealogy and, as a result, your social status. Paul is reminding the Corinthians that not many of them were born into social privilege. It wasn’t as if they lost social privilege by becoming Christians. The point? Don’t measure your shame by your social status. Because the world would love to tell you when your social status should cause you shame. If you listen to it, it’s easy to feel ashamed. It’s easy to feel ashamed if your family doesn’t have a lot of money. It’s easy to feel ashamed if your family was homeless. It’s easy to feel ashamed if your dad was in jail. It’s easy to feel ashamed if you can’t afford the clothes to make you feel as put together as the other job applicants. It’s easy to feel ashamed if your family has a history of alcoholism. It’s easy to feel ashamed if you grew up in foster care. But if you’re feeling ashamed because of your social status, you’re believing the world’s lie. Social status doesn’t determine your level of shame. III. God’s Standards of Shame What does determine actual shame? It isn’t our standards. It is God’s standards. Look at what Paul writes next: 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. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (v.27-29) Some of the most shameless people at the time of Jesus were a group called the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day. And to be fair… They were intelligent. They were quite rich. They were influential in their neighborhoods. But they were also quite shameless. They’d flaunt their intelligence by using big Hebrew words that commoners couldn’t follow. They’d flaunt their riches by walking around in expensive robes. They’d flaunt their influence by reminding people daily, “Did you know I’m a Pharisee?” As a result of their influence, intelligence, and social status, they were praised by society! So… Imagine how they felt when Jesus left them out. When he selected “idiot” fishermen… When he ministered to “street beggars”… When he rubbed shoulders with prostitutes, thieves, and outcasts. Only to turn to the Pharisees and say. These. These ones that you shame. These ones are valued members of God’s family. Why? Why did Jesus do this? Easy. So the Pharisees would be jealous. So the Pharisees would be forced to think. So the Pharisees would realize they were using the wrong measurement. TRUTH: God chose the “SHAMEFUL” things (according to human standards) so the “UNASHAMED” (according to human standard) would realize their SHAME (according to his standards). God finds value in holiness. God finds value in godliness. God finds value in “without-sin-ness.” So many people miss that. They think… God must love me ‘cause I’m smart. …‘cause I’m pretty. …‘cause I’m muscular. …‘cause I’m successful. …‘cause I’m privileged. Nope. God doesn’t use human standards. God uses God standards. God says, “Be holy as I am holy.” (Lev. 19:2) God says, “Be perfect as I am perfect.” (Mt. 5:48) God finds value in holiness. God finds shame in sin. Therefore, Jesus came to earth. To remove our sin. Which would remove our shame. Which would leave God unashamed to have us in his family. But if worldly things get in the way… If you think like a Pharisee and use your own human standards. Then, you miss out on the Savior. TRUTH: Real shame comes from missing out on your SAVIOR from SHAME. IV. The Savior from Shame But… When you see your REAL shame. When you see your REAL Savior from shame. When you see Jesus? Shame goes away. Paul writes, “It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. (v.30) To be “in Christ Jesus” means to have faith in him. It means you are not in shame. But you are in Jesus. Believers in Christ are no longer in shame. And look at the benefits of being in Jesus: (1) Wisdom Because true wisdom comes from knowing Jesus. Knowing Jesus is knowing forgiveness of sins. It’s knowing removal of guilt. It’s knowing how to get to heaven. You don’t get that from achieving a high-level degree. You don’t get that from having honor cords. You don’t get that from answer 49 out of 50 IQ question on a Facebook quiz. You get to heaven by knowing and trusting Jesus. By God’s standard, knowing Jesus means you are wise. It doesn’t matter if you retook the 4th grade. It doesn’t matter if you got a high school diploma. It doesn’t matter what your GPA was. If you know Jesus, by God’s standards you’re wise. (2) Righteousness Righteousness is a courtroom term. It’s a term used by a judge. In fact, a judge determines if you are righteous or not. If you aren’t? Then you’re guilty. That’s shameful. The news will report that you’re guilty. Twitter will trend with your guilty verdict. Your face will appear on the front page of the Slammer. But in Jesus? You aren’t guilty. In Jesus? You’re innocent. In Jesus? You are unashamed because there’s not any wrongdoing anyone can pin on you. (3) Holiness Holiness has to do with purity. In the Old Testament, if there was something impure about you, you need to do a ceremonial washing. If you touched a dead body, unclean. Wash your hands. If you ate the wrong food, unclean. Wash your hands. If you had bled, unclean. Wash your hands. If you were impure, then you dare not come anywhere near the temple. You’d better stay outside the temple. Across the street. Near all the dirty scoundrels. But in Jesus? Cross the street. Walk up the temple steps. Go through the temple door. Walk all the way up to the front altar… Unashamed. (4) Redemption Imagine for a second that you’re a young man taking a young girl out for a first date. You promised you’d pay. They’re excited. You pick them up. You take them to the restaurant. You let them order up as my appetizers as they want. You’re excited to show them that you’re a working man at your newspaper deliver job. But when you get the bill. You don’t have enough money. You excuse yourself to the restroom and text your mom to wire you some money. Because it’s way less shameful than saying to your date, ‘Can you spot me a $5?” Jesus is our redemption. In Jesus, we have enough of a payment. In Jesus we have heaven. We are a part of God’s family. We are UNASHAMED. V. What Now? (1) Be Unashamed about Jesus! All of this leads to Paul’s final point for the Corinthians, “Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” What’s his point? Stop worrying about earthly standards. Stop finding your glory in how wise you are. Stop finding your glory in how influential you are. Stop finding your glory in how high your social status is. Stop bringing other people down just to make yourself look better. Instead, find your value in Jesus. Boast about his love for you. Boast about your Savior. Be unashamed of the one who removed your shame. Amen.
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Social distancing isn’t my favorite.
Maybe it isn’t yours either. But if you ever feel like you’re social distancing life isn’t very fun for you, google #SocialDistancingFails. You’ll quickly realize maybe you don’t have it so bad. Like this guy who wanted some bananas, because he wanted to stay safe, he ordered 3 bananas for delivery –and received three bunches instead. Or the guy whose phone stopped working, but because the repair shop was closed, he bought himself a brand-new phone – which he proceeded to drop as he opened the package. Or this family, whose kid heard his mom talking about how she’d have to give him a haircut since the barber was closed, so - he tried it himself. Social distancing is necessary for preventing the spread of the virus. But it may also exacerbate another struggle: Loneliness. Loneliness has been a problem in America before social distancing was ever a thing.
Today we’re going see how Jesus gives us VICTORY OVER LONELINESS. Before we do that, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth. Your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; and open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. What Makes the Good Shepherd “Good” The Scripture we’re going to start with today comes from John 10. Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd.” (John 10:11) Shepherding was very common at the time of Jesus. Shepherds would usually take their flocks outside the city. They’d watch over them as they grazed. They’d lead them to water. They’d protect the sheep from any dangerous predators. If you were a good shepherd, the sheep would be generally well fed. You’d be awake watching the flock, for as long as your shift lasted. And when the owner showed up to ask how you were doing, you were amicable. That’s the human definition of “good” shepherd. But that’s not God’s definition of a GOOD shepherd: The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired man, who is not a shepherd, does not own the sheep. He sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. Because he works for money, he does not care about the sheep. (John 10:11-13) In the literal sense of what Jesus says, let’s not judge the hired hand too harshly. We see the passage and we think – how awful that hired hand is – he runs away from those poor sheep. How could he do that? Well… If you worked at Starbucks, would you be willing to mix up a Latte, if it meant dodging machine gun fire over your head? If you were a dog walker, would you keep doing your job, even if there were reports of land mines planted up and down your street? If you were an accountant, would you be willing to do people’s taxes, even if alligators kept attacking you every time you started a spreadsheet (because they love “crunching” numbers)? Of course not. These are just jobs. They might not be worth your life. This is happening right now. People aren’t going to work, because it isn’t worth getting the Coronavirus and possibly dying. It’s the same thing with shepherding. Shepherding was a regular line of work. You got paid to watch sheep. Most shepherds would not lay down their lives for their sheep. Because $10 bucks an hour is not worth becoming a deli sandwich for a wolf pack. Most shepherds wouldn’t lay down their lives for the sheep. Most… Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11) Jesus is the Good Shepherd. You are his sheep. Jesus lays down his life for you. Key TRUTH 1: The Good Shepherd would rather lose HIS LIFE than lose YOU. II. The Good Shepherd Rescues And you ask, “How was God about to lose me?” OK… Do you want to know the honest truth about sin? Sin is reprehensible to God. Granted – some sins are repulsive to us too. Racism. Terrorism. Rape. But not all sin is. For instance: You probably don’t have a problem with a few lies. A gossipy comment on Facebook. A lustful look every now and then. A brief headache from a night of overdrinking. Even a short, three-minute complaint session about your spouse. Here’s where God is different. TRUTH: God won’t allow SIN in his PRESENCE. It’s like that one friend on Facebook that gets a bit too political for your taste. They post every hour on the hour. Unfortunately, you’ve paused to get angry at his posts long enough that Facebook recognizes your interests and shows you more and more of his political commentary. Until eventually, you can’t stand it anymore. You click in the upper right-hand corner. You SNOOZE him for 30 days. You have successfully removed him from your presence. That’s how God feels about sin. He hates sin so much that he wants sin completely removed from his presence. But it’s deeper than that. The other day there was a stink coming from our house. I couldn’t exactly identify what the stink was, so I tried various things. Open the windows? Didn’t get rid of it. Grab some Febreeze and cover the couches? Nope. Burn a Pumpkin Spiced Latte candle? Now it just smells like Pumpkin Spiced Latte stink. Finally, I got a bit too close to my dog, Clay. I gave him a sniff. And immediately took him outside. If you want to treat the stink, remove the source of the stink. God truly wants to treat sin. But he knows that he can’t just treat the symptoms of sin. He must remove the source. And what’s the source of a sin? A sinner. What’s the source of your sin? Look at what Isaiah 59:2, Your sins have separated you from your God! Read that again. Slowly. Your sins have separated YOU from God. It doesn’t say, “Your sins have separated themselves from God!” Nope. It says, “Your sins have separated YOU from God. “ TRUTH: God won’t allow SINNERS in His PRESENCE. Friend, listen to God’s Word. If this isn’t corrected, you’ll be socially distanced from God for all of eternity. It’s the worse social isolation of all time. Hell. Hell is eternal social distancing from God! It’s a place where God isn’t there. Grasp that: Sometimes on earth – things are bad. But…at least we’ve got God. Hell? There’s no GOD in hell. There’s only LONELINESS. And ISOLATION. Forever. But you see, this is where the Good Shepherd comes in. Even though God, as Holy Judge, can’t stand your sin, God, as Good Shepherd, can’t stand losing you. He noticed that you were missing. He noticed that you weren’t with the flock. He noticed that you weren’t safely in God’s pastures. So… The Good Shepherd picked up his staff. The Good Shepherd put on his cloak. The Good Shepherd walked out of his pasture. The Good Shepherd came into Valley of the Shadow of Death. (We call it: Earth.) And on earth, he found you. Surrounded by wolves: Sin. Shame. Guilt. All led by that alpha dog, Satan. But the Good Shepherd wasn’t afraid. The Good Shepherd didn’t turn back. The Good Shepherd made a deal with the wolves. “Let my sheep go.” “And…” “You can have me instead.” And the wolves tore him to shreds. They surrounded him! They roughed him up. They barked insults at him. They tore his clothing. They salivated as his blood. And howled with delight as he died. Why? Why did the Shepherd allow this? Why didn’t he run? Simple To save you. TRUTH: The Good Shepherd allowed the wolves to HARM him that they wouldn’t harm YOU. Allow me to give you a straightforward message from God’s word. Because of what the Good Shepherd did, the wolf of sin no longer surrounds you. Because of what the Good Shepherd, the wolf of guilt cannot lick its chops. Because of what the Good Shepherd did, you will not be eternally isolated. Because of what the Good Shepherd did, you are not separated from God. Because of what the Good Shepherd did, you…have been brought…home. KEY TRUTH 2: The Good Shepherd saved you from ETERNAL ISOLATION. III. The Good Shepherd Lives Granted, that is great news! You aren’t alone. You are in God’s flock. You are a part of God’s pasture. You aren’t spiritually isolated from God. Still… It’s a bit dissatisfying. We’re out of isolation. But we had to lose the Good Shepherd in order to get here. It’s too bad he couldn’t overpower the wolves. Look at what Jesus says in verse 18: No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. (v.18) Do you see that? The wolves didn’t take the Good Shepherd’s life, The Good Shepherd gave his life to them. And why did he give it? Because he knows he could take his life back again. TRUTH: The Good Shepherd let the wolves OVERPOWER him because he knew he could overpower DEATH. Talk about a skillset! I don’t think any other shepherd had that skill. Some were skilled at navigating to find water. Others were skilled at identifying non-poisonous plants for the sheep to eat. A few could probably sheer the wool into a killer mohawk. But the Good Shepherd’s greatest skill? Mastery over death. And that’s exactly what happened! Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead. He came out of the grave. He resurrected his own body. And he lives! KEY TRUTH 3: The Good Shepherd LIVES! Right now, he’s with you. Right now, he’s watching over you. Even if you’re at home alone. Even if you’re in a hospital bed alone. Even if you haven’t seen another person in 16 days! Jesus is with you. You aren’t alone. IV. The Good Shepherd Knows You Sometimes you’d rather be alone than with someone. For instance, I have no desire to be left alone with any kind clown. Not a creepy one. Not a regular one. Not Bozo the clown. Nope. I’d rather be alone than with any of those clowns. Maybe it’s similar for you. Maybe you don’t want to be alone with your 7th grade math teacher. Maybe you don’t want to be alone with your ex-spouse. Maybe you don’t want to be alone with that former friend who dragged your name through the mud. Maybe you don’t want to be alone with a stranger! Picture that. Imagine you were isolated with someone who didn’t know you and you didn’t know them. Ummm…Hi! I see that you have hair. So…what’s your favorite flavor of Dorito? Jesus isn’t a stranger. “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.” (V.15) Granted, there are billions of people in the world. It would be downright impossible for any one human to know them all. In fact, I doubt there’s anyone in Raleigh who knows everyone in Raleigh. Honestly, I don’t think I know all the people on my Facebook feed. But Jesus knows all of those people. And Jesus knows YOU. And he knows you WELL. TRUTH: Jesus knows YOU as intricately as he knows his FATHER. God is Triune. That means he is three in one. The Father is God. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Yet there aren’t three gods, but one God. The Father is God. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Yet there isn’t just one person, but three distinct persons. This is impossible to fully grasp and understand. But God gets it. He understands how the three persons in the Godhead intersect. He knows where one ends and the other begins. He grasps how they are all three perfectly united as one Being. And that’s how well God knows you. He knows your fears. He knows your sadness. He knows your heartaches. He knows what you’re going through right now. And he is there with you. Jesus knew your SECRET sin – and still DIED for you. That’s what he repeats in verse 15. He says, “I lay down my life for the sheep.” But Jesus isn’t repeating it just to show off. He wants you to know how well he knows you. He knows that it was YOU who stole the cookie from the cookie jar way back when you were 6. He knows that it was YOU who graffitied that bathroom stall in high school. He knows that it was YOU who passed on that gossip about your best friend. He knows what YOU did behind closed doors. He knows what YOU did under cover of darkness. He knows what YOU did and have never told anyone. He knows it. And he still died for you. KEY TRUTH 4: The Good Shepherd KNOWS you better than ANYONE. He knows your strengths. He knows your weaknesses. He knows exactly how he’ll work through you to bring more sheep into his sheep pen. This leads to the “What Now?” for the week. V. What Now? (1) Call Out to Sheep Outside the Pen! Jesus says this, “I also have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. (v.16) Jesus isn’t satisfied with the sheep that are in his sheep pen now. There are others who don’t know about his love. There are others who aren’t believers. There are others who aren’t a part of his sheep pen... …yet. If that’s you, listen to his voice right now. He’s calling you. Follow him. Come into the sheep pen. But for those of us already in the sheep pen, this is Jesus command to us. Call out to those other sheep. Tell them about Jesus. Share with them the Gospel message. CHALLENGE: If you know someone who doesn’t know about Jesus, write their name down. Write it down and then, here’s what I want you to do. Look for ways to share Jesus with them. You could talk with them about Jesus. You could send them a text message with a link to this video. You could send them an inspirational scripture. Do this today – and then – put the note on your fridge – So that you can do it again later this week. The truth is that sometimes you must keep calling and calling. If you have a pet, you understand this. As you keep calling and calling, the Good Shepherd’s voice will be heard through your voice… Calling them home. (2) Call Out to Sheep Inside the Pen Right now, we can’t physically get together. But we need to still stay connected. Look at what verse 17 says: Then there will be one flock and one shepherd. We are one flock. We have one shepherd. It’s Jesus. So… CHALLENGE #2 Write down someone that you know from our church community. You can use the same piece of scratch paper. Write down someone that you know and haven’t talked to in a while. Got it down? Reach out to them today. Text to see how they’re doing. Call to see what’s been going on. Facetime so that you can smile at them. Not only will they be hearing your voice. Not only will you be hearing theirs. But together, you’ll be hearing the Good Shepherd’s. Because sheep know their shepherd’s voice. There’s this video on YouTube of a field trip to a farm. They came to the pasture with the sheep and the shepherd asked them to each take a shot at calling the sheep over to the gate. The first kid tried, “Here sheepy! Sheepy!” Nothing. The second kid tried, “C’mon! Sheep. This way!” Nothing. A chaperone tried, “Baa! Baa! Come over here!” Still nothing. Finally, it was the shepherd’s turn. Now, it’s in Norwegian, so I’ll give you my best guess, but… The shepherd calls out: “Alright sheep. Time to go!” As soon as they hear his voice, the sheep look up. As soon as he finishes his sentence, the sheep start moving. Within 15 seconds, the whole flock comes running to their shepherd’s voice. The sheep know the voice of their shepherd. We know the voice of our shepherd. And our shepherd says, “We aren’t alone.” Amen. The other day I was sitting over at the Preschool eating some peanuts.
A young friend happened to pass by. She entered the room and asked, “Whatcha eatin’?” “Peanuts,” I said. She said, “May I have one?” “Sure.” There were only a few peanuts left. I gave her some and I popped the others into my mouth. As I was lowering my hand from this delicious bite, I noticed another young friend at the door. She came up to me. Held out her hand and said, “Peanuts?” Unfortunately, I didn’t have any left. Even after five minutes of tears and loud screams, I’m not sure that I was able to explain it to her. I was out of food – and there’s nothing I could do about it. We’ve been going through the MIRACLES of Jesus and we have seen his power over INDIVIDUAL health challenges and over NATURE itself. But what happens when a bunch of individuals need help at the same time? Does Jesus have enough power? Before we get into a miracle with that exact challenge, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. The God of YOU The miracle is written about in Matthew 15. It starts at verse 29: Jesus moved on from there and went along the Sea of Galilee. He went up onto the mountain and sat there. (Matthew 15:29-31) Jesus again stays near the Sea of Galilee. This has been one of his favorite places. It isn’t because the Sea of Galilee is such a “spiritual” place. There isn’t a temple there or quiet retreat center. Jesus went there because the people were there. There’s a lesson for us. God wants us as his church to not just bring his message to this building, but to bring this message where the people are. If Jesus were around today, he’d frequent a Starbucks. He’d love the local library. He’d be a big fan of Crabtree Valley Mall. He’d be where people are – and we, as his people, need to be where the people are. And the people, large crowds of people came to him. They brought the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable to speak and many others. They put them down at Jesus’ feet and he healed them. Granted – there aren’t any details in that sentence. Maybe he grabbed the lame by the hand and pulled them to their feet or simply spoke, “Get up.” Maybe he put his hands directly over a mute’s mouth or divinely patted them on the back to loosen their vocal cords. Maybe he threw water on those with leprosy or maybe he had them dive into the Sea of Galilee. Or maybe he just looked at the crowd and said, “All y’all are healed.” I don’t know. The point is that it happened. Jesus healed a crowd of people who came to him. That’s important. Because look at the next sentence: As a result, the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healed, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel. The Bible had mentioned the mountains earlier. More than likely, this is a reference to a group of hills down to the south east of the Sea of Galilee. That’s important because this was an area that wasn’t inhabited by the Israelites alone. It was filled with Gentiles (that is, non-Israelites). Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, North Africans, and West Asians. This explains the exclamation! They call Jesus “The God of Israel.” “He’s the God that dwells in Israel.” “He’s a real powerful God, too. He healed my cousin. The ‘gods’ of my country couldn’t do that.” “And apparently, he cares about me, too. Even though I’m not Jewish and I don’t dwell anywhere near Jerusalem.” TRUTH: Jesus is the God of ALL PEOPLE. Sometimes it’s easy to picture Jesus like the Genie from Aladdin. If you remember the plot, the Genie is only able to grant wishes and help the last person to rub the lamp. It’s the reason that near the end of the movie, Aladdin tries to get him to save his life, but the Genie can’t, because Jafar was the last person to rub the lamp and the Genie must listen to him. You might think Jesus can’t help you. As if Jesus only helps those people of one particular race. Or Jesus only helps those “churchy” looking people over there. Or Jesus only listens to people who have a middle-class salary or above. Wrong. Jesus is the God of all people. He helps all people. He died, rose, and proclaims the kingdom of heaven for all people. TRUTH: Jesus is the God of YOU. You don’t have to look any farther. It’s not like looking for a Valentine. You don’t have to create a dating app profile. You don’t have to worry about God swiping left. You don’t have to get yourself hyped up to go to a bar late at night hoping to bump into the “right god,” at least for a night. Jesus is the God of YOU. He came to earth for YOU. He lived perfectly for YOU. He died innocently for YOU. He rose triumphantly for YOU. He brings forgiveness for YOU. He gives the promise of heaven for YOU. He proclaims peace with the Father for YOU. Talk about a Valentine? This is more than just a picture of a Thomas the tank engine that says, “I chooo-chooo—choose you.” This is Jesus, your God, giving his blood, to be with you now – and in eternity. II. The Miracle But we haven’t even gotten to the BIG miracle yet. Look at the next verse: Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with me already three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they might faint on the way.” (v.34) Jesus was preaching out on the mountain and some people had been sitting there, staying there, and listening to him there for three days. (Like some kind of Christian overnight camp… …just without the egg & spoon races.) Apparently, on the third day, the camp food that people had packed had run out. They didn’t have any bread. They didn’t have any meat. They didn’t have a Fruit Roll up, a Twizzler or even a marshmallow for a s’more.” Jesus recognizes that. And he cares about that. And he speaks to the disciples about this. The disciples respond, “Where can we get so many loaves in the wilderness to satisfy such a large crowd?” (v.33) They were in the middle of the wilderness. There wasn’t any civilization around. It’s not like right here at church where there’s bound to be food in the Fellowship Hall. But…if we did run out we could head over to Chick-fil-A, Moe’s, Tropical Smoothie, Smashburger, the Mediterranean place, or even the gas station down the block (They’ve got a great deal of two hot dogs for $3). “Jesus,” they said, “we can’t get food from anywhere close.” “Emphasis on we.” But, Jesus... You on the other hand… Jesus asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” (v.34) Understand: a normal loaf of bread in Ancient Israelite culture would be about the size of a pita bread with a bit thicker substance to it. That’s not bad for one person to eat. But seven of them? That could maybe feed seven. Or fourteen, but it wouldn’t fill them. Plus, they have a few small fish. Currently, there is a list of 27 different types of fish that dwell in the Sea of Galilee. Some of the most commonly referenced in antiquity writing include are salmon and red-bellied tilapia. The tilapia is the smaller. It’s about 12 inches in length. A few of those? Feed a small family. Add that to the bread? Maybe 15. But those 15 are all still hungry. Look what Jesus does. He instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground. He took the seven loaves and the fish. He gave thanks. He broke them. He gave them to the disciples. The disciples gave them to the people. And… They all ate and were filled. They picked up seven basketfuls of the broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. (v.35-37) Dissect those words. (1) All Ate Not some. Not a few. Not half. Not even most. ALL ate. It wasn’t as if one little kid missed out because his brother ate his portion. It wasn’t as if dad had to forego food so his wife could eat. It wasn’t as if there was some guy who stepped out to use the restroom and by the time he came back there wasn’t any. All ate. Jesus cared for all of them. He used his power to provide for ALL of them. (2) Filled The word implies that food was completed in their tummies. There wasn’t any space left for anything else. We’re talking full—full. Thanksgiving full. Golden Corral full. Three bags of Family Sized Doritos full. Jesus provided enough that ALL were FULL. (3) 4,000 Plus Back in the day, a group of people was counted by the able-bodied men. Men were the ones who joined the army. It made sense to have an accurate account of people that you could use as makeshift soldiers. Scripture tells us that there were about 4,000 men who ate. But there were also women and children. If half of the guys had wives present… And half those wives had one child present. 7,000 people isn’t hard to get to. And yet all 7,000 some were fed by 7 loaves of bread. (Can you imagine finding a loaf of bread in the grocer’s aisle that said that? Feeds 1,000). (4) Seven Baskets Full of Leftovers When Jesus is done, he has the disciples collect all of the leftovers. Remember – they only had one basket to begin with. After feeding 4,000 plus people, I would imagine there to be ZERO basketfuls left. But the disciples… Bring back seven. FULL. This is a miracle. It’s an amazing miracle! It was witnessed by thousands! And just like any miracle. The miracle is a sign of Jesus’ power. Here’s the TRUTH: Jesus has power over the TINIEST MOLECULES of MATTER He had power to create bread out of no more bread. He created flour – without having to thresh the wheat. He created salt – without having to mine the Galilean Sea. He created yeast – without having to get yeast from wherever yeast comes from. He created matter out of thin air because he has power over even the tiniest of molecules. He has power over making sure you’re getting enough oxygen. He has power to make sure that the hairs on your head remain on your head. He has power to ensure that the raindrops don’t make the ground so wet that your car slides off course. He has power to create a one celled little human life without the womb of a mother. And… Since Jesus has power over the tiniest molecules… And Jesus is the God of you… TRUTH: Jesus has power in the TINIEST MOMENTS of YOUR LIFE. That’s important. Because sometimes there are moments in our lives that seem TOO small for Jesus. Too unimportant. Too unworthy of being cared about. But… Jesus does. When you’re feeling a little blue, because your friends didn’t invite you to the movies, Jesus cares and has power to heal. When you’re feeling a little guilty about those words you said, Jesus cares and has power to forgive. When you’re feeling a little bit sick with a tiny headache coming, Jesus cares and has power to make you feel better. When you’re feeling a bit nervous, because you’re the new kid at school, Jesus cares and has power to remain beside you always. When you’re feeling a little intimidated at the work you have to do, Jesus cares and says, “I am with you.” III. Enough! Look again at how well Jesus cares during those moments. During this miracle, he provided for the hunger of the crowd. But he didn’t just dissipate it. He didn’t just tide the people over. He gave them food until they had ENOUGH. TRUTH: Jesus changes the “I’m hungry” to “enough!” He did that for the people physically. He literally created matter where there wasn’t any in order to make that happen. Yes, I suppose he could do the same thing for us. But normally Jesus provides for us in different ways. He provides through… …giving you strength to work and make some money. …a Valentine’s Day gift card from a loved one. …a night out with friend who pays for the appetizers. …an awesome fellowship snack table after worship. …a financial gift of a caring church member. God provides so that we have enough physically. But he also provides….spiritually. Because though the focus of this miracle is the bread that satisfies their bodies, but we can’t forget about what Jesus did the three days before this. He spoke to them the Gospel message. In fact, that’s the reason that the people stayed listening to Jesus! They were so enthralled by his three-day sermon. Can you imagine a sermon that good? (Don’t answer that question). Jesus provides spiritually even today. He provides a plate full of forgiveness. He provides a smorgasbord of salvation. He provides an “eating out of your ears” amount of eternal life. He provides for all your spiritual needs. IV. What Now? (1) Give Thanks Did you see that in the story? Jesus, who is God, before he goes about created matter out of nothing, he takes a moment and gives thanks. That moment focused everyone’s hearts on what God was about to do. Do the same thing. This isn’t just an encouragement to say your table prayers. You should. But… Have you ever thought about the common table prayer? The one from the Psalms? “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord…” That before a meal. But also before. Also after being able to buy a new pair of socks at Target. Also after ordering a new DVD on Amazon. Also after getting a stick of gum from your grandpa. Also after receiving a 10th Starbucks drink free because of the Starbucks app. All of these gifts are from God. May we take a moment to GIVE THANKS. (2) Find Satisfaction in Jesus Because we are a nation of unsatisfied people. The world knows that, and it tells you that it will offer you satisfaction…. …in THIS BEER. …in this plate of NACHOS BELLGRANDE. …in this CUP OF COFFEE. …In this LEWD INTERNET PHOTO. …In this RAUNCHY COMEDY clip. …In this ANGRY Facebook rant. …In this approval from other church members. …in this approval from other family members. …in this approval from a significant other. But all those things? Won’t fully satisfy. All those things? Will expire. Will go away. Will end. But Jesus? “I am the Bread of Life. The one who comes to me will NEVER be hungry.” (John 6:35) Did you hear that? Never. In Jesus you are… NEVER alone. NEVER unloved. NEVER unforgiven. Jesus satisfies. Amen.
We’re on the final lesson in our three-part PEACE series. Back on December 1st, Pastor Robin reminded us that, as believers, we have PEACE with God because of what Jesus did for us. Two weeks ago, we talked about how that PEACE with God leads us towards PEACE with our family and friends.
But if we stopped the series there, it wouldn’t be complete. It’d be like an unfinished Dot-to-Dot puzzle. Ever you seen one of those in a coloring book? You connected dot 1 to dot 2, dot 2 to dot 3, —all the way to dot 57 until there is a completed picture. But what if you leave 58 to 79 unfinished? The picture isn’t complete. What was supposed to be a cookie ends up looking like the letter “c”. The same thing is true with our sermon series. If we forget to connect the final dot in God’s plan for PEACE, the picture ends up being completely different. Because God’s declaration of PEACE to us and guidance in PEACE with family and friends isn’t just so that YOU have a peaceful Christmas. God brings us to PEACE with him and guides us to live in PEACE with others so that we can deliver HIS PEACE to them. Our goal for today is to: (1) identify the BEST gift you can give anyone this Christmas (2) understand WHAT MAKES this gift the best gift ever (3) make a game plan for bringing this gift to people in your life Before we begin: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. The Best Gift The lesson for today comes from the book of Isaiah. It was written 700 years before the very first Christmas, at a time when the people of Judah didn’t have a lot to feel peaceful about. Recently, the Assyrian army had been conquering countries, devastating cities, and violently tearing apart armies. Now, the army had gotten very close to the country of Judah -- even completely destroying and devastating their sister country of Israel – where many of their relatives and friends resided. It was a time of war. People were anxious. People were concerned. People lived in fear. Young men were afraid to walk outside by themselves at night. Fathers were nervous that a letter may contain news of another relative killed in battle. Mothers cuddled their children closely, afraid they might not have many days left. It was to that kind of atmosphere that God brought this message: Rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck… For this is what the Lord says; “You were sold for nothing, And without money you will be redeemed… (Isaiah 52:2-4) Did you catch it? God’s message to the people of Judah was that Assyrian would not defeat them. God would free them from their oppression. Soon, they would be redeemed. But here’s what I want you to do. Put yourself in Isaiah’s shoes. He just heard from God’s mouth the very good news that the war would end soon and there would be PEACE. This is where there’s a shift in chapter 52. Because to this point, Isaiah has been recording what God has told him to tell others. Now, Isaiah comments on the job that God just gave him: How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (v.7) Feet aren’t normally that beautiful. They can be stinky. They can be smelly. They can have ingrown toenails. They can have thick pieces of black hair on the big toe. If you want beautiful feet, you’ve usually got to work hard at it. You need to scrub off the calluses. You need to clip your toenails. You need to rub essential oils on them to keep them smelling good. Even at Christmas, if you’re opening up present on your living room floor, you might want to throw on a pair of elf slippers or maybe some socks with jingle bells on them. Feet aren’t normally very beautiful. Yet… How beautiful on the feet of those who bring good news. Isaiah’s feet? They got to walk to tell the young men; they were safe. They got to deliver the message to the dad; that their relatives would come home. They got to tell the mother’s; it’s ok to send your children outside now. TRUTH: There is no greater GIFT than the gift of GOOD NEWS. Think about it: How awesome when a friend text message you, “There’s a 50% off sale down at Kohl’s.” How wonderful when you get the email: “Your Amazon Prime order has shipped.” How excited do your kids get when you say: “There’s only 2 more days until Christmas!” The message of Jesus is also good news. In fact, the word commonly used to describe the message of Jesus is “the Gospel.” Did you know that the word “Gospel” literally means, “Good news.” It’s the “good news” that we have a Savior. Friends, there’s no greater gift than good news. And there’s is no greater GOOD NEWS than the GOSPEL. II. The Beauty of the Gospel If you believe the Gospel, then perhaps you understand the incredible effect the Gospel has had on you. But for a moment, I don’t want you to apply the Gospel to yourself. I want you to apply it to someone you know that doesn’t’ believe it. Think about it: What kind of an effect would the Gospel have on them? A few things: (1) It brings PEACE Christmas is a time that a lack of peace becomes very evident. Kids proclaim STRESS: “You didn’t get me what I wanted.” Parents proclaim STRESS: “You didn’t get your child what you should.” Friends proclaim STRESS: “I can’t believe you aren’t spending more time with me.” Spouses proclaim STRESS: “Christmas reminds me of how terrible of a spouse you are.” People proclaim stress to each other. But with the message of Jesus you get to proclaim PEACE. That out of all their relationships that they have…spouse, friend, coworker, parent, child, sibling, 2nd cousin twice remove, there is ONE relationship that they are guaranteed to have peace with and it just so happens to be the one being that they have sinned against the most: GOD! (2) It brings GLAD TIDINGS from God One thing that has been popular in Christmases past is the Christmas letter. People used to write down all the good things that happened over the past year and update friends and relatives on it. I remember receiving a letter from a nice elderly couple up from North Minnesota that only included the latest updates to their garden: “The colerabi came in good this year.” Even the millennial version of it – no letter; just a picture from Shutterfly – announces some kind of good news; “We’re still a family.” When you tell your neighbors about Jesus, it’s really like you’re delivering God’s Christmas letter to them. And it’s one of the only Christmas letters with good news for the recipients: “Dear friend, Things are going well in heaven. My Son Jesus is still the Savior. His death and resurrection 2000 some years ago still paid for all of your sins. You are still forgiven. You are still at peace with me. You are saved.” (3) It brings SALVATION Particularly verse 7 says that when you proclaim the message of Jesus, you proclaim salvation. (v.7) It’s kind of like participating in a giving (or angel) tree. We’ve got one in our hallway. If you happen to be the one that delivers the presents, you’ll be deliving to some people who didn’t have enough money to buy gifts for their kids. You’ll be “saving” Christmas. But how much greater when it comes to the message of Jesus. They owe a debt that they could never pay. Sin. But when you tell them the message of Jesus? That big guilt that they feel? They’re saved from it. That big sin that they did? They’re saved form it. That terrible death that they’re facing? They’re saved from it. (4) It says, “GOD REIGNS” Which is another layer to the Gospel message. Because if the God who saved them, has good tidings for them, and is at peace with them is also the KING of the universe… Then, whatever they’re going through… …financial hardship. …job loss. …relationship struggle. …estrangement from family. …health scares. …their loving God is in control. …and all will work out for their good. III. Game Plan Friends, it is eternally important to share the message of Jesus this Christmas. So…here’s what we’re going to do next. We’re going to game plan. Because if you are one of the College Football teams you are currently game-planning for their upcoming Bowl game. If you’re UNC, you’re game planning for Temple. If you’re Wake Forest, you’re game planning for Michigan State. If you’re Duke or NC State, you’re game planning for whoever you play in the opening game next year. If you’re a believer listening to this today, you’ve got to game plan for how you’re going to share the Peace of Jesus this Christmas. (1) Share TOGETHER Because look at what Isaiah writes next: “Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy.” (v.8) Notice it’s a plural. You have more than one watchman so that you can get the message out to the entire city, quickly and efficiently. It’s the same for us. We share the message of Jesus TOGETHER. TOGETHER we pool our funds for social media ads inviting people to Christmas Eve. TOGETHER we work together to put on the best Gospel proclamation service Tuesday night. TOGETHER we sharpen our skills in sharing faith through Bible study. TOGETHER we challenge each other to share our faith. TOGETHER we pray for each others’ efforts. TOGETHER we plan to follow up on those who join us and connect them with the message of peace. And it has to be TOGETHER. Because the effect is larger when it’s TOGETHER. It’s like going in with your siblings on a gift for mom and dad. If you pool you’re money, you can get the next HD TV. But on your own? You never will. It’s the same thing. TOGETHER, we reach North Raleigh. But only TOGETHER. On our own, we NEVER will. (2) Identify your End of the Earth Verse 10 says, “All the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.” (v.10) It’s a promise of our God. He died for ALL and he wants ALL to know about their Savior. But… It’s kind of hard to invite someone who lives in Australia to worship in Raleigh. Remember though – Christianity is a team sport. God isn’t calling you personally to go to the ends of the earth. He’s just calling you to go to the ends of YOUR earth. To the ends of your block. To the end of your cubicle. To the end of your couch. Who are the people you know who don’t know Jesus? Look at the bottom of your note sheet. There’s a spot for writing some of those people down. Take a moment, write them down. Plan to share Jesus with them. (3) Include ALL Nations Because its’ really, really, really, really, really easy to say, “I can’t think of anyone who looks like me to share the Gospel of jesus with, so I don’t know if there is any one for me to share the message of Jesus with.” But… Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” All nations. That includes the people who look like you. And the people who don’t. The people who have the same culture as you. And who don’t. The people who have the same religion as you. And who don’t. Do you know someone like that? Don’t be too nervous to write them down. God’s peace is for them too! (4) Rejoice TOGETHER The final thing that I want to include is found in verse 9: “Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.” (v.9) And this is where I think we could do better. Because, we all agree that many need to hear about Jesus. And we agree that sharing Jesus is challenging to do. So… Let’s celebrate when it happens. Let’s rejoice when someone invites someone to Christmas via text message. Let’s rejoice when someone shares a scripture on Facebook. Let’s rejoice when someone brings someone along to worship. Let’s rejoice together, because we share Jesus together. Celebrating these accomplishments, pumps us up. Gives glory to God. And motivates us to keep sharing Jesus. Friends, there is no better gift than the message of Jesus. May God be with you as you share the message of Jesus. Amen.  We recently got a cat.
I know. I know…this sounds like a confessional. But, it’s true. After 33 years of claiming that I would never own a cat, I caved, and I did. And it’s been fun. She enjoys keeping us safe from any fuzz balls and dust balls that she sees. She loves to go hunting for leaves. She even enjoys a playful, piercing bite to my front toe. But the other day, my wife told me that she had done something crazy. Julianna texted me that we needed to close the windows so that the cat couldn’t climb the screen. I said, “Yeah. How could she do that?” Julianna said, “I see holes in the screen right now.” I said, “Those are probably from bugs or some severe storm.” She said, “I’m pretty positive it’s from the cat.” I said, “Oh yeah. Prove it. How do you know?” My wife texted me a photo of the cat climbing the screen. Oh. Eyewitnesses are important. They are verbal proclaims of the visual truth. They are the difference between… Fiction and non-fiction. A fairy tale and history. A lie and truth. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be starting our sermon series called EYEWITNESS. It’s all about the eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. I think we need to do this because the resurrection of Jesus is too big a deal to rely on hearsay, to trust maybes and to listen to theories. Our goal today is to look at a real eyewitness accounts… Of real people… Who had real interactions… With the really risen Jesus… As real proof of your real salvation. Before we begin, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. Mary’s Background The first eyewitness account that we are going to look at comes from a woman named Mary Magdalene. What interesting about Mary is that she doesn’t play a big part in Jesus’ three years of ministry on earth. In fact, there’s very little that is written about her except for this: Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had driven out seven demons. (Mark 16:9) It’s not even a full sentence. Just a passing adjective comment. But…one that’s pretty heavy. She had been possessed by 7 demons. Evil spirits. Fallen angels. Powerful. They had taken hold of her mind. Something that Bible theorists will suggest happens from dabbling in the demonic activity (the occult, psychics, blood sacrifices) and excessive drug use. Regardless how it happened to Mary, we know it was terrible. She had no control of her personality. She was a prisoner in her own mind. In a state of deep depression. With a helplessness that doesn’t go away. Except, it did. Mary was possessed. Jesus healed her. I don’t know exactly how, but if it is anything like Jesus’ other miracles, then it was probably as simple as Jesus lifting his hand and saying: “Be healed.” Which…Can you imagine? If you’ve ever had a counselor help you with a breakthrough. Or a pastor help you grasp God’s forgiveness. Or a fatal diagnosis that a doctor diagnosed, prescribed medicine and helped you defeat. You know the kind of deep connection that Mary had with Jesus. That’s why she had become a follower of his: She had been trapped, Jesus freed her. She had been guilty, Jesus brought her forgiveness. She had been depressed, Jesus brought her joy. She had been lonely, Jesus brought her family. She had been hopeless, Jesus made her hopeful. Until… Jesus died. He was violently, publicly, cruelly crucified on a cross. And all of her hope? Went away. All of her joy? Evaporated. All of her sanity… Started to slip away…. She could feel the devil’s grip tightening on her again. II. The Eyewitness Account That’s why she got up so early Sunday morning. You see -- Jesus had been killed Friday evening. They buried him. She would have gone to his grave to mourn, but they have this Sabbath rule where you can’t go to visit the dead on a Saturday. But Saturday was over. Like…just over. So…5am. It was still dark. It’s not like she was sleeping anyways. She threw on her sandals. Fastened on her cloak. And walked off to her friend’s house. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! “What do you want?” “It’s Sunday. We were going to go to his grave. We were going to go to Jesus’ grave so that we can honor him.” “But Mary. It’s not even light out yet. It’s still night time. It’s…just gonna take me a second while I get ready.” As they walked through the slowly evaporating darkness, it was mostly quiet. Whenever her friends tried to make small talk, Mary quieted them. “We’ve just gotta get to Jesus’ grave.” As they approached the garden, Mary worked into a sprint walk. She began opening up the bottle of perfume she had brought to pour on his grave and anoint his body. “Mary, did you think about how we were going to get into the grave? There is that giant stone that the soldiers put there to make sure that no one could get in. I saw some of those guys. They’re built like models. It took about 5 of them to move it, I don’t see how we…” She stopped talking. Off in the distance was Jesus’ grave. And… The giant stone? It was moved. Immediately, Mary burst into tears: “What did they do? What have they done? They couldn’t just leave him alone. Those jerks! Those losers! How could they do this? How could they leave us like this? Without even a chance…to heal.” She broke down. Her friends tried to console her. But Mary shrugged them off. She turned around and sprinted back towards town. She could barely see where she was going with tears clouding her vision. She made her way to where some of the twelve disciples were staying. She pounded at the door. She screamed at the door. She made a commotion till their let her in: “They took his body. They took his body. They book his body…the tomb is empty!” Two of the disciples rushed out. They sprinted to see what she was saying. And Mary tried to follow, but she grew too tired. Her legs got wobbly. She slammed her back against tree trunk. And fell to the floor. A mess. After sobbing for a good 15 minutes, She stood up. She didn’t have any tears left. She had to get to the bottom of this. She had to get back to the tomb and find some kind of a clue…a witness…a footprint that would lead her to Jesus’ body. She went back to the tomb. Her friends were gone. The disciples were gone. The stone…was still gone. This time…she took a deep breath…and approached the tomb. Inside the tomb, she found some men. Dressed in white. A gleaming, blinding white light. Radiating from their clothes. Radiating from their faces. Both sitting on the bier where Jesus’ body had been. Between them? Grave clothes. Folded ever so nicely, ever so gently, as if they were no longer necessary. “Woman, why are you crying?” they asked. “They have taken my Lord away! And I don’t know where they have put them!” Mary turned around. The men were nice. And it was strange that they were glowing, but…she didn’t have time. She needed to find his body. Outside the tomb, someone else. Hard to tell who – with the tears blurring her vision. It was probably the gardener. “Woman, why are you crying?” This is the one. He must have taken the body. He must have moved it at the requests of the Pharisees! “Tell me sir. Tell me…Please…Where did you take his body? Why did you leave the grave….empty?” “Mary!” The air was still. Mary’s breath paused for a moment. She had heard that voice before. She had heard that voice teach her about God. She had heard that voice proclaim forgiveness. She had heard that voice drive away her own demons! It was Jesus! “Teacher!” She cried as she grabbed a hold of him with a hug. As she hugged, she knew it was real! She felt his shoulders. She held him by the back. She felt the warmth of his breath. Jesus was alive. III. Resurrection Truth This is the eyewitness account of Mary. It is an eyewitness account that is recorded for us in Scripture. The guy who wrote it? John – he was one of the disciples that went running to the tomb after Mary told him it was open! And the book of John? It was written down and passed around at a time when Mary Magdalene would have still been alive. And she didn’t say “Nah, man. That’s wrong. It didn’t happen this way.” Nope. She said, “That’s the truth.” Which means. There are three really important divine truths that we need to take home with us today. (1) Jesus Rose from the Dead Granted. You might be skeptical of that truth. That’s understandable. Because most people when they are dead? They can’t do much. Their bodies just lie there and slowly decompose. And even people who are living – they haven’t figured out a way to bring people that are dead back to life either. But if this is true… When Jesus was dead, he figured out one thing that no one else could ever figure out while they were alive – conquering death itself! If you’re skeptical, Mary’s account is for you. Because think about how long it took her recognize that Jesus was alive. She saw the immovable stoned – moved and her first reaction? “They took his body.” She went into the tomb and saw two angels –glowing with divine splendor. Her reaction? “They took his body!” She went outside the tomb and saw Jesus – but was so overcome with emotion that she says to Jesus, “You must have taken his body!” Thing is. She wasn’t wrong. It isn’t until Jesus… Gently… Calmly… Calls her name… That she realizes the incredible truth right in front of her! Friends, you might be dealing with sadness. You might be dealing with difficulties in your marriage. With abandonment. With challenges at work. With a financial crisis. With a terrifying diagnosis. With guilt, shame, and sin. And sometimes that can all cover our hearts and close our eyes and make us say, “There is no HOPE in this world! This Jesus’ thing can’t be true.” But… When that happens… Hear Jesus’ voice… He’s calling to you. “I am alive.” (2) The Work of Salvation is Finished Check out verse 17: “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” The reason Jesus came to earth was to win your salvation. He came to suffer death for your sins. He came to earn your way to heaven. He came to pay for eternal life. If he’s heading up to heaven, guess what? That work is done. Granted – that can be hard to believe. It’s like Easter weekend. Maybe you are planning on having relatives to your house. Maybe you wanted to clean for your relatives -- so you make a check list: Sweep the floor, dust the counters, disinfect the countertops, clean the bathrooms, do the laundry, make the beds, clean up the toys, etc. And you go to work. And you come home and…. Your husband says, “Surprise! I did it already. It’s finished. You don’t have to clean anymore!” How do you respond? Probably…by sweeping the floor, dusting the counters, disinfecting the countertops, etc. When Jesus tells you that it is finished. It is finished. Your salvation is won. Your sins are forgiven. Eternal life is yours. Heaven is your home! “It is finished.” You don’t need to try and earn his love. You don’t need to complete your salvation. You don’t need to pay your way into heaven by working hard and becoming perfect. Nope. Jesus did it for you. Believe. And… (3) Go and Tell Because right after Mary realizes that Jesus is standing right in front of her… Having conquered sin and death… Renewing her hope again… She’s overcome with emotion. She holds onto him. She doesn’t want to ever go back to guilt and loneliness and despair. Never again! But Jesus says something interesting: “Do not hold onto me. Instead, go and tell.” (v.17) Why? Because there were others who had lost their hope. There were others who were in despair. There were others who were shacked to guilt. Mary’s eyewitness message – would change that. She would give them hope. She would give them joy. She would give them freedom. Friends, there are still people like that today. There are people who don’t know their Savior. People who don’t know the resurrection story. People who think Easter is all about sugary yellow marshmallow chicks They are overcome with guilt. They are dealing with a lack of joy. They are struggling with despair. Can you do me a favor? Listen to your Savior. Go and tell. Later today at your Easter party, turn to the people who didn’t come to worship to celebrate this message and share the story of Easter. Go and Tell. Later this evening when you are on your phones, take a note or two from this sermon and share on social media. Go and tell. Tomorrow morning as you head to work – gather around the coffee pot, talk with your coworkers about why you liked Easter and how amazing this message of the risen Savior is. Go and tell. And understand this. You won’t be just giving them a story. You won’t be just telling them a fairy tale. You’ll be giving them true hope. Absolute. Real. True. Hope. Amen.  We are continuing our series called the Light of the World. We have already heard that the Light shines against the Darkness of this world and that it shines into the darkness of our own hearts. But today we want to unveil in Scripture how Jesus’ light shines through you.
Before we do that, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. Why Shine? The lesson for this morning comes from Matthew 5:14-16. In this section, Jesus says: You are the light of the world… (v.14-16) In context, the “you” is a reference to the people that were listening to Jesus out on a mountain. By extension, it is a reference to people that listen to Jesus’ words in the 21st century. By specific extension, it is a reference to people that are listening to Jesus in a cozy little church building in North Raleigh on December 23rd, 2018. AKA? You. And Jesus has an important edict for you. He says, “You are the light of the world…Let your light shine.” It’s similar to putting up Christmas lights. Maybe this happens to you. You put all of the lights up. You intricately string the lights around the tree. You pass over branches and under ornaments. You have it all nicely arranged and then? You gather the family around with a mug of hot cocoa to plug the lights in and… NOTHING. You might say to the lights “SHINE! That’s what I bought you for. Shine already!” You might turn and twist and prod and poke and replace the little bulb that “I think it looks burnt out.” All along the way you start muttering: “Shine already.” When you tell a light to shine, you are simply telling it to do what it is was made to do. And when God tells us to shine, he is asking us to do exactly what he made us to do. God tells you to shine: Because that’s what light does. Growing up, one of my sisters saved up some money and bought a little mechanical sunflower from Radio Shack. The little mechanical sunflower was an alarm clock that when it went it off – it didn’t make one of those loud BEEPING noises. Nor did it make one of those obnoxious CLANGING sounds. It was worse. Whenever the alarm went off it began to sing: “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. Haven’t you noticed, how much I love you; so don’t take my sunshine away.” It always sang in this high-pitched chipmunk voice. It always sang very early in the morning. It always sang when I didn’t feel like being anybody’s sunshine! Maybe Jesus’ words strike you like that. Pastor, I don’t feel very much like shining. I’ve been really cranky this Holiday season. Rather than jolly, I’ve been “jelly” of all the other mom friends on Facebook who have it together enough to get Christmas photos taken – and in the mail – and with actual words on them! Rather than merry, I’ve been mercilessly badmouthing my coworker Fred so that I might get the biggest Christmas bonus this year. Rather than cheery, I’ve been rather dreary. Because Christmas doesn’t distract from the fact that my life isn’t going so well right now! And honestly…I FEEL like a screw up. I FEEL like a sinner. I FEEL like a no good, dirty rotten scoundrel. I feel like a terrible husband, a horrible mom, and a very bad child. I do not feel like a light at all. How can I possible be one? Do remember this phrase from a sermon or two ago? “You were once darkness, but now…you are light in the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:8) Do you get it? You are not a light based on what you do for God; but on what God has done for you. You are not a light based on how you lived; but on how Christ lived. You are not a light based on how you feel; but on what Christ felt for you. And here’s what Christ did. He lived perfectly when you could not. He died innocently in your place. He rose triumphantly – in a brilliant flash of light – conquering sin and death. And now He has made you a light. Like a match that lights a candle, Christ lights the fabric of our hearts. He calls you forgiven. He calls you his child. He calls you HIS LIGHT. Even when you don’t feel like light. That is exactly what you are. Because that is what Christ made you. Shine. But that’s not even the end game. Look at the next point: “You are the light of the world…Let your light shine before people that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (v.14) Glorify is an interesting verb. It means to make brilliant. To light up. To exalt brilliantly. It’s a word associated with hosts of angels shining brightly in the sky on the very first Christmas. With Jesus’ face when it shone brightly on a mountain outside Jerusalem. With the glory of the light filled resurrection of Jesus. And the word has a subtle shift when it comes to those who don’t have the ability to manifest actual, physical, visible light: When we see the amazing thing of our Savior’s birth, we glorify God. When we see the brilliance of his face on the mountain, we glorify God. When we hear of the amazing truth of his resurrection, we glorify God. And when we let our light shine before people, they see it and sometimes – they glorify God too. It’s like a chain reaction. God enlightens your heart. You become a light. Then, he uses you to share the message of his glory. And…over time… Eventually…. God willing… He brings them to the light, too. Also: God wants us to shine, because that’s how the light spread To put it differently: God wants us to share our faith because that’s how faith spreads. II. Tips on Shining 1) Hide it Under a Bushel? NO! That’s a phrase from a famous children’s song, but I think it finds its origins in this section from Matthew. Jesus says, “People do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl.” (Mt. 5:14) That doesn’t make much sense does it? I doubt, for instance, that any of you spent hours adorning your Christmas tree with Christmas tree lights only to cover it with a big, black shroud. Nor would it make any sense to buy ask for a brand-new lamp for Christmas. One from Joanna Gaine’s collection. Open up the present at Christmas, run over to a nearby outlet, plug it in, turn it on, and then place a big old bucket over the top of it. It doesn’t make much sense to cover any kind of a lamp. Similar – it doesn’t make sense to cover up your faith. And yet, it’s so easy to do. Don’t cover up your light. Don’t hide it under a bushel. Or a bowl. Or a non-Christian everyday life veneer. Don’t hide your faith. Let it shine. 2) Put your Faith in a Prominent Place Jesus says, “People do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand so that it gives light to everyone in the room.” (v.15) We’ve been talking about getting some new LED lamps in the parking lot. And I was talking to the Duke Energy guy and he started discussing with me the amount lumens, the wattages and the shine radius. The shine radius allows you to see where the light of the new lamps will touch. He even had graph paper with little lines to show exactly how far we might expect light to go and the best position to place the fixture on the pole to get maximum exposure. Why not do the same with our faith? Why not position ourselves to maximize the sharing of our faith? Rather than hide it, place your faith in a prominent place of your life. Talk about your Savior with a family member who doesn’t believe in their Savior. Make sure your Christmas cards mention the reason for the season. Tell your kids that Jesus loves them. Don’t shy away from posting inspirational Bible passages on social media. Don’t stop asking your spouse to join you for worship. Don’t remove the Jesus’ background from your computer just because that one guy in the cubicle next to you doesn’t love it. And let your faith shine through your actions - Hold more doors than normal. Smile nicely. Make someone else a cup of cocoa. Give a very generous gift to someone that you know needs it. Let your light have a prominent place in your life and then… 3) Be Non-Selective in Shining Because it is so easy to be picky and choosy with whom we want to share the message of Jesus. Let’s see – I’ll invite that coworker who I know already knows about Jesus. But that one guy – that I’m unsure about? I’ll just wish him Happy Holidays. And I’ll be sure to give a nice Christmas card to neighbor A. But neighbor B? He’s kind of my enemy. So…no card for him. I will absolutely share the message of Christmas with my family – except for cousin Bob, because his sexual preference makes sharing Jesus, kinda, uncomfortable. Jesus says that when someone puts a light on a stand it “gives light to everyone in the room.” (v.15) Lamps aren’t selective. They don’t stop shining when they are around someone who makes them uncomfortable is around. You don’t stop shining either. So, here’s the challenge. You still have time. Think about someone that makes you nervous. Someone that you don’t necessarily like. Got them in mind? Cool. Now, go and shine. Shine the light of your Savior into their heart. For motivation? Think of your Savior! He died for you while you were knee deep in disgusting sins. He rose for you while you treated him like an enemy. He brought his message of love to you while you were doing the very things that he hates! Because of his non-selective way of shining on us, we are non-selective in the way that we shine, too! 4) Share in Your “House” Because it mentions that the lamp on a stand gives light to everyone in the house. (v.15) It doesn’t give light to people outside the walls of the house, because it’s just a small table lamp. It can only be expected to shine so far. That’s important. Because it might be impossible for you to let your light shine to someone in China. it will be really hard to let your light shine to someone in Australia. It may even be difficult to let your light shine to someone across town. But… That doesn’t mean that we stop shining. We simply shine wherever God has placed us. That means in your literal home. …With your spouse. …With your children. …With the guests that join you for Christmas meals! But it also means…anywhere you have spherical influence! …at the hair salon. …at the Starbucks. …in line at the grocery store. …to your mail person. …to your UPS guy. …The FedEx guy. …to your Amazon Prime delivery guy. …at the health club …at the brewpub. …even with your fellow friends at Raid night! Whatever your sphere of influence is, be sure to shine! Show love. Show love with your actions. Share the message of Jesus. Conclusion: Because we have kind of a big task. God tells us to shine around the world. That’s intimidating! Even when we understand our sphere of influence and we aim to let our light shine in North Raleigh… That’s intimidating. But remember – you aren’t shining alone. You aren’t responsible as one little candle with lighting up the whole city of Raleigh. You have each other. You have other Christians. You have your Savior. And Jesus? He’s not just another candle. He’s like one of those gigantic, 10,000 lumen LED spotlights at a football stadium. He shines brighter than anyone. He shines brightly with you. He shines brightly through you. Amen.  Last week we heard God’s call to RETURN to the One who is Faithful even when we’ve been unfaithful because He will be Faithful Forever! This week God calls us to return to Him for Abundant blessings! Before we dig into Scripture, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
I. A Severe Lack of Blessing? Our lesson for today comes from 2 Kings 4. Chronologically we’re going even farther back in time than the last couple of weeks; though the situation is similar: Two weeks ago, we heard God’s call to his 7th century B.C. people to leave idol worship behind and RETURN to Him. Last week we heard God’s call to 8th century B.C. people to leave idol worship behind and RETURN to Him. This week we get to hear God’s call to 9th century B.C. people to leave idol worship behind and RETURN to Him. It’s a bit like my high school Football coach. “Furious Feet! Furious Feet! Furious Feet!” He said it all the time. When we were in practice: “Furious Feet!” When we were in the 1st quarter: “Furious Feet!” When we were tied in the 4th quarter: “Furious Feet!” When we were in Pizza Hut after the game; “Furious Feet!” (OK, maybe not that last one) You get the point? We kept forgetting. He kept rebuking. The same was true with God. The people kept forgetting Him, He kept rebuking them: “RETURN to me.” In fact, in all of 1st and 2nd Kings you would hear the call of “RETURN to me,” so often that it makes you wonder if anyone ever stayed close to God. Enter 2 Kings 4. It’s an account that takes place within a small community of prophets. It was a group of people that had dedicated themselves and their families to serving the Lord. They spoke His message and stayed closed to Him. Unfortunately, for one woman who had not abandoned God, recent events had made it seem like God was the one who had abandoned her: “The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as slaves.” (2 Kings 4:1) A couple of notes as to why this woman was in such despair: (1) Recently Widowed. It doesn’t matter how tough you are – losing your spouse is hard. Your spouse is someone that you’ve known for a long time. Someone you’ve partnered with for a long time. Someone you’ve gone through ups and downs with for a long time. The Bible says in marriage that “two become one flesh.” When one of those two are removed from this world – that flesh is torn apart. (2) She’s a Widow in a Society that wasn’t Friendly to Widows. In the 9th century B.C. world, society wasn’t that friendly to women – at all. There wasn’t equal pay. There weren’t equal job opportunities. In fact, there wasn’t much for women to do besides care for the family and help tend to whatever vegetables they were growing. Now that this woman’s husband was dead, the family’s source of income was dead. She had to feed herself. She had to feed her kids. She had to pay the rent, feed the animals and pay the bills. The last of which leads to the third problem. (3) She had an Old Testament Credit Shark after Her. Yes. Even back then, in Old Testament Israel, there were bill collectors. They couldn’t call you on the phone. They couldn’t send you email after email. They couldn’t text message you or lower your credit score, so…they showed up at her front door. For some reason, I’m picture this guy with one of those curly moustaches and a maniacal laugh. Because this guy tells her that if she doesn’t pay him back, he’s going to take away both of her sons and make them into slaves. They will work for years trying to pay back what was rightfully his. And to be fair – this wasn’t illegal. In Old Testament society, it was common for: (1) families to be held responsible for other family member’s debts (2) people to be taken as slaves in order to work off debts. This was why she was in need. This was why she was turmoil. This was why she was in need of help from an Almighty, All Loving, Always Faithful, Shepherd God! But she was having a hard time reaching out to him. Because… (4) She was Struggling with Faith. Look carefully at her words to the lead prophet Elisha, “YOUR servant is dead and YOU KNOW that he revered the Lord.” It’s almost an accusation against the company of prophets, against the work that they did together, again Elisha, against…God: Where is this God guy? He’s supposed to be a shepherd? He’s supposed to have Good Ways? He’s supposed to always be faithful? My husband is dead. I have no job. I have no money. I’m going to lose my sons. Where is this God guy? All those prophets that worship Baal? They’re doing fine. Their wives wear diamonds. Their kids have Xboxes. They have fully founded 401Ks. We’ve been following God our whole lives. Even devoting our lives to him – and now we’re losing everything. I don’t think God can help. I don’t think God cares. I don’t think God is real. Can you relate? II. The Real Issue To be fair – Elisha does not get very defensive. He listens to her. He hears her complaints. He thinks. Then, he offers his response: How can I help you? (v.2) I have to confess the first couple of times that I read that I read it like this: “How can I help you?” as in “What types of things do you think I could do to be helpful?” But – the thing is Elisha follows up by asking her about what she has in her house. It becomes obvious that he knows exactly what she wants and exactly how to help her. That’s why I think we’re supposed to read this not as “What things can I do to be helpful?” but “How can I help you?” As in, I’m just a human. As in, I’m just a sinner. As in, why not go to God? Why not seek the One who is faithful? Why not reach out to the One who cares for you? Do you see the implication? She was looking for help Away from The Helper. And that’s the first WHAT NOW for you and me as well. If you’ve got problems and you’ve got issues and you’re looking for help, but you aren’t seeking the Helper…how do you expect to find help? That’s like walking into Home Depot. Not having any idea where to find the 7” Circular band saw that you’re looking for. Walking right past the Help Desk. Ignoring the Customer service counter. And when the nice gentlemen in the orange apron asks, “How can I help you?” responding with “I’m good. No help needed.” God is our Help. God is always faithful. God is always good. God is always shepherding his flock. That woman didn’t seem to recognize it. But now… Now…God as going to prove it. III. God’s Incredible Abundance Elisha asks the woman a second question, “Tell me, what do you have in your house?” (v.2) Which seems like good advice. Ransack your home for something to sell. Maybe eBay. Maybe Craigslist. Perhaps a rummage sale – or a lemonade stand. But the woman responds that she has nothing…nothing besides a one small jar of olive oil. Something she could use for a couple of meals. Something she could cook up a meal or two – if she had anything to put in the olive oil. Something that might last a day or two before it was totally gone. Elisha tells her, “Go around and ask all of your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few.” (v.3) If I’m that woman, I’m a bit confused. Empty jars? That’s like the ancient version of Tupperware. Everyone had a lot of empty jars. Empty, clay, worthless jars. They stored everything from water to oil to food. But you want me to get empty jars? Sure, Elisha, I’ll go ask them for empty jars and then I’ll open a business where I sell the Tupperware to people who have lids that don’t fit on any of their current Tupperware – because everyone has 20 some odd Tupperware and 20 some odd Tupperware lids that don’t’ fit any of those 20 some odd Tupperware. She might have been a bit frazzled. But she listens. She trusts. Until she gets to the next part of Elisha’s instruction: Go inside. Lock all the doors behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all of the jars and as each is filled, put it to one side. (v.4) Wait…what? My jar is little. These jars are big. My jar is one. These jars are many. Yet – you want me to pour my oil into this big jar? You want me to pour this tiny bit of oil into that gigantic jar? Done. It’ll take me about three seconds. She lifts up the little jar. Her son brings over a large jar. She takes a deep breath. And pours. And pours. And pours. And the jar is full, “Son, get another one.” And she pours And she pours some more. And she says, “Get a couple to stand by.” And she pours. And she pours. And she pours. And she fills up every jar in that room with oil. Until she gets to the last jar… And she asks her son for one more. And he says, “Mom, we don’t have anymore!” And just like that – the oil stops. She takes the oil. She sells the oil. She pays off her debts. Friends, there is no explanation for why the oil kept pouring. It wasn’t the other jars – they were empty. It wasn’t from her friends – the doors were locked. It wasn’t from Mary Poppins – this isn’t 18th century London. This was God. A miracle from God. A miracle from the abundant blessings of God. The Bible says this, “Every good and perfect gift is from above.” (James 1:17) It says this, “Test me and see if I won’t throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour open so much blessing that there will not be enough room to store my blessings.” (Malachi 3:10) It says this, “God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Cor. 9:8) God has an abundant number of blessings. It’s like if you take all of our needs, all of our wants, all of our desires – clothing, shoes, food, drink, money, health – and we fit them into one of those little Dixie cups with a Disney character on the side. We think about bringing that Dixie cup to God, but then for some reason we conclude: He can’t handle this. This is too much. I’ve gotta do this on my own. But the truth is that as we bring our Dixie cup sized requests to God – He begins pouring – pouring out abundant blessings. And it’s like Niagara Falls in that Dixie cup. God is able to abundantly provide for you. God does abundantly provide for you. And you might say, “But why don’t I get the million dollars that I asked God for way back in 5th grade? God must not be that abundant.” Do you remember what happened with the oil? It only stopped flowing because the family couldn’t handle anymore. It’s not like God couldn’t produce more; the family didn’t have the ability to handle more. Here’s the truth: The problem isn’t God’s abundance; it’s our ability to handle God’s abundance. God says, “You can’t handle that million dollars. You’d spend it all on Doritos and end up on the street.” God says, “You aren’t yet strong enough to handle fame. You’d trust yourself and stop trusting me.” God says, “If I bless you with that job, you’ll forget about me, disown me, and remove yourself from eternal life.” God says, “I’ll provide for you abundantly, even abundantly providing for you means barely providing for you so that you keep your eyes on me and receive the MOST abundant blessing that I have to offer. Case and point: We have our own legal indebtedness. It’s true. And now – I don’t have a hold of your Credit Card score, nor have I been compromised by the Lizard Lick Repo. The Bible says that we are legally indebted to God. We are supposed to live perfectly. We don’t. Every time we sin, we owe him the legal debt of death. “The Wages of sin is death.” (Romans 3:23) But God has an abundance. He came to earth. He lived perfectly without incurring any sin debt of his own. He died innocently to pay for your sin debt. And the payment was abundant. Because his blood began to pour from his side… It covered your first sin. His blood kept pouring from his side… Enough to cover your second. It kept pouring… 37th sin covered. It kept pouring…. Bring me the 2,708th! It kept pouring… That’s sin number 120,262 completely covered. God’s blood poured out on the cross until every last one of your sins was covered. Abundantly covered. Such that YOU are abundantly forgiven. And the blessings don’t stop there! You now peace with God. You are a part of his kingdom. You are His child. You are loved. You are in His care. You are never alone. You are empowered by His Spirit. You are given gifts of the spirit. You have the promise of heaven. You will conquer death. You will live forever with him because of His abundant blessings in Jesus! Friends, God provides abundantly. Return to Him and take part of his abundant blessings. Amen.  This is a great question. There are a ton of resources for studying God’s Word. However, I think that might be the biggest problem. If there was only book to read, I think we would be in pretty good shape. Get book-read book. However, there are literally hundreds of Bible translations, not to mention the thousands of devotional books.
Where to start? I see four possible ideas:
Pastor Phil  Today we are having a Youth Confirmation and an Installation of a Teacher. Our message in Acts 4 fits perfectly. And I think it will be a blessing for you even if you aren’t being confirmed or installed. Before we begin our study, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
I. The Story This morning we’re going to pick up with our study exactly where we left off. Peter and John had just healed the Paralyzed Man at the Gate called Beautiful. It was a miracle so amazing that a crowd had gathered after the miracle. And Peter had used the opportunity to do two things: (1) give a public confirmation of his faith in Jesus and (2) teach the people about Jesus and his message. The reality is that while many believed, not everyone did. Not everyone in the city was a believer. Not everyone in the city was a part of the church. But while some just didn’t believe and went about their business without becoming a part of the church; others took their unbelief a step farther: The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. (V.1-2) A couple notes from this section: They were greatly disturbed. These people didn’t just ‘not believe.’ They were ‘disturbed’ by what was being taught. (That’s a word that’s usually used for tragedies or horror films). These people were disturbed at Peter’s teachings. Which might seem strange! Everyone else was excited and in awe of the teaching that had enabled this Paralyzed Man to be able to walk. But these people weren’t surprised. Or excited. Or thrilled. They were disturbed. Why? Proclaiming the Resurrection. That’s what Peter’s teaching was all about. He was teaching that not only could the Paralyzed be able to rise up to their feet; but one day the dead will be raised to life. That might be a bit disturbing – if you think of zombie apocalypse – but also might be disturbing if you didn’t think it would ever happen. If you think that the resurrection will never happen, then Peter’s message was dangerous! It was causing people to be distracted from important things like money, fame and family – and focusing on worthless things that would happen – like eternal life. In Jesus. That phrase tells us the reason that Peter believed a resurrection would happen. It was because of Jesus. You know… The guy that the Sadducees had falsely arrested. The guy that the Sadducees had falsely convicted. The guy that the Sadducees had killed. And the guy that had ‘supposedly’ come back to life. They thought they had killed the message of Jesus with the death of Jesus! But now he was supposed to be alive. And his message was definitely alive and well. And so, they take action: They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. (v.2-3) The next morning, I imagine Peter and John awoke to a gruff, “Get up! It’s time to go.” One soldier bent down to unlock the chains around their wrists, while another stood close by – sword draw – in case of any funny business. They walked through the dark hallway of the underground and slowly made their way up the torch lit stairwell. The sun was barely risen – it’s dawn light revealing the path to a large courtroom. As Peter and John entered, the hubbub of the crowd turned to loud hisses! Every direction the disciples looked they saw eyebrows furled and teeth clenched in anger. And there – at the front – in the middle of this angry crowd were two men that the disciples recognized: Annas, the former high priest and Caiaphas, the current high priest. (If those names sound familiar to you, they should. These were the exact same two people that were in charge of the courtroom when they sentenced Jesus to death.) “Silence!” Caiaphas barked. He leaned in and started the trial: “By what power or what name do you do these things?” (v.7) Demons? Trickery? Some kind of illegal drug? Peter cleared his throat. All eyes were on him. Peter knew what they were capable of. Peter knew that he was teaching the same message that had gotten Jesus killed. Peter knew that if he spoke about Jesus, he could possibly be killed right now. Peter knew… ...and he didn’t care. “Rulers; elders…It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is ‘the stone the builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (v.10-12) II. Withstanding Opposition Now, (Cullen; Jenni). You’ll probably never be put on trial. You’ll probably never have to face crucifixion. You’ll probably never be faced with death because of your faith. But…you will encounter opposition. The high school teacher who tells you that your faith is foolish! The preschool parent who thinks that kids don’t sin, and you shouldn’t tell their kids he’s a sinner. The friends who tell you ‘church’ is stupid. And you’d be stupid to go to church. Your own family question your career choice because…” You could make a lot more money somewhere else.” Here’s the truth: You will encounter opposition because you are Christian. How will you respond? Quit church? Stop mentioning Jesus in your Bible time lessons? Tell your friends, “I just come because my mom and dad make me.” Hide the fact that you love Jesus on your Facebook profile? OR Will you be like Peter? Will you boldly confess your faith? Will you boldly state that you follow Jesus? Will you boldly share that YES! I believe? It is my prayer and our prayer and God’s desire that you confess boldly. In fact, this lesson teaches us that we have a lot of reasons to confess boldly. 1. You are Spirit-Filled Did you catch that right before Peter spoke? The Bible tells us that Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit.” (v.8) That’s God’s himself. That’s the Almighty Lord. That’s the same Holy Spirit who did incredible things on Pentecost Day! He was able to give them instantaneous foreign language comprehension; the scribes took years to perfect Hebrew alone. He placed flamelike apparitions upon their head; the teachers of the law had acolytes keep the candles in the sanctuary burning for them. He made a tornadolike sound come into the midst of the living room; the Sadducees could only make a quiet raspberry noise. And that same Holy Spirit is with you. And He is way more powerful than any spiritual opposition you will face. Be bold. 2. You are backed by Resurrection Power In fact, verse 10 says, “By the name of Jesus Christ, whom you killed but whom God rose from the dead,” we speak this message. In other words, the disciples had seen Jesus die. But then they saw him come back to life. And then he promised that he would bring them back to life as well. Think about that! If someone who had the ability to bring you back to life promised to bring you back to life, would you be a lot bolder? It’s like on a video game when you have a few lives more than you usually do when facing Bowser at the end of Mario. You are more confident and do things more dangerous than you normally do! Guess what. You have been promised that you will live even though you die. You’ve been promised this by one with the resurrection power to heal you. You have a powerful resurrection backing you. A resurrection more powerful than sin…. More powerful than guilt. More powerful than death. And more powerful than any threat the group of angry religious leaders could make. Be bold. 3. Your faith is Essential Peter says this, “There is no other name given to humans by which we must be saved.” (v.12) Think about that. The name “Cool” won’t save. The name “Popular” won’t save. The name “Enlightened,” won’t save. Only the name “Jesus” will save. Don’t disown the one name that will save. That’d be like fall off the dock down at Shelley Lake. And you aren’t good at swimming. And you start to flail. And you start to drown. And you need someone to help you. And you see your friend Bob over there on the dock. And he’s got a life preserver in his hand. And he’s a trained lifeguard. But…your friends told you, “Bob isn’t cool.” And you don’t want anyone to hear you asking for Bob’s help so… You keep flailing… That’s what it’s like to throw away the name of Jesus. His name alone saves. Jesus alone is our Savior. Jesus alone died for you and rose for you. There is no other name under heaven, given to mankind, by which we must be saved. (v.12) No one else did that. Not your friends. Not your classmates. Not some preschool parent. Not even your family. Only Jesus did. Be bold. Confess Jesus. III. What Now? Confess your faith boldly. And I don’t just mean in a minute when Cullen, you are able to confess your faith before loving family and friends. And I don’t just mean in a moment when you, Jenni, are confess your faith and desires to teach before a congregation that is excited for you to teach. I mean confessing boldly in front of whomever opposes your faith. Because Jesus confessed you boldly before the devil himself. When the devil said, “She’s a sinner.” When Satan shouted, “He’s a failure.” Jesus spoke loudly and confidently, “She’s forgiven.” “He’s my son.” “They are a part of my kingdom.” Jesus boldly confessed us in the midst of the fiercest opposition. You boldly confess Jesus, in the midst of any opposition. Amen.  Whereas we don't normally flee, as in running away, from things in our every day life, we still do flee. In tonight's sermon with guest preacher, Pastor Tom Glende, learn how we can stop fleeing and live better for Jesus.
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October 2022
Pastor Phil Kiecker
and his wife, Julianna love serving the community of North Raleigh.
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