Sermon Video: Having Grace in Disputable Matters, part 3 - Romans 14:15-21

Having established the need for grace in the areas of Christian liberty about which we disagree with our brothers and sisters in Christ, Paul now turns to the need for love to limit that liberty if exercising it were to cause harm to fellow Christians.

How can it harm others if I follow my conscience with respect to disputable matters?  Two key ways: (1) The who have "weak" faith my imitate you, even though their conscience tells them that they should not, it then being an act of rebellion for them, or (2) those who disagree may look upon your choice as sinful (even though it is not) and have their faith damaged by your seeming hypocrisy at tolerating sin in your life.

In the end, Paul's command to us is to not allow our preferences in non-moral issues to ever bring other believers to harm.  Proactively we must look out for each other and be willing to restrain our freedom if it will help the faith of other people for whom Christ died.

Sermon Video: Take up your Cross and follow Jesus - Mark 8:34-35

 What does it take to be a follower of Jesus? The blessings are well known, but what about the cost? Salvation is free, 100%, but discipleship is costly. To be a follower of Jesus is to embark on a path of self-denial (not asceticism, but submission to the lordship of God, to his will), to take up your own cross of self-sacrificial service to others, and to follow after Jesus. Jesus went wherever he could help people, wherever he could make a difference, and he gave them what he had: truth, compassion, and love. We must do likewise.

Sermon Video: "The pride of your heart has deceived you" - Obadiah 1-9

In the first half of Obadiah's message from the LORD to Edom, the prophet warns Edom that God's judgment is at hand, that they will be brought low despite their self-confidence because the "pride of your heart has deceived you".  In the case of Edom, the descendants of Jacob's brother Esau, who at this point in history have become a consistent enemy of Israel, their pride is related to the defensible nature of their rugged mountainous territory SE of the Dead Sea.  As an application to others, including ourselves, the warning against pride is always apt.  Pride is at the heart of humanity's rebellion against God: denying God's role as our Creator and upcoming Judge, denying that humanity (ourselves in particular) are flawed, refusing to admit, if that must is acknowledged that we can't help ourselves, and lastly pride can turn against the acceptance of what Christ has done on our behalf by grace through faith.
In order to advance in our discipleship, to become more Christ-like, we must put away pride.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

The Pursuit of Happiness?

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" may be the unofficial motto of America, but it is not, much to the chagrin of many, the mantra of our Creator, in particular the last part.  The goal of the will of God for humanity as a whole and individual human beings as well, is not happiness but godliness.  In other words, God's aim is not that we feel happy, but that we be holy and righteous.  And while there is some overlap between feeling happy and being a person who practices holiness and righteousness, there are most certainly not the same thing.  To be a person who,  by the grace of God, chooses holiness and righteousness in this fallen world, is to be a person at odds with the prevailing self-centered worldview upon which human culture, not just American culture, is built.  It is to be a person who eschews personal gain in favor of service to others, who rejects temporary advancement in favor of projects whose fullness will not be realized until our lives are over, and it is to be a person who is willing to sacrifice one's own comfort and material possessions in the service of a kingdom which, while already established, awaits the return of its king and the manifestation of his justice.  It is, then, to be a person somewhat out of time and out of place, a person serving a king and belonging to a kingdom whose reality is not yet what it one day will be, and thus a person who is not seeking happiness, not at least according to any definition that those living for their own ends and purposes would understand or accept.  And yet, with far-ranging negative consequences, much of modern Christianity seems to have missed this point, to have accepted that the job of the Church is to help people be happy (or worse yet, to make them happy).  This is both a deviation from Biblical teaching, and a great hindrance upon the mission of the Church: to share the Gospel and make disciples.

One of the more well known portions of Scripture regarding this topic is this:
Matthew 16:24-26 New International Version (NIV)
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

There are many more examples of the call in the Word of God to serve through self-sacrifice, among them, these words of John:
1 John 3:16-18 New International Version (NIV)
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

In the end, as a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, it isn't just about you.  Christians are part of something greater than themselves, part of God's plan for all of humanity, and have committed themselves (whether they know it or not) to serving the Kingdom of God, which means that our lives are not about pursuing happiness.

Sermon Video: The False Hope of Legalistic Asceticism, Colossians 2:16-23

{Due to a technical glitch, this week's original sermon video was not recorded, this video is the audio from Sunday combined with the PowerPoint slides from the sermon; sorry for any inconvenience}...

What is the path to greater piety and devotion to God?  One attempted answer to this question that has been active throughout Church history has been the related methods of legalism and asceticism.  Legalism seeks to impose rules, as if becoming closer to God were a simple matter of following them, while asceticism seeks to deny biological impulses and needs (such as food, drink, sex), as if being biological they are somehow inherently unholy and opposed to the things of the spirit.  Church history has featured hermits and monks attempting to be holy along these paths, as much as their efforts were self-centered, and self-powered, they were doomed to failure.

Paul addresses this issue at the church at Colossae, where a mixture of Mosaic legalism and Greek philosophical asceticism had combined to tempt the believers there away from their trust in the all-sufficiency of Christ, a danger that Paul warns strongly against, reassuring them that the path of legalistic asceticism is doomed to failure because it has lost its connection with Christ, and thus the power of God, the only true source of spiritual growth.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video: Debatable Matters Part 3 - 1 Corinthians 8:9-13

There is a tension that exists between the assertion of individual rights and the obligations those same individuals have to other people.  That tension exists regularly within modern society, especially in the United States, but it is far more acute within the Church.  As disciples of Jesus Christ, we have been called to a life of service and self-sacrifice on behalf of both our brothers and sisters in Christ and the Lost to whom we are obligated to share the Gospel in love.
Paul understood this tension as he wrote to the Christians at the church in Corinth that although they were free to eat meat that had been offered to idols, for in reality idols are nothing for there is only one God, yet those same Christians needed to "be careful" lest the exercising of their freedom might inadvertently lead to the temptation to sin on the part of fellow Christians who did not posses the same level of knowledge.  It is Paul's contention, and thus our command from Holy Scripture, that as Christians we must be willing to sacrifice our individual rights, even if the action is in no way a sin for us, if it will be an example that leads others into sin, it will then become a sin for us.  The action itself doesn't go from being a matter of freedom to being a sinful choice, it is the action toward our fellow Christians, influencing them toward temptation (for them) that makes it a sinful choice for us.  I know that's somewhat complicated, here's it in a nutshell: If an action is ok for me, but not ok for a fellow Christian, and my doing that action might lead him/her into temptation, I am obligated to abstain for their sake.  Our obligations outweigh our rights, love must triumph over freedom.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

My rights are less important than doing what is right

As an American Christian, I have rights and privileges that were given to me when I was born in the United States of America, and I have obligations to do what is right (in the sight of the Lord) that I chose to adopt when I became a follower of Jesus Christ.  At times, these two sets of rights come into conflict.  There are many things which I have a right to do, as an American, which I will not do because it isn't morally right.  This probably shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, Christian or otherwise, that moral rights and legal rights don't always agree, but I have often heard Christians defend behavior which is hardly Christ-like by falling back upon their right as an American to do what they have done.  You may have a 1st Amendment right to say what you are saying, but that isn't good enough for a disciple of Christ.  You may have a 1st Amendment right to belong to that group or patronize that gambling establishment or strip club, but that isn't good enough for a disciple of Christ.

We are held to a higher standard as Christians than the Bill of Rights.  In Philippians Paul wrote, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3-4)  I will regularly choose self-denial of my rights in order to do what is right, as will millions of my fellow Christian Americans, for we answer to a higher authority, are called to a higher purpose, and have been commanded to imitate a higher example (Jesus) than the legal rights of any citizen of any nation.

Sermon Video: Everything is permissible for me? 1 Corinthians 6:12-13

As followers of Jesus Christ, we have been set free from our bondage to sin, this is a fundamental understanding of the power of the Gospel, but to what end?  Why have we been set free, and what are we to do with our freedom?  As part of his ongoing attempt to help the church at Corinth solve its problem with immorality, Paul writes to them of the need for Christians to practice self-control and self-restraint by limiting their own freedom.  As a guide, Paul offers up to limiting principles to guide our freedom, "Is it beneficial?" and "I will not be mastered by anything".  In other words, Christians ought to seek to maximize that which is beneficial (to their own discipleship and to others) in their lives, and at the same time avoid anything which might seek to control them (an addiction for example).  This attitude advocated by Paul is particularly useful in those areas of life that the Word of God doesn't specifically address (such as things related to modern technology).
As an example of this approach in action, Paul notes the need for Christians to avoid sexual immorality, a common vice that too many Christians feel they can get away with, but which in the end is both harmful and addictive (not to mention forbidden explicitly by God).

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video: Do what the Word says - James 1:22-25

We have all experienced the distinction between listening and hearing.  Parents and wives of husbands watching football are familiar with this phenomenon.  How do we know if somebody is actually hearing what has been communicated to them?  For James, regarding the Word of God, the answer is simple: those who hear are those who obey.  If we don't do what God's Word tells us to do, our knowledge is merely self-deception.  We must be a people who live in obedience to God.
Humanity has a tremendous capacity for self-denial and refusal to accept even patently obvious truths in our willful stubbornness.  However, as Christians, we cannot put our will above that of God.  When we walked in darkness we were incapable of obedience to God, our sin nature enslaved us, but now that we've been transformed by the Holy Spirit, not only is our obedience possible, it is necessary.
In the end, our own will is not freedom, it is merely slavery to sin, and obeying God may be self-denial, but it is also self-fulfillment, for in obedience to God do we find freedom and a life of purpose.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video: Take up your cross and follow him - Luke 9:23-27

What is the cost of becoming a Christian?  We are all happy to share the benefits that flow from following Jesus Christ, but as Jesus’ words in Luke 9:23-27 make clear to us, there is a significant commitment on our part that God requires in return.  After telling his disciples that suffering and death were in his near future, Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  The call to discipleship from Jesus begins with a legitimate question: Knowing what road Jesus is about to walk down, will you choose to follow him?  For the disciples, this was shocking news that would be very difficult to process, for us, we have the benefit of looking back on how this time of trail in the end produced the victory of Easter. 

            The dark road that Jesus travel to provide redemption for humanity does end in victory, that assurance offers us great comfort, but the call from Jesus to imitate his self-denial to the extent of volunteering to carry our own metaphorical cross still reminds us that the path to Christ-likeness is never going to be easy.  The self-denial that Jesus is asking us to embrace is in service to the kingdom of God, which is why the ascetics who practiced the denial of the normal pleasures of living and isolation were on the wrong path.  If we truly wish to follow in Jesus’ footsteps then we too must serve the needs of the poor and weak by showing them God’s love and mercy.

            As further evidence that this is the road that we must travel if we wish to follow him, Jesus continues by explaining that only those who are willing to let themselves be replaced by God as the center of their life are capable of truly having life.  Those who grasp and clutch at life for themselves will inevitably lose what they strive after.  We can see this principle at work in the world around us every time we see the reward of love returned when freely given and at the same time the bankruptcy of selfishness as the false siren’s call of wealth, fame, and power fails time and time again to satisfy.

            Will you follow Jesus?  The question is asked of us all, only you can decide if you are willing to make such a commitment.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video 

The Road to Freedom, April 9th, 1945

On the monday morning, with the war only weeks from ending, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Gestapo.  It marked the end of a decade of resistance by Bonhoeffer, first to the offical German Church's embrace of Hitler's Nazi racial theology, eventually to the Hitler regime itself culminating in his joining with the plotters in the failed Valkyrie plot.  In the end, Hitler personally ordered the death of Bonhoeffer and many other of the conspirators while he cowered in the rubble of Berlin awaiting his own suicide.  Evil, when it cannot have victory, is content with spite.  Similiar scenes were taking place all over Nazi occupied Europe as concentration camps hurried to kill as many innocents as possible before Allied troops arrived.

To Bonhoeffer, this end was a choice he would embrace if it was what God asked of him.  He could have stayed safely in America with rewarding teaching opportunities at seminaries that certainly would have benefited from his wisdom, but he chose to return to Germany to be with the Confessing Church (the opposition church formed to counter the Nazi takeover of the offical German Lutheran Church) pastors in their ongoing struggle against Hitler.  To give oneself wholly to God was the passion of his life.

If we allow ourselves to be sub-divided into a spiritual side that we give to God and a secular side that we reserve to ourselves, we will never be the Christians that God wants us to be.  Nor will we ever be as useful for the Kingdom of God as we could be.  It is only when we have decided firmly in our hearts that our lives are not our own that we can truly find lives of purpose and meaning.  This radical wisdom comes from Christ himself who said, "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39)  Bishop Bell, a friend of Dietrich from his ecumenical efforts in London, ended his memorial sermon with the words, "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church".

Sermon Video: Restraining Sensual Indulgence - Colossians 2:20-23

Do groups that attempt to isolate themselves from the world, like medieval monks or the Amish of today, hold the key to holiness?  What is the value of self-denial (Asceticism)?  Paul explains why this belief is misguided and ultimately fails to accomplish its goal, the restraint of sensual indulgence.

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