Jesus Christ is the same - Hebrews 13:8

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever."  A simple enough statement on the face of it, although I feel the need to insert a couple of commas.  What's so odd about something staying the same?  In reality, it is remarkable for anything to remain the same.  When we look at the physical world around us the one constant we see is change.  Nothing stays the say, everything is in a state of flux.  Our own lives are no different.  None of us are the same as we were ten years ago; not only have our bodies aged and changed (usually for the worse), but our relationships and our thinking as well.  Change is inevitable.
And yet, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Isn't that what Solomon meant when he wrote, "there is nothing new under the sun.  Is there anything of which one can say, 'Look!  This is something new'?  It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time." (Ecclesiastes 1:9b-10)  Things such as death, taxes, man's inhumanity to man, natural disasters, pestilence, disease, and war are certainly not new.  The 24 hour news channels may report them as if they were a brand new thing, but we know we've seen them all before.
So what makes Jesus different?  The last word of the verse is "forever".  Everything I listed that we want go end, such as death, will one day be destroyed by the victory that Jesus accomplished with the Cross and the Empty Tomb.  One day, death will be no more, a new earth will be free of defect, and those who inhabit it will be free of sin.  Solomon knew that those things had all been around, and could see no way in which the evil in our world could be destroyed.  In God's wisdom, he sent his Son to our world to solve the dilemma that lead to Solomon's melancholy.
After God's final judgment of his creation, it will be God that remained the same throughout, from beginning to end, and his creation that (thankfully) returned to what it once was.  We will change, Jesus Christ has no need to; he will remain the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Ancient Words Ever True...

I was listening to the song Ancient Words in the office today, considering the words of Peter in Acts 4, and pondering the book, The Reformation by Diarmaid MacCulloch.  Where did all of that lead me?  The Reformation (in conjunction with the Renaissance) was a difficult time for those who wished to respect ancient traditions.  If you wanted to revere all the wisdom of the ancients, you had to deny the observations of men like Copernicus and Galileo in favor of men dead for two thousand years like Aristotle and Ptolemy. 
If instead, you opened up the wisdom of the ancients to doubt, even ridicule, how could you hold the line and protect the Orthodox faith from those who would deny the Trinity (for example)?
For us, the answers seem easy: Copernicus was right and that doesn't say anything about Biblical interpretation, it's just an observation from the natural world.  It wasn't so simple at the time.  We, as supposedly enlightened modern thinkers, may scoff at the foolishness of our forefathers, and shake our heads that they ever burned "witches" at the stake; but the question should be, "Are we any better?"
Take a look around the world we live in.  It has become the accepted belief in the Modern West that a human embryo can be disposed of with not a bit of care, and even an ironic moral outrage at those who would seek to "force" a young girl to give birth to the child growing inside of her.  It has also become the accepted belief in much of the Modern West that any and all variations of sexuality, co-habitation, and separation are equally valid.  That nobody has the right to tell anyone else that their choices are wrong.
Does it really seem so funny that men in the 16th Century were troubled that Copernicus was claiming the earth revolved around the sun?  In reality, humanity hasn't "advanced" much at all over the last five centuries.  We may know more stuff, and have a lot more widgets and gizmoes to entertain ourselves, but our moral state is just as deprived as the day Luther became troubled with Paul's insistence on fallen humanity in his letter to the Romans.

Sermon Video - "No other name", Acts 4:1-12

In response to Peter's healing of a crippled man and his preaching to the people in the name of Jesus, the religious leaders demand to know by whose authority Peter has acted.  In his defense, Peter boldly claims that the sole source of his healing power is the resurrected Jesus Christ.  His conclusion is Christianity's exclusive claim; that there is no other name that we have been given that can save us.

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

Sermon Video: "the name of Jesus" - Acts 3:11-16

Following the miraculous healing of a man born crippled, Peter explains to the gathering crowd that it was not the power responsible did not belong to him.  The miracle was through and in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the same Jesus who the people of Jerusalem put to death.  By insisting that the name of Jesus, and the faith that comes through him, was the basis for the healing, Peter is declaring Jesus to be God himself.  Only God has the power to perform miracles because there is only one God.  In the end, it is faith in Jesus Christ that can heal, both body and spirit, and nothing else.

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

"worship God acceptably" - Hebrews 12:28

It is amazing how much one word can change what you take from a verse.  If instead, Hebrews 12:28 read, "worship God with reverence and awe" it would certainly make a point worth noting.  God's mercy and love deserve reverence and his power inspires awe, as such the verse makes total sense.  However, when the word "acceptably" is added to the mix (same in NIV, NKJV, the NASB has "an acceptable service"), an added requirement is spelled out for the people of God.  If there is a way to worship God "acceptably" then there must be an unacceptable way to worship God.

Do you mean that I could direct my love and devotion to the right place (that is God) and still be short of what God wants from me?  That's exactly what the verse is saying.  We don't have to go far in Scripture to find examples of people who failed in their worship of God because they did it in the wrong way.  Cain springs to mind, whose sacrifice was inferior to that of his brother Abel.  King Saul learned the hard way that to offer a sacrifice to God that was unauthorized would cost him the right to rule Israel.  Throughout the prophets God warns his people that their hollow sacrifices would mean nothing without obedience.  As Jesus teaches the people he repeatedly demolishes the Pharisees for having the letter of the Law but being far from the Spirit of the Law; they may have perfected the form of worship, but are nowhere near the heart.

Is an acceptable form of worship the serious approach of many Catholics and Orthodox who treat the Mass with great solemnity?  Or does God prefer the utter exubrance of the Pentecostals who celebrate like no other?  The answer is not to be found in the form of worship (each end of the spectrum has something to offer, and many places in between as well), but the heart of the matter.  If we appreciate the seriousness of what Jesus has done for us and find the joy that being forgiven should bring, we're on the right path.  The question is not so much how you worship, as it is why.  If you feel connected to God through Latin chants, go right ahead.  If shouting out during the praise band's modern anthems brings you closer to God, knock yourself out.  Why do we worship?  To bring glory and praise to God.  In the end, it is your heart that determines if your worship is "acceptable" in the sight of God.