the way

Today is communion Sunday; it is the day that we remember the body of Christ that was placed on the altar for you and me. And as we remember the sacrifice that was made, we should also remember that it was Christ’s gift. Even though he was led out of a Roman city by armed guards, he went willingly.

Jesus said in John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.

Likewise, our offerings and the money we give – we joyfully give back to God. Even though they are mostly made from paper and inexpensive metals, they represent our labor, our time and our abilities. In 2 Corinthians 9:7 the apostle Paul reminds us that it is not just the tithe that we offer, but that God also wants the giver….you and me.

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver

Let us be thankful this morning as we present our tithes and offerings, let’s pray.

Lord, we come before you and place ourselves at your feet.

We offer our whole life to you.

We offer to you all that we do and say and think and feel.

All of our hopes and dreams and wishes we offer to you.

We offer our hearts to you.

We want to love you and serve you with all of our strength and energy and talents.

Mold us, shape us, make us into what you wish us to be in order to serve You and to do Your will.

Fill us with your love till our hearts overflows.

Matthew 4:19
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people."

I have always been a huge fan of comic books, especially Spiderman, mostly because the hero, Peter Parker was a nondescript typical kid. But one thing Peter could never do was get involved with a girl or worse yet – get married. He knew that if he fell in love and had a bride, his enemies would go after her and jeopardize her safety. His bride would be his greatest weakness.

So let’s say for instance that I was God’s greatest enemy. Now I know I don’t stand a chance of lasting 12 rounds in the ring with the creator of the Universe; I can’t match him pound for pound in any arena. So, what do I do? Simple….I go after what he loves. I go after his bride.

Sometimes to get a clear picture of what is going on in the world you need to look out the window, and maybe even down the street. Currently in America 1 in 3 people are unchurched. This means in the past six months, they have not attended a place of worship of any faith. What is worse is that statistic was the same back in 1994. To put it in larger numbers that is an estimated 73 million adults who are presently unchurched. When teens and children are added, the total swells to roughly 100 million Americans. To put that figure in context, if the unchurched population of the United States were a nation of its own, that group would be the twelfth most populated nation on earth.

These are definitely tough times, attracting people to a conventional church is a greater challenge than ever - as is the difficulty of keeping them engaged in the process. But I came across this quote from Christian statistician George Barna that still gives me hope, "Every year, many previously unchurched people return to a church for one or more Easter season services. More often than not, this is the result of one of two motivations: the compelling invitation of a close friend who accompanies them to the service, or a personal crisis that compels them to seek God more fervently. Impersonal marketing efforts generally have limited impact in persuading the unchurched to break their normal Sunday morning habits."

What doesn’t work? Impersonal marketing efforts. (i.e. tracts, mailers, flyers, door hangers, flashy websites, mass emails etc.)

What does work? A personal invitation.

Think about this, Jesus was God in the flesh and he still felt the need to put his sandals on and walk down to the beach to find a few followers. Jesus extended a personal invitation to a few lost men and it still works today. Who is in your oikos? Who are the 3 to 16 people that you know that make up the 100 million Americans who don’t attend a church? Did you know there are only 8 weeks left until Easter?

Jesus said to Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of death will not overcome it.” [Matthew 16:18]

God’s enemies can keep on trying to take out his bride, but as the old song says, we shall overcome.

* some quotes and statistics taken from http://www.barna.org

You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.”                                                                          ~ Psalm 18:28

             When sailors are lost at sea, it’s the light from the moon that guides them, or it’s the light from the shore that brings them home. When hikers are lost in caves, or when firemen are trapped in rubble, it’s always the light that guides them to freedom. People are drawn to light. In fact, my brand new baby boy could care less about toys and cartoons and things that rattle, but there is just something about the light that he is drawn to.

Jesus was a light people were drawn to as well, the bible records disciples (Matthew 4) and large crowds (Matthew 8, 12, 19) following him everywhere. At the beginning of the early church (Acts 2), the bible records that three thousand people came to Christ.

But what about today? What has happened to that light? Is it still lit? Are lost people still looking to be rescued? More and more, we see generations who find Church irrelevant and boring; where it was the norm to take time out of your week to be involved in church, now it seems church is becoming an after-thought (or an after-after-thought). Typically this spurns people to begin to talk about ‘evangelism.’ The church comes up with strategies, theories and templates in the hope of drawing people to church….hoping to draw people into the light. But what is the best way? Is there a best way? Jesus told us to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28) but did he tell us how?

When I was a kid watching Saturday morning cartoons, I saw dozens of Cal Worthington commercials. He was the Texas used car tycoon dressed in Roy Rogers western wear and he was always accompanied by an animal from the zoo. I used to think that man would probably do anything to sell you a car, every Saturday there was he was trying some new promotion or gimmick. But when I grew up, I didn’t buy a car from him. He never won me over as a customer.

Is that how I think of evangelism? That I need to “sell” God to others? Is that the example that Christ gives us in the scriptures?  Jesus made it clear that people can’t come to him unless the Father draws them to him (John 6:44, 65). Jesus understood that light is not drawn to people—people are drawn to light. Through his ministry, Jesus set out plain truths in his preaching, cared for the poor and the marginalized, and healed the sick. If we used Jesus as our model for evangelism—then we can’t deny the power that comes from reaching out in compassion, love, grace, mercy, forgiveness and kindness. If we used that model, do we think it would change some people’s ideas about the church? Do we think our light would burn a little brighter?

The good news is my light is Christ—it is Him in me that people are drawn to. I will never win anyone to Christ, I will never convince or convert anyone. Jesus didn’t say “be a salesman” he said “be a light.” Oh Lord, keep my lamp burning...

Psalm 24:1

The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it…

Do you believe that this morning? I mean really believe it? And sure we could discuss the theological implications of what this verse means, we could talk about King David and look at the Hebrew parsing of the Psalms, but sometimes we need to get past the terms to get to the true meaning; because the scriptures are a way of living.

King David says, “All of my possessions and all of my life…” belong to God.

Stewardship is more than just caring for God’s resources – it’s a way of living. The options and the priorities of what that means are already laid out.

How do we live? How do we spend our time? How do we use our talents? How do we use our wealth? Before we can answer those questions, we first need to ask ourselves if we truly believe those words.

Out here in Southern California we enjoy enormous wealth. Most of us have more than we will ever use. But the scriptures tell us that none of it is ours. The Lord says in Haggai 2:8, “The silver is mine and the gold is mine.”

Stewardship is realizing that everything belongs to God.

So we give back, we give back to God what is already his. We give back when we feed the hungry, when we clothe the poor, when we take care of the orphan and the widow. We give back when we love God’s children and when we protect his creation.

Stewardship is a way of living.

Jesus says in Luke 12:48

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

Is Jesus Lord of all this morning? How do we live?

As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

~ Isaiah 62:5

Why does God refer to himself sometimes as the “the groom” and His church as “the bride?” Why that imagery? What is God trying to tell us? I guess first you would have to think about what comes to mind when you think of a groom….not just a husband mind you, but a man not yet a husband, a man awaiting to be married. This brings to mind a God  who is joyful, a God who is on fire with affection for you, and yet a God who is tender in His contact with your weakness.  A bridegroom God who sees your beauty as all transcendent, He is a God who longs for you with passion and anxiousness.

But is this the God who is talked about at your church; are you a bride who feels courted and wooed by her groom, who feels light-headed, who feels alive and captivating? You and I were created by a passionate God and He wants us to live and be alive for Him. As God’s bride we should be fully aligned with His vision, we should be excited about the day when we meet Him at the end of the isle and we should be working toward that day with all of our will.

Christians today will use “buzzwords” to talk about church revival; they use words like “radical” and “extreme,” but what about “lovesick?” Can you remember ever being lovesick; so much in love, that it physically hurt you to be apart? I offer that if you don’t burn with the lovesick affection of a bride, we will burn out and become lethargic on our own strength. So how do we reclaim that lovesick affection? The same way a bride does with her groom – she has “encounters” with him.

Meeting God, escaping away from the cycle of everyday life to have rendezvous with the Lord will be what drives your passion for your creator.  And the good news is, you already know how to do it….prayer….reading the scriptures….and worship.

The alternative is being a spiritually bored believer for the rest of your life. The alternative is being a passive pew filler who knows when to stand and sit. The alternative is you being so apathetic about your faith that it drives you to….nothing.

Lord, may we be the prize of your heart, may we burn with the passion of your cherished bride, may we prepare ourselves, and adorn ourselves for you. Give us the heart for what you have a heart for—stir in us again that lovesick drive that brings us back into your arms.

                                                            ~ Amen

The great thing about the scriptures is that no matter how familiar you might be with a text, depending on the stage of life you are in – you can read something very familiar to you and all of a sudden it takes on new meaning.

This past Christmas I was reminded that when Jesus was born, he was placed in a manger. In a feeding trough for animals, and I had this strange picture of the baby Jesus laid out on a dinner plate.

Jesus on a plate.

How crazy is that? As a baby, with no will or power of his own, his parents placed him in a makeshift bed that was up until then, used for eating food…..

And then – at the tale end of his ministry, Jesus shares a meal with his disciples and what does he tell them? “Take, eat – this is my body.”

Jesus on a plate.

My favorite passages about this come from a story in John 6, Jesus said…

³³ The bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

³⁴ "Sir," the disciples said, "always give us this bread."

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, "I am - the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

⁵¹ I am - the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

⁵³ Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁵⁵⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

Jesus began and ended his earthly life – laid down and helpless. Strapped in… .bared….available…..assessable…..vulnerable……

Psalm 34:8

⁸ Taste and see that the LORD is good…

Wild air, world-mothering air,

Nestling me everywhere,

That each eyelash or hair

Girdles; goes home betwixt

The fleeciest, frailest-flixed

Snowflake; that ’s fairly mixed

With, riddles, and is rife

In every least thing’s life;

This needful, never spent,

And nursing element;

My more than meat and drink,

My meal at every wink;

This air, which, by life’s law,

My lung must draw and draw

Now but to breathe its praise,

Minds me in many ways

Of her who not only

Gave God’s infinity

Dwindled to infancy

Welcome in womb and breast,

Birth, milk, and all the rest

But mothers each new grace

That does now reach our race—

Mary Immaculate,

Merely a woman, yet

Whose presence, power is

Great as no goddess’s

Was deemèd, dreamèd; who

This one work has to do—

Let all God’s glory through,

God’s glory which would go

Through her and from her flow

Off, and no way but so.

I say that we are wound

With mercy round and round

As if with air: the same

Is Mary, more by name.

She, wild web, wondrous robe,

Mantles the guilty globe,

Since God has let dispense

Her prayers his providence:

Nay, more than almoner,

The sweet alms’ self is her

And men are meant to share

Her life as life does air.

If I have understood,

She holds high motherhood

Towards all our ghostly good

And plays in grace her part

About man’s beating heart,

Laying, like air’s fine flood,

The deathdance in his blood;

Yet no part but what will

Be Christ our Savior still.

Of her flesh he took flesh:

He does take fresh and fresh,

Though much the mystery how,

Not flesh but spirit now

And makes, O marvelous!

New Nazareths in us,

Where she shall yet conceive

Him, morning, noon, and eve;

New Bethlems, and he born

There, evening, noon, and morn—

Bethlem or Nazareth,

Men here may draw like breath

More Christ and baffle death;

Who, born so, comes to be

New self and nobler me

In each one and each one

More makes, when all is done,

Both God’s and Mary’s Son.

Again, look overhead

How air is azurèd;

O how! nay do but stand

Where you can lift your hand

Skywards: rich, rich it laps

Round the four fingergaps.

Yet such a sapphire-shot,

Charged, steepèd sky will not

Stain light. Yea, mark you this:

It does no prejudice.

The glass-blue days are those

When every color glows,

Each shape and shadow shows.

Blue be it: this blue heaven

The seven or seven times seven

Hued sunbeam will transmit

Perfect, not alter it.

Or if there does some soft,

On things aloof, aloft,

Bloom breathe, that one breath more

Earth is the fairer for.

Whereas did air not make

This bath of blue and slake

His fire, the sun would shake,

A blear and blinding ball

With blackness bound, and all

The thick stars round him roll

Flashing like flecks of coal,

Quartz-fret, or sparks of salt,

In grimy vasty vault.

So God was god of old:

A mother came to mould

Those limbs like ours which are

What must make our daystar

Much dearer to mankind;

Whose glory bare would blind

Or less would win man’s mind.

Through her we may see him

Made sweeter, not made dim,

And her hand leaves his light

Sifted to suit our sight.

Be thou then, O thou dear

Mother, my atmosphere;

My happier world, wherein

To wend and meet no sin;

Above me, round me lie

Fronting my froward eye

With sweet and scarless sky;

Stir in my ears, speak there

Of God’s love, O live air,

Of patience, penance, prayer:

World-mothering air, air wild,

Wound with thee, in thee isled,

Fold home, fast fold thy child.

~ Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

More poems by author >here

Although there are many people who never become fathers, Fatherhood is an essential attribute of God for He has been a Father from all eternity. The Bible reveals God as the Lord of the universe and calls Him "Father" in both Old and New Testaments. He is the Father and Lord of creation. James describes Him as "the Father of the lights,” because He created the stars as well as the angels. The Old Testament says heavenly beings are "the sons of God.” And the apostle Paul says that every family under heaven is named or set aside for Him. God is also the father of the little baby born Christmas day. The Psalmist writes,

Psalm 2: 6, 7

I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain. I will proclaim the LORD's decree: He said to me, "You are my son; today I have become your father.”

God took on human flesh in the person of Jesus to deliver us from our sin. He was the perfect reflection - the very image - of the Father of all. King Solomon asks from the pages of scripture….

Proverbs 30:4

Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know!

The name of Jesus is celebrated by all Christians in their worship and in their prayers and in their conversation. And rightly so, for he is the Lord of all - exalted to the right hand of God with a name that is above every name.

Tonight we lift up the name of God’s son – Jesus Christ!

Isaac Watts wrote “Joy to the World” one of the most infamous Christmas carols in all of history. The second verse begins, “Joy to the world, the Savior reigns, let men their songs employ.”  This verse speaks to the eternal Kingship of God, a monarchy that brings joy and music to the world. And years before his birth, the Prophet Micah records where this future King would come from.

Micah 5:2

But you, Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel.

On a night in the town of Bethlehem, the King of the world was born. And in antiquity when a King or Emperor made an announcement, a herald, or “message bringer” would go out into the surrounding town declaring the news. And because Jesus was no ordinary King, his messengers were the very angels of heaven.

The gospel writer Luke records how this message of joy was delivered to a group of Bedouin shepherds.

Luke 2:10

The angel said to them, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

Let us sing with Joy – let us tell the world that the Savior is born!