This July I spent a significant time focusing on the theme of
Generosity, primarily because as staff for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship I
need to fund the ministry through partners to further develop the work. I
needed to unfetter my mind of the (often negative) connotations surrounding
“fund-raising,” and the awkward feeling of asking (ahem, begging) for money,
albeit to pursue God’s mission to faculty and grad students. So, I went to see what the Bible had to say and the
project blossomed into a fuller understanding of Generosity, as a right-heart
issue personally and professionally, rather than a disconnected monetary action
or an exercise of power. And God was faithful to his Word, and has delivered a
few first fruits! All this to say, that today we are going to explore what God
has to say about life together as people of Hope, and it is my prayer that you
are blessed as we study together.
Legacy & Promise for Hope (Isaiah 51:1-6)
I had a chance to do a year-long study of Isaiah and I clearly
remember the discussion on this passage (and am thoroughly humored by God’s
provision of these texts on the Sunday I happen to be giving the message). The
first two verses reassure the plighted people of Israel of their heritage from
the very Quarries of creation (a fitting passage for the Granite City), and the
fulfillment of the generational promise to Abraham—“when [God] called him, he
was only one man, and [God] blessed him and made him many” both in this world
and spiritually. The next two verses offer hope of comfort, compassion, bounty,
and joy to Israel, who as you may recall, is in the midst of living with the
consequences of sin and disobedience (and aren’t we thankful not to have landed
on the judgment passages today?). The last two verses call for their attention
by repeating, “Listen!” God reminds his beloved people of his justice, his
Covenant of salvation, and the relative temporary nature of current
circumstances.
Isaiah is clearly writing to a specific people in a specific
situation, but we learn a few keys truths about God here: besides that a St.
Cloud industry is mentioned in an ancient text, we hear of God’s long
faithfulness in all circumstances to those he calls, from creation through the
generations. We also know that our Hope is in God for justice and blessings,
not in the heavens or earth which “vanish like smoke” and “wear out like
clothing.”
Israel is a nation, a people, a community longing for blessing,
for a savior to rescue and prosper them once more. Speaking of Savior, flip
forward to Matthew 16…
Foundation for Hope (Matthew 16:13-20)
In Matthew we are invited into an exchange between Jesus and the
disciples at the end of an old-fashioned small group road trip to Caesarea. Now
at this point, Jesus had done wondrous things in public spheres, but his divine
identity had not yet been declared broadly (scholars speak of this time as the
“messianic secret”). So, Jesus engages the group with a little after-dinner
conversation, “Who do people say that I am?” (Something many of us wonder
about, and the question marketers love to help answer for us!) What do people
say at work, across the table, or next door?
Then he drills down with the next question (which by the way is a
great small group move too), “What about you? Who do YOU say that I am?”
“You are Messiah, Son of the Living God” is Peter’s reply, as
revealed BY GOD, not by self (as Peter is oh-so-human in the following passage
when Jesus goes on to explain what it means to be Messiah, and Jesus rebuke
Peter for human ambition. Let me interrupt for a moment…
Last Wednesday I had a visit from Jay and another fellow. Nice
fellows, making a follow-up visit as it turns out to call on Reuben, and talk
more about their brand of faith. With me, they didn’t even get far enough to
hand me a newsletter or ask more than a question or two. I stammered something
to the effect of ‘I believe in the Christian faith. We don’t really believe the
same things so I’d rather not get into it just now.” I thanked them politely for
stopping by and offered my hand as a final farewell. Whew!
Well, it took about one bite into my congratulatory scoop of ice
cream for the Spirit to gently, ever so clearly, ask me “Who do they say that I
am? and Who do you say that I am?” Same questions he asked Peter. So I turned
on my heels and down my driveway to see if I could still have a conversation
with Jay.
I am ready now to say, “My hope is in Jesus Christ—‘the [only]
way, truth, and life and no one comes to God the Father except through Jesus.’ I believe that he is who he said he
is—Messiah and only begotten Son of the Living God. That he did what he said
could do by standing in the impossible chasm between a Holy and just God and an
imperfect sinful people. That he has done what only he can do when we
gratefully and humbly accept his substitutionary sacrifice on our behalf. “For
God so loved (me, us, his people) that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes would not perish but
have eternal life” with Him.
My hope is not in a carefully articulated apologetic, or my long
Christian heritage and Covenant connections. My hope is placed in a living,
loving Person who longs for me to be who I have been called to be, and
patiently nudges and teaches me to do the good works that have already been set
before me to do—at home, with my children, at church, in the community, and in
the world.
Now let’s jump back into the conversation here at verse 17:
“Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of
Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in
heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
church.” And if that wasn’t enough for a simple fisherman to absorb, Jesus goes
onto to entrust a massive amount of authority to this rag tag band of brothers.
Here you go; here are the keys to the
Kingdom! About the third time I read this, I thought, “Wow, that’s just
crazy!”—no, that’s God. He didn’t intend for the disciples to take that on
apart from Him.
What is this Rock upon which the whole Church is built? (incidentally, see how the Granite people are
included here again?) The bedrock of the Church is its declaration of Jesus’
identity—it’s the only foundation which can support the immense authority that
is given subsequently. That is where hope is found, not in the structures, the
marketing, the popularity, or even the pastor. Jesus is why the Church endures,
and not even “the gates of death will overcome [him].”
And did you know—if you confess Jesus as Messiah, as savior, then
you also share in the blessing that follows. I know an AMEN is right on the tip
of your tongue, but now we get to put feet to this faith.
Together in Hope (Romans 12:1-8)
Turn now to the book of Romans. Paul is writing this letter to the fledgling
church in pre-papal Rome: there is a problem—division in the church between the
Jewish Christians, with a Covenant lineage, and those who are culturally (and
often racially) non-Jewish Christians. The relative newcomers know Christ and
confess him as Savior & Son of the living God but they know not of the
Jewish customs of sacrifice, circumcision, and the mysteries of Barb’s seven
layer jello… Anyway, Paul writes to remind them of their foundation in Christ,
the rock upon which their church is built and advocate for their unity and
their relationship to each other.
In the first eleven chapters, Paul has just finished laying the groundwork for reconciliation
between Jewish Christians and the new Christians. Let’s see what he has to say
to this quarrelsome group:
Paul begins by pulling their noses out of the air and back to the bedrock. Worship is no longer about
‘what we’ve always done’ in regards to many of the traditions of the Jewish
Christians or about forcing compliance of other Christians with no context for
the traditions—it about responding to the mercy of God who gave the ultimate
sacrifice in Jesus to reconcile us with Himself. Rather than a token offering
once a week, or twice a year, the only fitting thing that we can offer is our
one life, wholly and completely.
Then Paul follows quickly with two admonitions before continuing. First, “do not conform to the patterns
of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” so that “you will be able to [discern]
what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
The messages, methods, and messes of the masses are enticing because seemingly everyone is doing it
(…and for you teenagers, be assured that is a big. fat. lie. and you need to keep your grip on the bedrock.) Do
not conform… renew the mind… THEN you will know God’s will.
As you may guess, this is a keystone in my work with academics in an increasingly contrasting culture.
The pressure to reason God out of many disciplines and institutions is
disastrous, both for the further development of human knowledge and for the fabric
of society built on them. Paul encourages to rather be transformed (something
we cannot achieve on our strength alone) by renewing your mind: study, wrestle, test, question, research,
and dig deep to uncover the bedrock Life itself. One of the best illustrations
of this is toward the end of the first Matrix movie: Neo finally sees the
computer-generated world for what it is, and thus is no longer bound by its
patterns of control. His mind was completely transformed and for the first time
he saw the world in a revolutionary new way. In the theater, I remember this
concerted silence of awe at that moment of exchanging worldviews.
Only when we have been transformed by Jesus, are we then free from the messages, methods, and messes
of this world to be able to understand God’s will for us, for our family, for
our workplaces, and our world.
Second, which is echoed in the Psalm today, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but
rather with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God” has given you.
Humility is essential for what follows. Are you prideful of your heritage, do you flaunt your freedom from
tradition? Again, he tugs their nose out of the air so they can see more
clearly.
Now, back to Paul’s exposition to this group. He has redefined an offering of their body (their
whole life) as true worship. He further draws this out from one person’s body and applies it to the whole body of believers here in Rome in verse 4: “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members
do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form One body,
and each member belongs to all the others.” (Can you see the divine humor that
this is the text on the Sunday that the Small Group pastor is speaking?)
Thank you, Debbie (storyteller of “Head Body Legs“), for so creatively drawing us into these verses. If you take a quick look to your right and to your left, you see that we are not the same creatures, we do not
have the same features, but we are called to be, together, a “holy and
pleasing” body. In God’s perfect design, it’s actually in our diversity that we
gain full function to fulfill the responsibilities given us. Nobody said it
would be easy, but when we exchange our worries and burdens for Christ’s, he
did promise that his yoke is light (because we no longer carry it alone!)
It’s interesting to me that not only does Paul describe several different gifts given to various members of this
community, he also attaches modifiers (perhaps a nod to his caution about
humility?): Reading from the Good News translation, “If our gift is to speak
God’s message, we should do it according to the faith that we have; if it is to
serve, we should serve; if it is to teach, we should teach; if it is to
encourage others, we should do so. Whoever shares with others should do it
generously; whoever has authority should work hard; whoever shows kindness to
others should do it cheerfully.” Do you know what your unique gifts are in this
body of Hope? How well are you functioning in the body? I Corinthians 12, also
a letter of Paul, gives a little relational texture to this passage. Unity is
again central to his message, and humility comes into play again as each person
relates to the whole: it says in the 18th verse, “God has placed…
every one of them, just as he wanted them to be”—neither are there extra people
or unneeded persons in this body, on the contrary we care for each person,
having equal concern for one another so we do not either fall into conforming
to world’s system of values, or become arrogant toward one another. Paul
follows our section in Romans with what is called a Paranesis, a string of instructions that basically says, “Treat one
another well!”
We have been grafted into an incredible heritage of faithfulness
that stretches from creation right through to today. Our hope rests on the
character of God in Jesus—Messiah, Son of the Living God—that he is who he says
he is and has mended our relationship with God. With that foundation, we are
able to carry the blessing and responsibility given to the Church, but only
with God’s help and only when we are functioning as a humble and transformed
whole. Dear people, we indeed have been given hopeful life together in Christ
today!
- Sermon (8/21/2011), Hope Covenant Church, St. Cloud MN
