All the Sermons

Matthew 19:16-30 , Mark 10:17-30 , Luke 18:18-30 Key Verse: Jesus looked at him and loved him. Mark 10:21A How you understand this encounter Jesus had with this young man may be determined in part by your own culture and economic position in life. If you see yourself as lacking economically, or oppressed in some way, you may wish to cheer, once again, because the rich man is getting justice. If you are better off, you may find yourself thinking something like, “Oh, I hope the Lord doesn’t ask me to give up everything…” or you may wish to ignore Jesus’ words altogether here and continue believing that you’re doing pretty well as a Christian. Surely, God wouldn’t turn you away. You can see that understanding this encounter truly is a matter of perspective. Again, we are faced with variations of the story depending on which gospel account we choose to focus on. The different versions are similar enough that we can glean wisdom from it without being too distracted in the detail

Psalm 127 , Matthew 19:13-15 , Luke 18:15-17 , Mark 10:13-16 Key Verse: Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14 The attitude of the disciples isn't much different than the attitude of many people, even Christians, today. Instead of seeing children as a blessing from the Lord, too many regard them as a burden to bear that gets in the way of our own selfish happiness. Family size is determined by what we think we can afford rather than openness to God's blessing, trusting God to provide. Satan hates children. Children represent innocence. The sooner he can corrupt and or damage a child, the happier he is. This is why Jesus warned in Matthew 18:6: "If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drown in the depths of the sea." To corrupt or damage

Micah 2:12-13 , Ezekiel 34:1-16 , Psalm 23 , John 10:11-21 , Key Verse: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." John 10:11 In our reading from Ezekiel, written during the exile, between 500 and 600 years before Christ, we learn what God Himself defines as a bad shepherd. Throughout the prophesies of the Old Testament, as in Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Isaiah, God referred to the priests as shepherds. The Priests have always been the shepherds, or leaders of Israel, entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the people on the safe path of following God. In Ezekiel, however, God accuses the priests, "shepherds," of "only taking care of themselves." (Ezek. 34:2) "You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the week or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for th

John 10:1-10 Key Verse: "I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture." John 10:9 Jesus is the gate, the door, the protection for what is His, from what is not His. He is the path to safety and salvation. There is no other door. Any other means used to come in is false and will be considered trespassing, as only a thief or robber would do. During the day, shepherds, in the Middle East, wander about the countryside, leading their charges to what grass can be found and still pools of water where the sheep can drink and be refreshed. At night, however, a shepherd will seek a more enclosed area of rock, or a pen type structure with only one opening. When all of the sheep are inside, the shepherd will place his own body across the opening, like a gate so that the sheep can sleep in safety. Here is another point at which the modern retelling of the Christmas story may be misleading. We think that shepherds leave th

John 9 & 2 Corinthians 12:7-12 Key Verse: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." John 9:3 In this event John records my personal favorite from all four gospels. I love it for its detail. I love it because it demonstrates so much of our human frailty. It shows us how powerful our fears can be in the midst of God's amazing grace and glory. First, we have the disciples who are suffering under the misconception that sickness and unfortunate circumstances are the result of sin only. They are thinking like Job and his friends. If you obey you will always be blessed and if you sin, God will punish you for it. They couldn't imagine that God could have possibly designed this man, blind, for His own glorious purposes. Then we have the neighbors who are all amazed, but then what? What do you do when the mold has been broken? This man was blind and now he

Leviticus 20:10-24 , John 7:53-8:11 Key Verse: "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." John 8:11B Note: in my bible, and probably in yours as well, there is this notation: "The earliest and most reliable manuscripts do not have John 7:53-8:11." Okay? So now what do we do with that? Do we just pretend it isn’t there?  Do we cut it out of the Bible because it leads to bad theology?  What I mean by that is some of us who don't want fingers pointed at us can say, "If any of you is without sin cast the first stone." Everyone sins therefore, everyone is exempt from criticism from their fellow sinner.  But on the other hand good sermons about appropriate forgiveness have been preached and lessons have been taught. This is such a wonderful scripture for that kind of thing.  Besides, all of Scripture can be abused to produce bad theology. I n light of this, I will discuss this passage as if

John 8:48-59 Key verse: "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" John 8:58 For the Jewish leadership, Jesus was finally speaking clearly. They remembered, in their history, when Moses met Got at the burning bush, before he led the people out of Egypt. Moses had asked: "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, "The Lord God of your fathers has sent me to you," and they ask me, "What is His name?" Then what shall I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I am who I Am." ( Exodus 3:13-14 A) "I Am," "JYWH," is the most revered name of God because it is the name He gave Himself. The Jews treated it so reverently that they wouldn't even speak it. When they were copying it as they copied and recorded their history, prophesies and law, His name was represented by four letters, "JYWH." To hear Jesus so plainly call Himself, "I Am," was blasphemy o

John 8:42-47 Key Verse: "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but He sent Me." John 8:42 When you stop to think about it, this is an amazing statement from our Lord. We are used to calling ourselves "sinners," and acknowledging that we, "sin," but do we really understand what that means if we are apart from Christ? We've done such a good job of white washing sin. We've almost become Laissez-faire about it. Yah, we do stuff we shouldn't, but then, we can just ask God for forgiveness and it's all good again. No harm done and even if harm was done, well, it's good that we have the cross to cling to right? What if, when you sinned, however, you were called a "child of the devil?" How would you like that? Would that help you to think a little more seriously about your "sin?" Jesus makes it very clear just how different we are fro

John 8:31-41 Key verse: "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32 Remember how we ended yesterday? "Even as He spoke, many put their faith in Him." (John 8:30) Now, Jesus turns His attention to those to whom He is having an effect and begins speaking for their edification. "To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32) The people are confused about what they have been set free from. Remember, this is the Feast of Tabernacles. This whole feast has been dedicated to remembering how God set them free from Egypt and provided for them in the wilderness. In their thinking, they had already been set free, as Abraham's children, and are enslaved no longer to Egypt. Rome was a different matter altogether and the hope was that another Moses figure would set them free again, b

Deuteronomy 18:17-22 , John 8:13-30 Key Verse: So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son Of Man, then you will know that I am (the One I claimed to be), and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me." John 8:28 Nicodemus had asked: "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?" ( John 7:51 ) It's hard to understand the true sequence of events here. It would appear, however, that after the guards refused to take Jesus away from the assembly and after Nicodemus had appealed to the law, challenging the rulers to give Jesus a hearing of some sort, the rulers rejoined the worship service which was in progress to hear the claims that Jesus was making about Himself. The Pharisees’ main challenges seemed to be these. Do you have valid proof that you are what You claim to be? (John 8:13) From where do You originate? (John 8:19) Why can't we follow you? (John 8:22) Who are you re

John 1:3-5 , 8:12 , 1 John 1:5-7 & 2:9-11 Key Verse: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12 The feast of Tabernacles took place after the Autumnal Equinox, when the days would become shorter and the nights longer. Along with prayers for water, the worship service would also include bringing light back in the spring. At first, as we explored two days ago, Jesus declared Himself to be water, responding to the concern for water. Now, He declares Himself to be the true light which will never depart. If you are in the light as He is in the light, you will walk in truth and have no fear of darkness. John seems very concerned that we understand this concept of Jesus being light. He refers to Jesus as light and in his first epistle, he uses light and dark as a test for all of us to determine whether or not we are truly Jesus' disciples. "Anyone who claims to be in the li

John 7:45-52 Key Verse: "No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared. John 7:46 The temple guards had actually been dispatched by the high priest to arrest Jesus at an earlier time during the feast. (John 7:32) They had obviously been waiting for the right opportunity so as not to ruin the feast with an unnecessary protest. While they waited and watched, they couldn't help but listen and come back empty handed. Nicodemus must have agreed with the guards. No one had spoken like Jesus before.   We now know that this is because everyone else was only human trying to teach God’s Word.  But Jesus is God revealing God’s Word afresh. Jesus is the original source. No one told Him what to say because He was, and is, the creator of the message. Nicodemus was one of their own, yet, He knew that there was something different about Jesus. We first met Nicodemus in John 3 . He was a member of the religious ruling class, but something in him was drawn

John 7:25-44 Key Verse: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." John 7:37B-38 While Jesus began His teaching near the middle of the feast, the passage for today is focused on the last day. In other words, while Jesus’ words are recorded in less than 30 verses, He probably said a lot more over the four final days of the feast and John is only giving us the highlights. Remember that, according to the passage in Leviticus, the first and last days of the feast were to be solemn days of worship. This day would have been the apex or culmination of communal worship before the people would head home for the winter. They would not be together again, as a complete community, until Passover, in the spring. Jesus, knowing all things, knew what their next gathering for Passover would bring, so He made this one strong appeal for the people to consider as they sat ou

John 7:14-24 Key Verse: "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment." John 7:24 At first, this passage seems disjointed. Jesus seems to be jumping from subject to subject without employing any logic to what He is saying. He starts by talking about His teaching, then accuses the crowd of wanting to kill Him and then, somehow manages to bring in Moses and circumcision and the law and the Sabbath, all at once. His listeners appear to be as confused as we are at trying to figure out what Jesus is saying. We are told that Jesus did not even approach the temple until the feast was half over. If He was coming in at the midpoint, this would mean that the festival had already been going on for about three days. All of a sudden, there He is, speaking publicly! We mentioned yesterday what all the buzz was about Jesus among the people who attended. Perhaps Jesus had used the first half of the feast to simply mingle and listen. This also might explain ho

John 7:1-13 Key Verse: Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about Him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others replied, "No, He deceives the people." But no one would say anything publicly about Him for fear of the Jews. John 7:12-13 We've already mentioned Jesus’ family earlier, and mentioned their confusion about Jesus' ministry. Today, Jesus' brothers appear to be a bit more accepting and supportive, suggesting that Jesus actually belongs in Jerusalem. "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that Your disciples may see the miracles You do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show Yourself to the world." (John 7:3-4) Jesus’ response to his brothers is along the lines of, "Don't push me!" "The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right." (John 7:6) Jesus will not be pushed or bullied into bowing to man's opinion e

Leviticus 23:31-44 & Zechariah 14:16-19 Key Verse: "Live in booths for seven days: all native born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I Am the Lord your God." Leviticus 23:42-43 What if every year we reenacted the crossing of the ocean on the Mayflower or the landing at Plymouth Rock, to remember how hard the Pilgrims’ life was as they sought to create a new country for the sake of religious freedom? We do have vestiges of this in our Thanksgiving celebration the fourth Thursday of every November. At Thanksgiving, we not only think about what we are thankful for, but often, either at church or at school, we are reminded of the Pilgrims, the Native Americans and the first Thanksgiving celebrations that took place in gratitude for God's provision. The Feast of Tabernacles performed a similar function for the people of Israel. While they were still in Egy

John 7:1-52 & 8:11-59 Key Verse: "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment." John 7:24 There is a lot to read for today. I apologize for that. In the coming days, we will be looking at this passage more closely and breaking it down into bite size pieces, as we did the Sermon on the Mount and The Sermon on the Plain, to grasp better understanding. For today, just see this passage in its entirety as an overview. On the day that we discussed Jesus' birth, I had said that one of the reasons that Jesus walked this earth was to earn the right to say, "I understand." If you have ever faced opposition for speaking the truth, if you have ever been frustrated by religious closed mindedness, this passage shows you that Jesus certainly understands. He constantly faced opposition, mostly from the religious leaders of the day who had taken what God the Father and Jesus the Son had originally given to guide the people and had twisted it in