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TRUE SECURITY, TRUE FAITH - from Sunday, August 23, 2015

8/25/2015

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Security concerns are a big business, from computer to car to home. How about for the faithful citizens of the Kingdom? You betcha! But we're people of faith. How far will you take that? 

Exploring the scriptures, we find this question of security and faith is a running theme from beginning to end. God's people don't often seem to make the right choices.

Paul's Letter to the Ephesians comes to a close on this question of security. He is trying to teach his toddling Christians that the ways of the world are not the ways of the faithful in the Kingdom. Using the example of an ever present figure in their lives - the Roman centurion - Paul describes what the follower of Jesus wears in comparable garb. Sadly, the imagery presented as the "full armor of God" is typically a fully equipped Roman centurion, not at all what Paul was talking about. Go ahead and try it - click here and you'll see what I mean. It shows how Christians have either missed the message entirely or corrupted it fully. 

Folks in today's church imagine that their beliefs are not that different from the earliest Christians of, say, Paul's time. Most are stunned to learn that the earliest Christians were pacifists who insisted on soldiers renouncing not only violence but Caesar as they accepted Christ as their one, true Lord and Savior. Today, that's considered extremist. In fact, we wed militaristic patriotism with Christian faithfulness all the time. 

Where the earliest Christians stood as citizens of the Kingdom of God, they also stood against the authority of Caesar and the Roman Empire. Things changed in the early 4th century when Emperor Constantine brought together the Roman Empire and the Christian Kingdom in a tragic marriage that has left its indelible mark on the church even today, and not in a good way. Today's church-state controversies are in part a continuation of the struggle for an Empire religion versus a Kingdom faith. 

This gets reflected in how we approach security, whether from a stance of faithfulness or from a devotion to worldly standards. The Kingdom path always draws a sharp distinction.

In Psalm 73, we're taken on the psalmist's personal journey, an expression of dismay that God allows the rich and arrogant to exploit, oppress, and yet be blessed with prosperity! Where is God? The faith of the people in their God is eroding, not only the psalmist's personal convictions. As one who has suffered in different ways, the psalmist seems ready to give up until it all becomes clear to him one day in worship. 

Like one whose faith has been re-discovered and revolutionized, the psalmist comes to profess that his true strength is in God. 

There is more in the sermon about security and faith, particularly how the authorities and spirits of the world capture our attention and devotion. So check out the video below and note the downloads below the video panel. Note: there is an extra download that explains the Fairfielder picture.

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08-23-15-ff-answers-about_the_picture.txt
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08-23-15-true_security_true_faith.pdf
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TRUE WISDOM, TRUE HUMILITY - from Sunday, August 16, 2015

8/19/2015

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Wisdom is a precious commodity in any age, but its absence in today's complex times may leave us with a particular longing for a healthy dose. What did Solomon know about wisdom? How about Paul? Maybe they can be guides for us, instructive amid good and bad ways of wisdom.

The wisdom of Solomon is popularly regarded as a virtue, but getting into the text in 1 Kings where God grants him his request for wisdom is pretty interesting. A more close examination of Solomon doesn't reveal much in the way of wisdom, but the success of his reign in developing the small nation-state into a wealthy regional powerhouse is clear. Maybe his wisdom was in choosing the right people to run the show. Otherwise, he was a bloodthirsty tyrant, so something is missing from the wisdom equation in his case.

Paul is developing his own operations, sowing the seeds for churches around the eastern Mediterranean. His correspondence gives instruction to the newbies to the faith who are trying to negotiate its ways. His message for the Ephesians addresses sacred wisdom, something different from the Greek philosophical discourse of the day. He urges them into the uncommon and unfamiliar dynamic of being faithful and discovering wisdom.

There is more about wisdom, particularly how it works with people and relationships in the sermon. So check out the video below and note the downloads below the video panel.

08-16-15-ff-answers.pdf
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08-16-15-true_wisdom_true_humility.pdf
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TRUE STRENGTH, TRUE LIFE - from Sunday, August 9, 2015

8/10/2015

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The strong are often depicted as physically muscular specimens. Check out talent show gymnasts and strong man acts. But as with many things having to do with faith, we can get caught up in the world's characterizations and miss the nature of true strength. Both scripture lessons, Samson's story and the lame man at the pool at Bethesda, have important things to say that are more about living a faithful life than your next workout at the gym. (Yes, you still need to go to the gym. Sorry.)

Samson's story reveals that the archetypal strong man has plenty of weaknesses. Women and ... well, okay; women. Lay readers need to pay attention to Samson's being under the Nazirite vow, detailed in the sermon. His loose lips about the source of his strength to Delilah is a breach of faithfulness. It brings him to weakness, and once there, he turns in repentance to faithfulness. Then his strength begins to return.

Jean Vanier, modern day saint and founder of the L'Arche communities, has a wonderful way of bringing together weakness and faith, and then revealing the course of life's journey in faith. I showed a 7 minute video interview with Vanier to the Pot Luck diners. You need to see it - click here.

Coupled with the Samson reading is the story from John's gospel of the lame man at the healing pool in Bethesda. For 38 years, this man has been dragging himself to the pool every time the spring-fed pool gurgles, arriving too late, he says. The belief is that if you can get in the water while the water is stirring, it will heal you. So far, the lame man's deep faith in the healing pool has left him unchanged. Jesus changes that. 

Jesus' message reminds us that, like the lame man's 38 year journey to nowhere, true life is found in the weakness we encounter by stepping outside the comfortable, secure boundaries of our lives. Inside those boundaries, we are secure, strong, and confident. Going outside means leaving those strengths behind, going forth in faith, like in Jesus' mission charge to his disciples in last week's scripture from Matthew 10.

True strength, true weakness, true life. Check out the sermon video below, and note the downloads available below the video panel. And be sure to watch the video with Jean Vanier with the link above.



(Yes, that's the pastor in a Hawaiian shirt with lei, thanks to the thoughtfulness of Anita since the Pot Luck was themed "Tropical Paradise." And yes, that's me doing my Samson impression. You can stop laughing anytime now. Thanks once again, YouTube; amazing timing.)


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08-09-15-true_strength.pdf
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TRUE WORSHIP, TRUE MISSION - from Sunday, August 2, 2015

8/4/2015

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Having challenged the focus (obsession?) many Christians have on church buildings 2 weeks ago, the question of the priority activity that we do in those buildings seems a good follow-up. 

So, what is true worship? Micah has one idea. Following Micah's lead in 6:8 - do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God - we see Jesus issuing orders to his disciples, and it wasn't 'go to church on Sunday.'

Like church sanctuaries, worship services are another form of identity for churches. Worship services are the first thing most new congregations organize. Worship service attendance is seen as the barometer for a church's health. But is this what God is seeking from us? Is this, with our overwhelming preoccupation with worship, the work of faithfulness? Is this the main witness to the Kingdom of new life and a genuine reflection of God's will?

Reading the prophet Micah from 6:1, we hear God bringing charges against his ungrateful and sinful people. 

Then there is an answer from God's people (vss. 6-7). With a snippy attitude, God's charges are met with a rhetorical question: With what shall I come before the Lord? It is followed by an progressively sarcastic, even caustic series of answers.

The response to this ugly retort is in vs. 8: He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.

When we look for Jesus' instructions on worship, we realize that he actually has little to none. We don't find him saying to his disciples that attending worship services in a building should be your priority. But Jesus does seem to reflect the words of Micah 6:8 when he sets his disciples on a priority task in Matthew 10: 5-10. It isn't worship.

Find out how you're expected to work miracles, lot and lots of miracles. Yes, you. Check out the sermon video below and the downloads below the video panel.

08-02-15-ff-answers.pdf
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08-02-15-true_worship.pdf
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