Sermon Video: Self-Righteousness = Contempt for God's Mercy

Released between two horrific mass shootings was the report about how sex abuse was handled by the Southern Baptist Convention.  This horrific reports detailed failures spanning decades to report and combat sexual abuse within SBC churches and institutions.  At the same time, the SBC has been on the forefront condemning the sexual ethics of the culture at large, primarily targeting those outside the Church.  This blatant hypocrisy has become far too common, we have cynically come to expect it of our politicians and even pastors, and it is toxic to both the Culture and the Church.

The Apostle Paul takes aim at hypocritical judgementalism, when the people of God condemn others for doing the very things they themselves still do (often in secret).  That this is entirely unacceptable goes without saying, but the deeper danger is that is damages our relationship with God, leading to entirely justified anger because it makes a mockery of God's grace and forgiveness to us.

Sermon Video: The Prodigal Son's brother - Luke 15:11-32

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is the third parable in a row told by Jesus in response to the muttering of the Pharisees and teachers of the law who had observed his friendly social interaction with the tax collectors and assorted "sinners".  Each of the three emphasizes God's concern for the Lost, God's willingness to seek and save the Lost, and the joy that erupts in heaven when God succeeds in saving one lost soul.  The younger son in this third parable is indeed prodigal, that is he is wasteful through loose living of his resources, in this case his portion of his father's estate, at which point he hits rock bottom and reconsiders his choices in life.  The younger son begins the process of repentance, turning from his sinful choices and seeking forgiveness for them, even formulating a plan where he will ask his father for a lesser role than being his son, hoping instead to become simply an employee of his father.  Such a resolution is unacceptable to the father, who upon seeing his son return, rushes out to meet him in a loving embrace and immediately restores his son's rights as a son in a tremendous act of grace.  Likewise, God meets the lost sinner where he is, rushing out to meet us and offering total and free forgiveness as well as cleansing us and making us whole.  This parable is a heart-warming story, a tremendous lesson in love, grace, and forgiveness, as well as a warning about the danger of "freedom" apart from God; but it doesn't end there.  The second son, the older brother, is the true target of the parable as he sits sulking in his bitterness and anger when he learns of his father's generosity to his undeserving brother.  It takes the father's intervention, along with harsh and unfair words from the older brother aimed at his father, before the point gets across that the younger brother had been dead, and is now alive, he had been lost, and is now found.
Why do Christians, people who have been forgiven themselves, become judgmental and self-righteous?  They certainly should not, such attitudes are always and everywhere unacceptable within the Church; as former defendants before God whose sentences were commuted by the intervention of Jesus, our response to grace shown to others ought to be a shout of hallelujah, if it is a mumble of self-righteous indignation, shame on us.  Why does it happen?  Two reasons: (1) Those who don't remember their own forgiveness may resent when it is given to others, which would come from a false sense that one's list of sins was somehow small or petty, not really a big deal.  (2)  And those who don't value the Lost as God values them, seeing them in his image, as our very brothers and sisters, are likely to care less about their salvation.  The Prodigal Son may have left home, and hit bottom before finding forgiveness, but it is those of us who stayed behind, who remained with our Father, who may need to learn compassion.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video: One sinner who repents - Luke 15:1-10

We live in a world where a 99% success rate is considered to be extraordinary, unheard of in most cases.  When Jesus is challenged by the Jewish religious leadership because he is socially accepting of outcasts like tax collectors and "sinners", he responds by telling two parable that illustrate God's unwillingness to write off anybody as the cost of doing business or an acceptable loss.  In the first parable, one out of one hundred sheep is lost prompting the shepherd to leave the ninety-nine in the care of another and search for it until it is found.  In the second parable, one out of ten coins is lost, prompting the owner of the coins to search the home diligently until it is found.  In both parables, the search goes beyond what we would normally do with such a loss, and the rejoicing that follows once the lost is found certainly goes beyond what we would do if we found one sheep or one coin.  The two parables are used by Jesus to illustrate God's perspective regarding hopeless cases and lost causes when victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat, or in this case, when a lost soul is snatched from the gates of hell.  When Jesus secures that victory, saving a lost sinner by rescuing him/her and bringing them home to God, the result in heaven is a rousing chorus of rejoicing, a party worthy of the triumph of the Son.
What do we take from these parables?  Three truths stand out: (1)  There are no "sinners", all have sinned, all are sinners, all need a savior to carry us home.  (2) There are no outcasts, none that we are not obligated to treat with dignity and kindness, none that are too far gone to be saved by Jesus.  (3)  The Gospel will save them, it can go anywhere, into the darkest places of our world and the darkest of human hearts, it can find lost sinners there and by the blood of the Lamb of God, it can save them.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts..." Isaiah 55:8

There are a lot of verses in the Bible that people quote without really understanding whether or not they apply to the situation at hand.  Christians often quote Isaiah's words about the will of God when talking about tragic situations like cancer, a house fire, a hurricane, or simply some loss or failure that doesn't make any sense to us.  In that vein, this verse is much like Romans 8:28-29, a verse that when taken out of context doesn't necessary lead us into error, per se, but certainly takes us away from the point that the writer, and thus God, are trying to make.
In Isaiah 55, God is expressing his willingness to not only save and restore Israel after the upcoming judgment falls upon them, but surprisingly he plans to include the nations that haven't even heard his name yet in his redemption.  In verses 6-7 God explains that he is near and easily found by anyone who is willing to repent by turning from their wickedness.  It is at this moment that God says, "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways."  He certainly isn't talking about understanding or coping with tragedy or misfortune, but instead about how God's love and mercy for sinners is beyond our understanding.
The people of God have a long running tendency to exclude those they don't like or aren't comfortable with from the reach of God's mercy.  This began with the people of Israel and continue in the history of the Church.  From Moses to Jesus it was the Jews who were reluctant to extend God's grace to the Gentiles, once the Gentiles took over the Church they turned the tables and ensured that the Jews were no longer welcome, and later on added in other undesirable such as the American Indians, African slaves, and other groups.  It took generations of dedicated work by missionaries and reformers to fight back against this latent racism, to purge the Church of a willingness to forget about those who had not yet been given a chance to accept the call of God to repent.
This same line of reasoning applies to God's willingness to forgive repentant sinners that have either fallen too far in our view, or who have committed sins that we find more repugnant than the ones we've been guilty of.  At times this manifests itself in a reluctance to forgive those whose crimes against God seem somehow more grave than our own, at other times it shows up as a reluctance to allow our social club feeling of Church to be distracted by the likes of such sinners as drunkards, drug users, prostitutes, gamblers, or those with sexual perversions.  Are the sins of vanity, greed, or good ol' heterosexual fornication somehow a better class of sin?  Are those who have already received God's forgiveness somehow superior to those who are about to?
Why are God's "thoughts" and "ways" not our own?  Because we have not yet allowed the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to eradicate the self-righteousness from our own thoughts and attitudes to the extent that we  begin to see what God see when he looks upon a Lost sinner, a child of God who needs to come home.  That God's "thoughts" and "ways" are not our own is a good thing, a merciful, loving thing, thanks be to God.

Sermon Video, "to win the prize" Philippians 3:10-14

Having just told the church at Philippi that his past life of self-righteousness is meaningless and his current state of self-sacrifice in the service of the Gospel is not a loss, Paul now explains to them that he has not yet reached the perfect state of Christ-likeness that he, and all of us, must strive for.
That the Apostle Paul admits to be less than perfect is welcome news to those of us who struggle to live up to the high standard of the conduct of Jesus Christ.  Not only does it allow us to be honest about our shortcomings, it keeps us from being judgmental toward others because none of us are, or can be, perfect until God finishes that process of transformation beyond the grave.
So what do we do now?  If we can't be perfect, does it matter if we try to be better?  Paul's answer is an emphatic, "Press on!"  We must strive and struggle toward that lofty goal of Christ-likeness, it doesn't matter that we can't get there because God has called us to be soldiers for the Cross, we too must take up spiritual arms and stand against evil, we too must stand with the weak, the outcasts, because we will then be standing where our saviour stood, with the people, that he might save the people.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
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Sermon Video, "that I may gain Christ" - Philippians 3:1-9

In this passage Paul offers advice to the Church at Philippi in the event that it proves necessary in the future.  He warns them about "dogs" and "mutilators of the flesh" who will try to impose upon them the requirements of the Law (in this case circumcision) in addition to faith in Christ.  Paul views such version of the Gospel, faith plus something else whatever it may be, with horror because he knows from personal experience that self-righteousness is a dead end.
Earlier in life, when Paul was known as Saul, he had every reason to expect that his strict observance of the Law would bring him to God, he was shocked into reality, however, when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and learned that he had in fact been fighting AGAINST God.  How can that be?  To do the right thing is not enough, God demands a right heart as well, and Saul's was full of self-righteous pride that left no room for compassion for the Lost.
Now, as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, Paul knows that every church must be on its guard against the temptation to add any kind of works before faith (such as: Baptism, Communion, membership, etc.).  We do not work to earn God's favor, we work to celebrate God's grace.  The difference may seem slight, but it means everything.  Salvation is not earned, therefore, I must not stand in the way of anyone who might accept it, more than that, it becomes our duty to share the message of God's love with anyone and everyone we can.

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Sermon Video: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" - Luke 5:27-32

Jesus once again does the unexpected when he calls the tax collector Levi (Matthew) to be his disciple. In 1st Century Judea tax collectors were especially hated as Roman collaborators, and as such were grouped with other "sinners" such as prostitutes. Jesus, however, sees in Levi a sinner in need of repentance, not a lost cause outcast. When the Pharisees complain that Jesus has agreed to eat with tax collectors and "sinners", he responds by telling them that, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick". In other words, God is concerned with the lost, with sinners who need to be healed; rather than hating them, God holds out a hand in hope that they will repent. As Jesus concludes, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Why does God care about each lost soul? Because he made each one, each person has value in his sight, and each person can be washed clean by the blood of the lamb.


Do we value every lost sinner, or have we become heartless like the Pharisees? Those who follow Jesus must welcome amongst them any who are willing to kneel at the foot of the cross.   To watch the video, click on the link below: Sermon Video