Sermon Video: "Everyone who believes is justified" - Acts 13:13-39

As the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas continues, the team leaves Cyprus and sails to Perga on their way to Pisidian Antioch.  It is at this juncture that John Mark, Barnabas' cousin, leaves the expedition and returns to Jerusalem.  Why did Mark leave?  In the end, any answer is just a guess as the text tells us nothing, but it does remind us that the journey was a difficult one and that those making it were ordinary people like us with real problems and limitations.
At Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas enter the local synagogue where they are invited to speak.  Paul's message begins with a recap of God's provision for the people of Israel under the Covenant from Abraham to David.  Next Paul speaks of the prophetic ministry of John the Baptist who proclaimed the coming of God's Messiah, the Savior Jesus.  Paul briefly explains that Jesus was rejected by his own people, just as the prophets of old whose rejection the Scriptures mourn, and put to death without cause.  However, God vindicated his Son Jesus by raising him from the dead, a miracle that many witnessed.  After this, Paul cites examples of prophetic predictions about Jesus from the Scriptures as further proof of Jesus' validity.
The conclusion of Paul's message is both simple and timeless: forgiveness of sins and justification before God are available through Jesus.  What's the big deal about forgiveness, isn't it available through the Law?  Sadly, no, the Law can cover guilt and hold back the wrath of God, but as the book of Hebrews will later make crystal clear, it can never take away sins.  Sin no only separates man from God, it also corrupts, ruins, and destroys our minds, hearts, and souls.  If we cannot find forgiveness for our sins, we are doomed.  If God has forgiven us in Jesus, we cannot fail.  Likewise, justification, the salvation of man from the guilty verdict hanging over our heads is also available through Jesus.  Instead of the just punishment for our sins falling upon us, it has been redirected to the only one who could accept it, the perfect and sinless Son of God. 
The song "In Christ Alone" has a great line that reflects the truth of Paul's message here: "no guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me".  It is a message of hope, a message of reconciliation, the very core and essence of the Gospel that we have been commanded to take to the ends of the earth.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

The lust of humanity for gold that glitters

There's a line in The Lord of the Rings that reads, "all that is gold does not glitter" which is Tolkien's rearranging of the well known proverb from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, "all that glitters is not gold".  Tolkien was trying to emphasize that not all things of value shine on the outside, whereas Shakespeare's point is that not everything that looks good on the outside is worth it on the inside, but both metaphors utilize the fact that gold has a hold on the imagination of humanity.  It has been sought after, fought after, killed and died for, for as far back as we have records.  I just finished watching "Klondike" on the History Channel last night, a mini-series based on the actual experiences of miners who went to Dawson City in the Yukon during the gold rush that lasted from 1896 to 1899.  In those few years, an estimated 100,000 people headed for the Yukon with only about 30-40,000 surviving the journey and only about 4,000 of them finding any gold.  After Dawson City the gold craze moved on, just as it had before from California and before that North Dakota; the list goes on and on back into history.  The craze for gold continues to this day, it actually has intrinsic value now in the electronics industry beyond its age-old use for currency and jewellery.  The show "Gold Rush" on the Discovery Channel chronicles the lives of would-be gold miners, some of whom work like professionals and some of whom appear to be still amateurs.  The human stories behind the quest for gold are interesting, but the question of why man has been so fascinated with this substance remains.
Gold isn't the only rare thing that has caused empires to rise and fall in history, but it does seem to rise above more practical commodities and has certainly been a part of some of the worst crimes of humanity against itself from the horrid working conditions of the South American mines of the Spanish Empire to the gold extracted from the teeth of Jews killed by the Nazis.  The insatiable quest for gold over thousands of years has yielded roughly 377 million pounds of gold; surprisingly, that amount would only be a cube of 68 ft. on each side.  All that risk, all that killing and death, for a pool sized cube of metal?
If gold didn't exist, humanity would be fixated on something else.  Gold isn't the cause of the sickness that is associated with it, simply the window through which the human soul is illuminated.  The same attributes and potential terrors can be ascribed to the pieces of colored paper that replaced gold as the currency of humanity, or even the electronic money that doesn't even exist apart from the computers that keep track of it.
Which topic does the Bible spend the most time talking about?  Which human vice fills more pages of God's Word than any other?  To hear many preachers and Christian lay people talk, you think it would be sexual sin, whether that be pre-marital or extra-marital sex, pornography, homosexuality, or abortion.  We certainly have great troubles in society connected to our misuse of God's gift of sex, but it isn't the number one vice discussed in the Bible.  The Bible spends more time talking about the proper use of, and abuse of, money than anything else (over 800 times) except love.  So why are we so reluctant to talk about money?  Perhaps it is because we as Americans have so much of it.  Perhaps it is because we do such a lousy job of utilizing our money for the good of the kingdom of God and such a great job spending it on ourselves. 
How often do I preach about money?  I haven't analyzed each of my sermons over last seven years to have stats, but since I normally preach verse by verse through a book on the Bible once I start, I'm guessing that its pretty often.  Do yourself a favor, don't skip over the next part of the Bible you read about money, actually take some time and figure out if you're doing what the Bible says you should be doing with the money that you've earned through the blessings of work, life, and health that God has given you. 

Sermon Video: Who is on the Lord's side? - Acts 12:19b-13:12

Is it better in life to pick a side, win or lose, or stay on the fence?  There are a lot of people who think that they can sit on the fence with God, that they don't have to make a choice.  The truth is, they already have, each of us is either a child of God, forgiven and living according to his Word, or we are not.
In Acts, Luke tells us two men who opposed God and lost, three men who followed God's lead in service, and one man who was willing to listen when God's message came to him.  Herod Agrippa had long opposed the work of God and lived a life of false piety as part of his quest of personal gain.  When the people of Tyre and Sidon tried flattery in their negotiations with him by saying, "This is the voice of a god, not a man", his doom was sealed because Herod accepted their praise and gave no glory to God.  Immediately, Herod was struck down in pain and died five days later.  It was not just that moment that caused Herod's demise, but a life lived apart from God that was confirmed in that supreme moment that cost him his life.
Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit calls Barnabas and Paul to leave Antioch and begin the first missionary journey, with them goes Barnabas' cousin, John Mark.  These three obey God, drop everything, and serve.  When they arrive in Cyprus they are called to explain their message by the Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulus.  Sergius, an aristocrat, actually listens to Paul's message about Jesus and believes.  Sergius' mind is open to God's call despite the best efforts of a local Jewish man named Elymas ("sorcerer") whom Paul condemns for his continued actions against the will of God.  Elymas is already spiritually blind, Paul conveys to him God's judgment of physical blindness as well.
Each of these men in Luke's narrative was clearly either on the Lord's side, or not.  Herod and Elymas had walked down a path that led toward destruction for a long time before God's verdict came against them.  Likewise, Barnabas, Paul, and John Mark were already serving God in Antioch before the call to serve him more came to them.  Lastly is Sergius, a man who had been oblivious to his need for Christ until the moment Paul told him the truth, but that was a situation he quickly remedied when he believed.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

Sermon Video: The Deliverance of Peter - Acts 12:1-19

The story of Peter's escape from prison in Acts 12 with the help of the angel of the Lord is famous, but when read in its context falls immediately after the martyrdom of John's brother James.  These two disciples were both members of the "inner circle", along with John they witnessed the Transfiguration of Jesus.  Why is James left to die at Herod's hand, but Peter rescued?  There certainly couldn't be any theory that accounts for the difference by elevating Peter above James, as if Peter deserved to be saved but James did not.  So, what answer is left to us?
In verse five, Luke tells us that the church of Jerusalem was earnestly praying for Peter's release, perhaps this is the answer.  The church really prayed for Peter, therefore God delivered him from certain death.  There's just one problem with that cause-effect theory, it assumes that the church failed to pray for James.  We're not told anything about the presence or lack of prayer concerning James, but our own experience as individual Christians and as a Church confirms that fervent, earnest, tear filled, on our knees, prayer doesn't guarantee that God will act.  The will of God remains what God has told us it is, a mystery beyond our understanding.  We cannot force God to act because God is not an idol made in our image that we can control, God is our Creator, we are in his image.  God will continue to act according to his own wisdom, love, mercy, and holy nature.  We wouldn't want the ability to force God to change, God is already perfect, we're the ones that need to be transformed.
If prayer isn't about getting God to do what we want him to do, why are we praying?  The short answer: God told us to.  The longer answer involves what prayer actually does best and that is changing the person who is praying by allowing us to open our hearts and minds to the will of God.  In addition, prayer for those in need, especially public corporate prayer, allows us to demonstrate the compassion that our heart feels for them and to publicly declare that we have faith in the love, mercy, and grace of God's will.
God saved Peter from certain death, James he did not.  I don't know why tragedy happens to some good people and not to others, but I do know this, I can trust the God who was willing to send his Son to die for my sins.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

Happiness without God?

Some words of wisdom from C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity,
"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there.  There is no such thing.  That is the key to history.  Terrific energy is expended - civilizations are built up - excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong.  Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top and it all slides back into misery and ruin."
I don't see how anyone can look at the world we live in today, or at any point in human history, and argue with that conclusion.  Where is the panacea of happiness and harmony that mankind has ever come even close to achieving.  What great pinnacle of humanity can we point to that isn't marred by the lust for power?
I know that the lives of celebrities seem to be what everyone should want: fame, wealth, glamour, power.  And yet, never has a year gone by without multiple accounts of drug addiction, alcoholism, and suicide by these whom we are supposed to idolize.  If they haven't found happiness, with everything a consumer culture tells you to want at their fingertips, then nobody can.
This is one of the great tools of evangelism for those who follow Jesus Christ.  We don't have to convince people that their lives are missing something very important without God.  They already know it, they might be trying to fool themselves a little longer with something in God's place, but they know it.  What God's people need to be doing is living lives in obedience, fellowship, charity, and love worth emulating when those who long for what is missing turn their eyes to the Church of Christ.  Our task is not to convince the world that it needs God, our task is to prove through our lives that we've found him.

Is it time for you to take a Sabbatical?

One of my fellow ministers here in Franklin is leaving today for an extended Sabbatical until after Easter.  The first thought that most of us have on hearing something like that is a bit of jealousy.  Wouldn't we all love to walk away from our job for a while and get a break that last longer than the standard two weeks?  The idea of a Sabbatical, which comes from the Hebrew Shabbat (Sabbath), is actually something that God intended to be an integral part of the way that society functions.  We are all familiar with the weekly Sabbath, for Jews Saturday, for Christians Sunday, that reflects the seventh day of rest at the end of the Genesis account of Creation.  That weekly break from labor is certainly something we can see the value of, and something we ignore at the peril of our own health, but God inteneded it to be part of a greater scheme of rest that went far beyond a weekly break.  In the Law given to Moses, the people were commanded to let the land have a rest, and themselves as well, every seventh year.  In other words, they were to work the land for six years, and then take one year off.  We have much the same concept regarding the land today with crop rotations and allow the land to lie fallow from time to time, but the idea of giving ourselves longer breaks from labor has always failed to gain hold when practical considerations overrule such considerations.  Today, only professionals, especially academics and scientists, consider a sabbatical to be a part of their career path, although most of these use that time away for an intense level of work on a special project such as writing a book or doing field research.
Do any of us ever really take time AWAY from our 24/7 connected and wired-in world anymore?  What would it be like to walk away from e-mail, voice-mail, facebook, and who knows what else, for not just a few days, but for a few months?  The problem with never stepping away from the daily grind is that we don't take the time to step back and look at how we do what we do, or why.  The next day's work is coming too fast, no time to think about priorities, no time to evaluate the quality of life we're living, nor to consider the opportunities that pass us by to help others.  What could you accomplish with a sabbatical?  What would happen if you took the time to look at your life from the outside for a change?  God knew what he was doing when he told his people to include rest in their lives.  I wish my fellow minister well in her time off, and I wonder, who will return to us after it ends?  Hopefully, and I mean this in the right way, not the same person who left.

Sermon Video: The Church at Antioch - Acts 11:19-30

Why do some churches grow, and other churches shrink?  What does the same church grow at one point in its history, and then falter in another?  The Bible never tells us directly what we should do to help our churches be healthy and growing beyond the general prescription that we have from Paul that the church needs all the members of its body to contribute.  One thing we can do, however, is look at the examples from Acts of growing churches and successful missionary efforts and attempt to draw out from those passages principles that will stand the test of time.
The church at Antioch wasn't founded on purpose through the missionary efforts of the church at Jerusalem.  It was simply the result of committed followers of Jesus Christ taking their own initiative to share the Gospel beyond their comfort zone of their fellow Jews to the Greeks of the large city of Antioch.  The tremendous success that they met with prompted the church at Jerusalem to send Barnabas to them to investigate.  When Barnabas arrived, he saw clearly that God's grace was among these people (would that any visitor could say that about every church!), and rather than worry about the impromptu nature of this church, Barnabas felt was glad for them.  As he always did, Barnabas encouraged them through his own example and through words, but he soon realized that this church would need a capable teacher if it was to mature. 
It was at this point that Barnabas saw an opportunity to bring Saul back from Tarsus and get him involved once more after nearly ten years of "exile" following the near-riot that his last appearance in Jerusalem caused.  Paul and Barnabas then spent a full year in Antioch teaching and training these new Christians.  The end result was a church that was eager to give back to fellow Christians in need (in other words, a mature church), which they then did in the form of famine relief to Jerusalem.
What was the process of growth for the church in Antioch?  Witnessing, Encouragement, Teaching, Giving.  Is that a prescription for any church?  There will never be a one size fits all formula for a local church, this living, breathing, full of redeemed sinners, organization is far too complicated for that; but it certainly would be a good place to start.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

What are we all in such a hurry for?

On our way back to Pennsylvania from Michigan yesterday, after visiting both sides of our family for Christmas, Nicole and I passed 50 cars and 3 semis that had crashed or slid off of the road into the ditch.  The roads we certainly slippery, and some of the people may have ended up wrecked through no fault of their own, but there we plenty of people still trying to go 70 m.p.h. regardless of the road conditions.  That sort of casual refusal to acknowledge the laws of physics makes me wonder where they were heading in such a hurry.  The trip normally takes us 6 hours, but it took 9 1/2 this time.  I could have shaved an hour, maybe more off of the time by putting my car and our lives at greater risk, but why?
This may on the surface just seem like an observation about driving in snow and ice, but I think it touches something deeper about the modern world.  The world that we live in exists in a perpetual state of hurrying.  Tomorrow isn't quick enough, we need it done today; later today isn't soon enough, we need it now.  We have next day delivery, fast food, instant communications, and yet the anxiety that exists with all this speed about things taking too long only seems to get worse.
What is the end purpose of all of our striving?  For what lofty goal have we given up the joys of a quiet afternoon spent outdoors among God's wondrous creation alone or with our loved ones? 
As it always does, the Word of God offers us wisdom when we have gone astray, as Jesus told his disciples, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?...So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' of 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."
(Matthew 6:27, 31-34)
Amazingly, the phone hasn't rang while I was typing these thoughts, but one e-mail has popped into my inbox, I've got a lot of work left to do today; no time left to waste on trying to think too much. 
Slow down, where are you hurrying off to anyway?  Seek God first, enjoy your family, live life as God intended for you with both purpose and joy.

Sermon Video: The Messiah and the Magi - Matthew 2:1-12

The humble birth of the Messiah that we celebrate each year from the account of the Gospel of Luke is given an exclamation point by Matthew's focus on the story of the unexpected visitors that came to see the Christ child some time later.  That the Roman puppet-king Herod features prominently in this story is no fluke because his power hungry kingship is in stark contrast with the type of king that God's Messiah will be.  The gifts of the Magi serve as a reminder that Jesus was indeed worthy of the gifts of a king even while he himself has come into the world to be a gift for all mankind.  The story of the Magi ends on a tragic note, with Herod's bloodthirsty vengeance upon the innocents of Bethlehem while Jesus flees to Egypt in the arms of Mary and Joseph.  How does such a gruesome story fit in with the celebration of Christmas?  Can a tale of the evil of the heart of man fit with the story of the newborn Messiah?  It actually fits perfectly as it reminds of of the reason why Jesus had to take the extraordinary step of becoming a man in the first place.  The reason why we can still celebrate Christmas, even in a world mired in hatred and sin, is that the birth of the child of promise was just the beginning of God's ultimate plan of salvation for humanity, a plan that ended in ultimate and final victory on Easter morning.  So as we celebrate Christmas, we too can bring our gifts and bow before the Christ child.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video