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.

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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.

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Sermon Video: Immanuel, "God with us" - Matthew 1:22-25

"God is with us", what does this mean?  When Isaiah declared that the virgin's child would be named Immanuel, it seemed most likely that God would be with his people in Spirit.  After all, God had gone to great lengths to convince his Covenant people that he was the only true God, that they need seek no other.  God could be "with" his people wherever they were.  And yet, more was needed, the Covenant people were unable to lift themselves up to the lofty standard of the Law of Moses, they needed help.  As Matthew recounts the story of Jesus, the term Immanuel takes on a whole new meaning.  Because Mary's conception was an act of the Holy Spirit, God himself would be entering into his creation in new way unlike anything that had happened before.  The God of the universe, not bound by time or space, would take upon himself human flesh and live as we do, bound by the laws that he himself had helped his father craft.  Immanuel would go from being a symbol of God's relationship with his people to being a literal truth; God would indeed be "with us" when the Christ was born.
How would this advent of Creator into his creation change our world?  One thing became crystal clear, if God is willing to condescend so much to save us, his love for us cannot be doubted.  Likewise, if God found it necessary to go to such an end to save humanity, our hope of ever fixing ourselves must have been false all along.  God came down to earth at Bethlehem because there was no other way, Immanuel was our only hope.
After his dream ends, Joseph proceeds to obey the word of God by bringing Mary home as his wife.  The Son of God will now have an adoptive father to raise him on behalf of his heavenly Father. 

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Sermon Video: Joseph and the angel - Matthew 1:18-21

Infidelity is a brutal emotional and spiritual wrecking ball, it destroys families and ruins lives.  Joseph, a young man pledged to be married to a local village girl named Mary was hit with the realization that his intended bride had been unfaithful before their marriage could even be consummated.  Mary didn't offer an excuse or explanation, but her guilt was all too obvious, she was pregnant.  God sent Mary an angel to let her know what was about to happen, but he did something interesting with Joseph, he allowed Joseph to react to this shocking news according to his own character before the angel came to explain the situation.  By doing so, God gave Joseph a chance to show that he was indeed a righteous man.
Joseph decided to divorce Mary quietly rather than demand public justice.  He chose to have mercy upon her, even though her apparent sin was against him, rather than taking his anger out on her to salve his pride.  It was an act of restraint that is an example to us all, Joseph may have had the right to humiliate Mary, but he didn't have the heart to do it.  Joseph couldnt' allow himself to be part of a lie by going through with the marriage, but he also didn't have a vindictive or self-righteous impulse.
After his decision, God sent an angel to let Joseph know what was really going on.  The child was from the Holy Spirit!  God had helped barren women before, it's one of the major themes of the Old Testament, but always through their husband.  Now, God has created life apart from the natural process.  Thus the child born to Mary will be part of David's royal line, if Joseph is willing to marry her, but not of David's fallen ancestry.  To top it off, the angel tells Joseph that the child's name will be Jesus, "because he will save his people from their sins".  Save them from their sins!  Not even the great Law-giver, Moses, had been able to overcome sin, the whole generation he led died in the desert before entering into the Promised Land.  And yet, this child, born of the Holy Spirit, will accomplish so much more than any who had before.

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