Sermon Video: "that they may be one" - John 17:20-23

In the last prayer that Jesus is able to make to his Father before the beginning of his time of trial, the focus of his concern is for the unity of his followers.  Knowing that they will face persecution as they spread the Gospel, Jesus prays for unity under God's leadership for his people, that the world might see it as a sign of the Truth of the Gospel.
In the Church today, we have the chance to move beyond the division and infighting of the past be focusing upon our mission, the training of disciples.  It is up to us to make peace happen among Christians of every denomination, that the world may know that the Gospel is indeed God's message of hope for them.

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Sermon Video: "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me" - John 13:3-15

As the Last Supper looms, Jesus takes a moment to teach his disciples a lesson about humility, not a lesson of words, but a lesson by example.  Because Jesus knew who he was, what his mission was, and that his reunion with the Father awaited, Jesus was able to lay aside his rightful kingship and take on the actions of a servant.  When Peter objects to having his feet washed, Jesus assures him that all who follow him must imitate his servant's heart.  Along the same lines, all who would approach God must do so in humble repentance, washed clean by the blood of the Lamb.
Jesus, by washing his disciples' feet, shows us that we must do likewise; it is in service to others that we will find peace.

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Sermon Video: "unless a kernel of wheat falls" - John 12:24-32

With the Triumphal Entry mere moments behind him, Jesus begins to impress upon his disciples that "the hour" is at hand.  The purpose that brought the Son of God to dwell among men will culminate in his own death.  This death will not be an accident, rather it will be the fulfillment of the divine plan which envisioned the self-sacrifice of the Christ.  The life which Jesus will willingly lay down will accomplish infinitely more than he could have by trying to preserve it.
The same principle which Jesus proves in his own life applies to our lives as well.  If we believe that our lives are our own, and hold them tightly in our grasp, we will in the end lose that life just the same to no purpose.  If, however, we believe that our life is a gift of God, a stewardship for which we must one day give account, we will throughout our lives give of ourselves to show the love of God to others and in the end be rewarded by God for our faithfulness.
It may be a paradox, but the Son of Man will destroy sin and death by taking the world's sin upon his back and dying.  The moment of supreme victory for Lucifer's campaign of rebellion against Heaven will instead be the moment of complete defeat as Jesus rises from the grave in victory once-for-all ending the enslavement of mankind to sin and reconciling the world to God.  The cross, a symbol of brutal Roman oppression will in time become the symbol of hope for lost, the poor, and the hopeless.  In death, Jesus will provide life; in death, victory.
The question then becomes: Will we follow suit?  Will we walk in the footsteps of Jesus, give our lives freely to a life of service?

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The End of Morality?

There has been much speculation in recent history about the possibility of mankind's "liberation" (as Karl Marx put it) from religion.  If mankind were to unshackle himself from the bondage of the superstitions of our ancestors, so the theory goes, a new age of freedom would dawn.  For many, the father of modern agnosticism and atheism was the critic of Christianity, Friedrich Nietzsche.  Nietzsche was himself the son of a Lutheran pastor, but he rebelled against his father's beliefs to find, as he thought, freedom in the "death of God".  Yet Nietzsche himself was aware that to rid mankind of religion must by necessity in a Darwinian worldview bring about the end of morality as well.  With an odd sense of hope, Nietzsche wrote, "morality will gradually perish". (Genealogy of Morals, III, p. 27)
The irony of the post-modern revelry in the "death of God" is not that it has, or will ever, led to the liberation of mankind, but rather it simply confirmed mankind's enslavement to a survival of the fittest world where morality has no meaning or purpose.  Without God in the equation, as C.S. Lewis argued in Mere Christianity, morality will cease to exist.  If there is no life after death, only this life matters.  If there is no ultimate judge of mankind, only my own opinion matters, and if there is no ultimate value to each and every human life, none of them really matter when being weighed against the self-interest of each individual.
If this seems like a bleak analysis you understand the point.  Without God, and specifically the morality taught and demonstrated by Jesus Christ, all other attempts to impose an arbitrary morality upon society are doomed to failure.  The Soviet Union committed countless horrors upon its own people in the name of God-less Communism, but were left in the end with a bankrupt society where self-interest could not be overcome by endless propaganda espousing the joys of collective goals.  The world could see that the Soviet Union had become an "evil empire", the phrase Ronald Reagan made famous, long before the system itself collapsed of its own decrepit inertia.
Am I advocating clinging to religion, Christianity in particular, regardless of the evidence simply as a bulwark against an amoral society?  If I was, this effort of whistling past the graveyard would ultimately end in failure.  If the claims of Jesus Christ are not true, then nothing built upon his foundation will long endure.  On the contrary, I am simply pointing out that the alternative to God's redemption is not the liberty that is advertised, but a form of enslavement with no more hope than the pagan religions of the ancient world.  Friedrich Nietzsche may have smiled at the "death of God" and dreamed of a world free from Christian morality, but the horrors of Nazi Germany forever dispelled the myth that mankind released from Judeo-Christian ethics would be anything but a monster.

The Value of a Strong Fortification

One of the fascinating things about visiting lands with an ancient history is the chance to see old forts and castles.  We don't have many of these impressive old structures here in the United States, but anyone who tours their crumpled remains can tell that a vast amount of time and effort went into their creation and upkeep.  Why such an expense in an era of scarcity?  Because they were absolutely necessary.  The strong walls and secure gates of an ancient city gave its population a sense of security in a world full of uncertainty.  When an enemy army appeared, people needed to know that they had a place to retreat to and find safety.
In Proverbs 18:10, we are told "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe."  The people of Israel knew the value of strong defensive structures because they were surrounded by hostile neighbors and situated at the midpoint between rival superpowers.  God's people had plenty of occasions to retreat into strongholds.  Yet the text is telling us something surprising; the name of the LORD is the source of refuge and strength.  Not a physical wall of stone, nor an iron reinforced gate, rather simply the name of God. 
How can the name of God be a refuge for the people of God?  The name of God represents the promises of God.  When God wanted to bring mankind back from wandering in despair he began with a Covenant with Abraham.  God's Covenant was a series of promises and obligations both by God and by Abraham.  As such, the name of God was symbolic of his promises to save and protect his people.  When God called Moses to lead the people out of Egyptian bondage to the Promised Land he told Moses that his name, "I AM", would be sufficient for the people to know that Moses really represented God. 
The protection offered by God has often been a physical salvation for his people, safety from all sorts of dangers, but in the end, that isn't good enough.  If God were to protect his people from danger throughout their lives and yet make no provision for their souls beyond death, his protection would be a short-term success but a long-term failure.  Thankfully, in addition to help and support as we live our lives now, God offers to those who follow him, the righteous, the promise that their hope in him will never be in vain.  Even if in this world we are to suffer, even if in this world our lives are lost due to violence of evil men, we will have our hope, our refuge, secure in the very name of God.  All those who run to God for safety will find a strong tower, a refuge secure against any storm.