41. Sermon Notes June 23, 2008
A Bride Adorned
A bride adorned in white bejeweled dress
So all should think her pure and clean indeed
With flowing train enchanting host and guest
Sermon Notes Pentecost Sunday
The ghost that moves in rushing wind and fire
Alighting on the heads of those who wait,
To Move tongues of those who still aspire
To heavn'ly life, who fear no earthly fate
(For life of flesh and blood has lost its charm
Since Man the First was cast from Eden's gate
And Christ's own body nailed
Beauty
Beauty is a window into eternity. The garden is a play act of the temple. The temple is a metaphor of eternal life. Thus the body is a temple
Maundy Thursday
I Kings 19:9-18
"[Elijah] came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He said, "I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away." And he said, "Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord." And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He said, "I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away." And the Lord said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.""
It is a very frequent feeling in ministry: abandonment. Exhaustion at the seemingly endless tasks, discouragement that there is no apparent fruit from our labor. It is easy to stick it to God, and ask him why he isn't faithful. It is also easy to become self-absorbed and wonder what we're doing wrong, what's wrong with our methods, or perhaps we just "missed our calling" and are doing the wrong thing.
Elijah may have felt any or all of the above, and so he went and hid in a cave, nursing his wounds. But God did not ask him "what's wrong?" But rather "What are you doing here?" Clearly, there was more work to be done, but Elijah was at his wits end.
When Elijah shared his woes with God as we often do, God does not seem sympathetic, but only tells him to go stand on the mountain. Perhaps Elijah wanted to see God bring down more fire from heaven as he had done on the mountain only a few days previous, and consumed an altar and its sacrifice. This is our expectation anyway. When we pour our efforts into his service we expect results. It's like an exchange, we do our part, he does his and when we don't see the results we think our efforts merit, we are tempted to complain at God that he is not moving. He's not keeping his side of the bargain.
As with a student who can't seem to get his lesson, God sighs and says, "Go stand on the mountain." There God delivered what Elijah wanted; fire, hurricane winds and earthquake, but God was not in them. They were brought by God and demonstrated his power, but he was not in them. God shows many signs by his power. He works miracles, he commands all the powers of nature, but such things do not bring us closer to him. To receive God himself takes a humble and repentant heart, realizing that we have nothing to offer him, and nothing to demand of him. Or works are as filthy rags, and all our efforts are as useful as the dances of string puppets. What God seeks is a people that will be devoted to listening to him. To see God's judgment and power we may gaze at his miraculous works, to know him we must cultivate the art of listening. Why should he come in the still small voice? Because in order for us to hear it we must shut up the clamor of our own sinful hearts. We have to set aside self-pity and self-righteousness and cover our faces with our cloak and go stand at the opening of the cave and listen.
When Elijah did this God asked him the same question he did before and Elijah gave him the same answer, but this time God revealed to Elijah his plan. The kings who sought his life would execute God's will apart from Elijah's work, and apart from Elijah's great prophetic knowledge God had already set aside seven thousand people who were devoted to him. Elijah didn't see results because the results belonged to the hidden God who speaks with a still small voice! The results that God sought was the humbling of Elijah, as he set aside time to come out of his little world and listen to his God.
As Jesus told his befuddled disciples when they were not able to cast out a demon "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." Jesus shows us what sort of a relationship God desires with those who minister his word. Jesus always sought the quiet Gethsemane. He went to the mountain not to hide in a cave, but the listen to his father in prayer. So in the midst of our exhaustion he asks of us "Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation." But as we groan and turn over, we do not know that he is already taking the burden of our failures upon himself, for tomorrow he will be crucified.
Aleph
(Psalm 119:1-8)
All are blessed who wend the perfect way
who walk in the law of the Lord
All are blessed who tend to his testimonies
they pursue him with all their heart.
Acting upon evil, indeed, never are they!
but always walking in his ways.
At last you've prescribed your precepts
to be kept; indeed to be kept!
Alas! Would that my ways were steadfast
so your statutes might be kept.
Attending to all your commandments
I shouldn't ever again be ashamed.
Aright in heart would I then acclaim you
as I learn of your just judgments.
Abandon me not entirely;
I will to your statutes steadfastly!
Temptation and Baptism
If God is all-powerful and all-knowing, then he can do anything and no thing is harder than another.
If God can do anything then he can prove himself when tested.
If Jesus is the Son of God then he has God's power.
Therefore, Jesus can prove himself when he is tested and it is no harder for him to do so than it is for him to open or close his eyes.
This is the line of argument that Satan uses toward Jesus when he tempts him in the wilderness.
Here is the argument that we would be tempted to add:
True temptation implies a struggle
Jesus could prove himself to be God, as Satan asked, or resist the temptation with equal ease and without a struggle.
Therefore Jesus was not truly tempted.
This argument is equally flawed. Jesus treats it the same way as he does the argument of Satan, ignore it and continue to bear witness to the truth of who he is and why he came.
Preceding the temptation of Jesus in Luke's narrative, he is baptized by John the Baptist and God testifies to who Jesus is. He says that Jesus is his very Son. Now both Satan and our curiosity would like to find out exactly what that means. Satan thought he could use the testimony as a weakness in Jesus, causing him to inadvertently obey Satan in the very act of proving that he was God's Son. And we would like to make Jesus' experience as a human to be fundamentally different from our own. In some ways we want an excuse for the fact that Jesus resisted temptation where often we fail to do so.
Jesus' life condemns both arguments. Jesus did not allow the divine will to be bent by Satan's schemes, but rather he remained hidden to the eyes of Satan, causing him to think he had defeated him even unto causing Jesus to die. But in fact Jesus was entrusting himself to the divine will, and through it, defeating Satan and all of his tricks for eternity!
Luke unabashedly states that Jesus 'grew' in wisdom. Now we would have no means of understanding a 'growth' in God. But only as a real human does this statement make sense. Jesus went through a progression of wisdom going from one level to another level of wisdom
Psalm 119
In Psalm 119 the psalmist repeatedly and confidently declares his innocence before God; "I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments"
Jonah
Where might be found the presence of divine
There found is calling burdensome to me.
What he would have beyond the pow'r of mine
Has driven far upon the pagan sea
This heart from love and tender conscious faith
Unto that fiery sermon of the deep,
Unto the very throat which right portrayeth
Mine own engorging habits where I sleep
Unknowing quite the storms which rage without
On me and on those of like fearsome plight
Unknowing or unwanting but to doubt
The worth of other man in heaven's sight.
Now fall from God of earth and sea and land
On all who sin what mercy's willed 'forehand.
Baptism, Illustrated Edition
Jesus baptism is ours. To understand our own baptism we have only to look at that of Jesus for its illustration and explanation.
The Law and Prophets all spoke of the coming redemption of Israel, the Savior of Israel. For her sins God provided a sacrifice. As Isaac, in whom all of Israel was represented, was saved by the death of the sacrificial lamb, so all of Israel in her vast numbers were covered by the blood of lambs at the Passover. Both of these events illustrate how Jesus, as the Lamb of God, himself covers Israel.
In addition to being the Lamb, Jesus is also the high priest who represents the people. In him is all of Israel, for he is the seed of Abraham. All who believe in him are the children of Abraham by faith. In Christ is both Israel, and her sacrifice. For what did God demand but Israel herself as a living sacrifice. This relationship is typified by the Sabbath day, where his people are his and his alone, enjoyed by him (his "rest").
When Jesus goes to the waters of baptism he is uniting these two images, that of Israel, and that of Savior of Israel. He is baptized by John, the last and greatest of prophets. John called the people to repent of sins. Jesus had no sins of his own, yet he identified with the people as their representative head
Judgment and Grace
per Rob's inquiry.
There are two reasons given for the judgment of a sinner: 1, his sin, and 2, his choice to reject the gospel.
Passages such as Romans 3:11-18, echoing Psalms 14:1-4, 5:9, 140:3 and 10:7, show how clearly the human heart is already bent against God because of sin. This underlines humanity's dependence on God's mercy extended to it through the cross of Jesus.
In the epistles there are found many people, even some in the church, who have heard the gospel and seek to undermine it, actively working against God's will for salvation (Philippians 3:18,19). These people are judged for rejecting the gospel, or not "obeying" it, as the apostle Peter says (I Peter 4:17), meaning that they do not submit their hearts to repentance and joyfully receive the gift.
This gospel of Jesus' death and resurrection for the reconciliation of all people to their God is a message that goes out into the entire world. Many are cut to the heart through the conviction of their sins by the Holy Spirit and repent and become recipients of the salvation purchased for them on the cross. Others harden their hearts as they are disposed to do through sin and do not receive the free gift of eternal life in Christ.
For those who are saved they are judged righteous in God's sight because God has chosen to place his name upon them so that through faith in Christ they share in the blessedness that is Jesus' eternal inheritance. God has chosen to work in their hearts through the Holy Spirit to bring them to salvation which he prepared for them in Christ. Though they are guilty of sin, and God's just verdict for that sin is "guilty", yet that sentence falls upon Christ, and the guilty are forgiven. This is the meaning of the saying "at the same time saint and sinner". Because of the human's nature, they are sinful, but because of God's grace, they are forgiven, washed clean and given God's very name in baptism. This is the paradox that the Christian lives in: guilty, yet forgiven and free of guilt.
For those who are damned to death are so damned because of their persistent rebellion against God and the rejection of his gospel. For those who have not heard, they reject God because they are living in rebellion of him from the day of their birth. For those who have heard the gospel and still reject it, they are condemned for that as well. As Paul says of such people "their condemnation is just" (Romans 3:8).
In summary, let those who have received the gospel of Jesus Christ rejoice for the marvelous gift which God chose to bestow on us. For those who have rejected the gospel or who live in sin apart from God, they are damned for their sin. Let them not blame God for their predicament; let God be true though every man were a liar.