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Finding Yourself (Ascension Sunday 2018)

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Ascension Sunday

The Text

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (Mt. 16:21-28)

Introduction

Today is celebrated as Ascension Sunday throughout the Christian Church, marking the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Father as Lord and King of all. In an important sense, this celebration marks the day on which all that Jesus did in this world was fulfilled. He was born as Lord, lived as Lord, died as Lord, rose as Lord, but the ascension marks His enthronement as Lord. In this sense, we can speak of Jesus arriving where His entire life was aiming toward. Or using the language of our sermon text, in the ascension, Jesus found His life.

Summary of the Text

We pick up right after Peter’s famous confession of faith, and from that point Jesus began regularly saying that He was going to Jerusalem to die and rise again (Mt. 16:21). At some point, Peter, having so recently been praised for his correct answer about Jesus, begins rebuking Jesus for talking this way (Mt. 16:22). But Jesus says that this rebuke is a satanic temptation to prefer the things of man over the things of God (Mt. 16:23). Jesus says that His mission is to gain the glory of His Father, and He invites all men to follow Him in preferring these things over his own things, his own life, or even the whole world (Mt. 16:24-26). This path will be vindicated when Jesus comes in the glory of His Father and rewards men according to their works (Mt. 16:27-28).

Finding Yourself

In our world, we are bombarded with messages and advertisements for finding yourself, for finding happiness, success, fulfillment. And in many ways, what we are talking about is glory. Glory is how the Bible describes someone really shining, doing and being what they were created to be (Ps. 8:5). And this glory really is something unique, something without comparison, something different (Prov. 30:18-19). But in a random world, success and glory are necessarily random. Finding yourself is like winning the lottery. Therefore, in a random world, the mantra: be different! really is the best advice. While the odds may not technically be in your favor, if you know that the people with glory are different and unique, then you might as well start trying now. The funny thing is that the images and suggestions given are self-contradictory: be yourself and be different and buy this Coke, wear these clothes, have this phone plan, go organic (like everyone else). Jesus is interested in answering the same question, but He is refreshingly honest and straightforward. He knows that people can never find themselves all by themselves. Finding yourself, finding what you were made for is always found through following others. The only question is who are you following? Who are you trusting?

A Bad Bargain

Jesus says that we are naturally inclined to make deals with the devil, settling for more now in exchange for less later: more life now for less life later, more profit now for less profit later, more glory now for no glory later (Mt. 16:23-26). But this is to assume that there is no ultimate justice in the universe. It is fundamentally atheistic. Notice also that the Satanic offer isn’t the offer of sin on a platter full of worms. Satan comes in this episode in the voice of a close friend, a faithful disciple, and an apostle. As Paul says elsewhere, Satan transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). False apostles, deceitful workers transform themselves into apostles of Christ (2 Cor. 11:13). Satanic ministers transform themselves into “ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:15). In other words, what Satan offers is typically some good thing. The bad deal is what that other good thing is taking you away from, what you are losing in the process. Satan is the thief who comes over to give you a welcome basket only to rob you. But Jesus says that the way to true life, profit, and glory is through following Him with a cross, losing your life for His sake, and being willing to forfeit the whole world (Mt. 16:24-26). One of the ways Christians get this wrong is by assuming that the way of Jesus must be whichever way looks worse. But that isn’t what Jesus says. He says to follow Him, to lose our lives for His sake. This means fundamentally that the way to find your life is through obedience. And what this means is leaning in. The pagan instinct is to pull away, to try to be different, but the way of Jesus is to follow.

A Few Different Applications

For young people, one of the temptations is to find yourself primarily in comparison with your parents. The temptation is to carve out your own space, to try to be different from your mom or your dad. But the fifth commandment is straight forward: honor your father and mother. Lean in, follow their example. Some of you come from broken families, and of course, you must not follow sinful examples. All of us have sinful fathers and mothers, but God knew about sin when He gave us the fifth commandment. Find what there is to honor, and honor it. Let your heart be free to embrace the gifts of your family. Lean in and find yourself.

One of the ways you know Jesus and Peter were friends is by this sharp confrontation and correction. “Faithful are the wounds of a friends, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Prov. 27:6). “Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you” (Prov. 9:8). “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” (Prov. 27:17). Not wanting to offend or not wanting to let friends down can be some of the most powerful forces in the world, and in the name of friendship and kindness great evil can creep in. Are you trying to find yourself in your friendships? Or are you committed to following Christ in obedience no matter what?

Similar temptations can creep into young families or other new ventures, like a new second service. The temptation can be to zero in on the differences. In our family, what makes us who we are is that we don’t…  (fill in the blank) like our parents. In this new service, what makes us different is … But this is to buy into the world’s way of finding glory. You don’t find your identity by highlighting your differences. You don’t find yourself by strict conformity. You find yourself by following Jesus and following those who have followed Him well (1 Cor. 4:16-17). The point is that we are following Christ, obeying Christ together, trusting that this is the best investment in the world.

How did Jesus find Himself? He obeyed His Father. He knew His duty, and He could not be distracted by the offers of the devil. How did He do this? “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). He considered the joy of the glory of the Father, the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore at His right hand (Ps. 16:11).

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Palm Sunday (CCD)

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The Text

“And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?” (Matt. 21:1-10)

  • What is the question that Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem raised?  Did the crowds get it right?
  • What do we believe about Jesus?  Is the gospel just about saving us from our sins or something more?
  • How does our belief or understanding about God impact our actions?

Disciples of Jesus

We want to be Jesus’ disciples in this, so let’s step back and look at Jesus seeking to make this point clear to one of his key disciples — Peter.   What lesson did Peter learn about the kingdom:

  • on his trip to Caesarea Philippi?
  • following his denial of Jesus at the High Priest’s home?
  • when Jesus spoke with him over breakfast at the Sea of Galilee?

The Nature of the Kingdom

The point of these examples is that while Christ’s kingdom is undeniable and present in heaven and on earth, it is not the political kingdom that the disciples expected.  What is it based on:

  • the disciples actions in Acts 3-5?
  • Jesus’ response to the Pharisees in Luke 17?
  • Peter’s teaching in 1 Peter 2?

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Palm Sunday 2018

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Introduction

We live in a world that hates authority. The world hates authority because it hates the Author (Jn. 15:17-24). The world hates the fact that God has exalted His Son to His right hand as Lord of all. Because Jesus is Lord, the world hates all lordship. But the good news of Palm Sunday is that Jesus is Lord and God is in, the process of restoring the gift of godly authority to us for the healing of the world.

The Text

“When Jesus drew near to Jerusalem He sent two disciples into a nearby village to commandeer a donkey and a colt for His use (Mt. 21:1-2). Jesus told them that if anyone asked what they were doing, they were to say that the Lord needed them (Mt. 21:3-4). Matthew says that this was done to fulfill Zechariah’s prophecy, and the disciples went and obeyed the command of Jesus (Mt. 21:5-6). The disciples spread their clothes on the donkey and the colt, and Jesus sat on them, and the crowds joined in spreading their garments and cutting down branches and laying them on the path and heralding Him as the Son of David (Mt. 21:7-9). When He arrived in Jerusalem, the whole city noticed and asked who He was and the multitude told them it was Jesus of Nazareth (Mt. 21:10-11). Jesus went all the way into the temple where He cast out those buying and selling, arguing that they had displaced prayer with theft (Mt. 21:12-13). Meanwhile, the blind and lame came to Him in the temple and were healed, and many children were shouting that Jesus was the Son of David (Mt. 21:14-15). This made the chief priests and scribes angry, but Jesus said that this was God’s doing, perfecting praise from infants” (Matt. 21:16).

The Commandeering King

Don’t miss the fact that authority is laced through this entire text. It begins with Jesus commanding two of His disciples to take some poor guy’s donkey and colt (Mt. 21:2-3, 6). And notice that both commands require faith. The disciples had to believe that Jesus had the right to command them and the fellow the donkey and colt belonged to. We know from Luke’s parallel account that the disciples were asked by the owners what they were doing, and the disciples told them exactly what Jesus said to say, the Lord has need of them (Lk. 19:33-34, Mt. 21:3). Notice that: the Lord needs them. No explanation, no further information. This is merely an assertion of authority, and the only possible response is to believe or not.  Matthew says that all of this is actually even higher stakes than just commandeering a couple barn animals. He says that Jesus is fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy that Israel’s King would come to Jerusalem riding on a donkey in order to defend His city, drive away all her enemies, and take up a dominion from the river to the ends of the earth (Mt. 21:5, Zech. 9:8-10). Finally, Jesus exerts His authority by driving out the money changers in the temple, quoting Isaiah 56, asserting that the temple belongs to Him (Mt. 21:12-13). Again, the response to this assertion is either acceptance or rejection. The chief priests and scribes reject His authority (cf. Mt. 21:23), while the lame and the blind and the children believe.

Authority and Faith

If you live in this world, our culture, you are marinating in hatred of authority, and so it cannot be any surprise to find that the Church has imbibed a great deal of this hatred, even while still saying things like Jesus is Lord. But the rot goes down deep, and we create workarounds to deal with our limp. But what we don’t realize is that getting used to the limp is getting used to the wrong sort of weakness. What is it that overcomes the world? “And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 Jn. 5:4). As a result of the Fall, authority has been corrupted and misused and this really does add to the difficulty and challenge of embracing lawful, biblical authority, but in our arrogance, we think it best to just ratchet all that authority talk way down, lest anyone misuse it, lest anyone get hurt. And in so doing, we are insisting that no one actually exercise any faith. Submission to authority requires faith. One time a centurion came to Jesus begging Him to heal his servant, but he told Jesus to just give the word because he understood how authority worked, and Jesus said He never saw such faith (Mt. 8:9-10). Many holy week sermons subtly succumb to exactly what the world wants us to say. You often hear that Jesus came to be a King, but He’s not a king like everyone expected. He’s a suffering King. And this is true as far as it goes, but the cumulative effect is often the message that Jesus wins through laying down His authority. And so the application becomes the same. But this is absolutely not true (e.g. Mt. 26:53, Jn. 19:11). Jesus insisted that no man could take His life from Him, that He was the only one who could lay it down and with the same authority He could take it back up again (Jn. 10:18).

Jesus Our Healer

Far too many people come into the Christian faith thinking that Christianity is a way to get God to bless your plans. But the most basic Christian creed is Jesus is Lord. This means He is your Master, your King. When Jesus calls a man, it is abundantly clear that He demands everything. But this is good news because only Jesus knows what it will take to eradicate our sin. So He assigns judges, pastors, presidents, husbands, fathers, mothers, teachers, etc. He must take our colts; He must overturn our tables; He must die. What is He doing? He’s healing us (Mt. 21:14). This means coming to Him with everything that ails us and praising Him like jubilant kids.

Jesus Our King

Matthew says that when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, He was fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy: Israel’s King had come in order to encamp around His house as a guard, in order to destroy Israel’s enemies, in order to establish His reign from the River to the ends of the earth, because of the blood of His covenant (Zech. 9:8-11). Jesus came to do what only He could do in order to secure His people forever. He came to live the perfect life we could not live, to suffer the scorn and death that only He did not deserve, to lay His life down with full authority, and having paid the wages of our sin completely, He took His life back up again. Never for one moment did Jesus relinquish His authority, but at every step He exercised His authority to encamp around His house as a guard, to drive away our enemies, and establish His kingdom forever. And in His kingdom there are many priests and kings, many lords and ladies. Faith in the authority of Jesus receives this good news, and the same faith in the authority of Jesus receives these good works. And this is our victory that overcomes the world.

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Spiritual Child Rearing 5: God as Our Father

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God’s Revelation to His Children

Like Jesus, we too can praise the Father, who is the Lord of heaven and earth.  We can praise Him first because He is Lord.  He is in control.  He is not disturbed at what has happened or is happening nor is He wondering what is next to come.  He is Lord.

Second, we can praise the Father because we are included in the moniker of “little children” if we too are recognizing God as our Father, not like the “wise” of this world, this age, who are both mocking God and those who call Jesus Christ their King, but also recklessly and many time ruthlessly seeking to control the world through political or material means.  Thankfully, they are blind and we see because this is what the Father is pleased to do.

God’s Living Example

As little children, let me remind you of the theme of these messages of God as our Father, with His character revealed through the dynamics of family relationships, looking one last time to Matthew 7:11:

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

So we come now to my 5th and final message carrying this theme of examining God as our Father.  And, if you’ve been keeping track, you will know that I’ve taken snapshots of the fathering that happens at different ages as a means of highlighting characteristics of God’s character in ‘growing’ us.

In the last message we looked at the question of submission of the will as the true test of teenagers and how God has given us as parents the responsibility to help them learn submission both by our example and by our rule in the home.  Today, I’m moving on to what we could call the age of adulthood, which we may associate with our children moving out of their teen years.  The key distinction of being an adult is understanding that responsible work is what separates them from their carefree teenage years.   As Jeremiah records in Lamentations 3:27, “It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.”

God’s Invitation

If you are honest about your sin — even those of you having been raised in godly Christian homes, then you can assure your hearts with Jesus’ promise.  “I will give you rest.”  I will give you rest.  I will cleanse you.  I will give you a new heart.  And then I will give you a call to action.

And here in Jesus’ command to us to come, he adds “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.”  In mentioning my text to Ty, he remarked that it was common for an inexperienced or young ox to be yoked with a more mature and stronger ox to train the younger ox.  But before we explore the nature and purpose of the yoke, we must remember that Biblically, we don’t have an option about a yoke, only which yoke based on Romans 6:16-18.

Nature of the Yoke

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

As parents raising our children, we reach a glorious horizon when our children, the fruit of our labors, are ready and willing to take up a yoke with us — a yoke of purpose to serve side by side in our Father’s kingdom.

“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,  So are the children of one’s youth.  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;  They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate. Psalm 127:3-5″

So, what is the purpose?  What is our yoke hooked to? In John 3, Jesus tells us plainly that He came not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.  And, we know that this salvation of the world was more than just a rinse and dry cycle.  Jesus describes the process in terms of growing degrees:  a small seed growing into a tree, yeast pervading through three measures of dough, a kingdom that grows but not always visibly or according to “worldly” measures of power and prestige.

And this kingdom is not about territory but about people.  Paul tells us that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.  Knees and tongues are the property of people.  Peter tells us that this kingdom is made up of stones, living stones, people, all being built up into a holy temple.

Just as the stones on the temple mount were hewn and sawn for fit, we as living stones are to undergo the same process by learning from Jesus.  His saving the world involves the fashioning of us into perfect stones that are conformed to His image.  Doing what He is doing just as He does just what the Father is saying and doing.  This is God’s purpose for us such that when we are like Jesus we will in fact be a perfect temple calling attention to God’s goodness, grace and glory for the all the world to see.

Slowing Down the Oxen

In closing, let’s just review one thing to avoid.  From Deuteronomy 22:10, we read, “Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together” and its parallel verse in 1 Corinthians 6:14

We have only Christ’ yoke to take on.  And when we take this on, we are rejecting all other yokes.  Those yokes are by nature, corrupt and of the darkness.  Christ’ yoke is that of holiness, light and truth.  All other yokes must be rejected.  True wisdom “hates” wickedness.  Don’t be deceived.  When we try and hang onto things of the world, things that our consciences reject but which we still cling are choking our progress.  They are tangling the lines of the harness and tripping up our feet.  The extra weight is heavy and makes us like dead weight to the Lord Jesus as He not only pulls the cart but drags us (sometimes unwillingly) along.

Conclusion

Our children transition into adults when they take up the responsibility of working for themselves and their families. Jesus invites us to take up His yoke and learn from Him instead of shouldering this burden under the yoke of slavery to sin.  He teaches us that His yoke is easy and light as we are learning the will of His Father who sets before us salvation and true joy. Together with the Lord Jesus we are learning to be God’s children tasked with calling all of His children to join with us in this yoke.

And finally, God warns us to cast away every sin that clings and tangles looking to the Lord Jesus for your direction with every thought and move anticipating His joy at the the completion of the task.

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Wise Men and Worship

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Introduction

As we consider this familiar passage, I’d like us to view this as the story of kings and their worship. I’m not referring to the “We three kings of Orient are…” rather, just to the two kings––King Herod and King Jesus. The magi appear with the announcement that the King of the Jews has been born, and they have come in order to worship him. So who is the king and who gets the worship? We observe three responses to this worship for the king by the wise men, the Jewish religious leaders, and King Herod.

Ironic King of the Jews (vs. 1-3)

Mathew draws our attention to Herod being the king so we need to know what kind of king he was. By the time Jesus is born Herod has been ruling in Judea for around 40 years. He first came to power when Marc Antony (of the Cleopatra fame) made him the tetrach of the region and was then appointed “the King of the Jews” by the Roman Senate. The chronology of Herod’s life reads like the biography of a mob boss with regular hit jobs for rivals mingled with lavish checks to the neighborhood charities. So when Herod, the King of the Jews, hears the report of a new born “King of the Jews,” all his well sharpened survival instincts kick in.

The Magi and the Star (vs. 2)

Who are these men that cause a ruckus for Herod and Jerusalem? Matthew describes them as wise men or magi from the East. Before they became associated with the nativity scene, magi would have been associated with kings and the ruling class. “Magi” was the Babylonian or Persian title given to priests, astrologers physicians, sorcerers who various kings in the ancient world consulted for their skill in interpreting omens, signs, and the stars.

Once the magi arrive in Jerusalem they start asking around, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East…” Perhaps the star is a reference to Balaam’s prophecy in Numbers 24:17, “I see Him, but not now: I behold him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A scepter shall rise out of Israel, and bater the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult.” And so these pagan magi from foreign nations follow the star in order to worship the King of the Jews.

Indifferent Priests and Scribes (vs. 4-6)

Herod the King is trouble and so assembles all the chief priests and scribes together and asks, “Where the Christ was to be born?” Did you get that? Not just the King of the Jews, but the Christ. They respond, “Bethlehem” while pointing to Micah’s prophecy (Micah 5:2). The Christ, the long expected Messiah, the promised deliver will be born about six miles down the road from Jerusalem. The Magi have travelled for hundreds, if not thousands of miles, and Jewish religious leaders can’t be bothered to go less than ten miles to find their Christ.

Do we not find ourselves following the easy option of the scribes and the priests? We too know the Bible answers about the Christmas story. We’ve heard it, read it, sung it hundreds of times. But are we hesitant to worship? Perhaps we think it’s all too inconvenient. Perhaps we fear being reported by the palace’s holiday tolerance division. And so we remain comfortable and safe in our religious shelters.

Magi’s Worship

The magi follow the directions and the miraculous star leads them to Jesus. “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy” (vs. 10).  This the biblical language for jumping up in the air with high fives, fist pumps, sobbing tears and laughter. The magi bow down and worship the Christ child, the greatest gift God could give and has given. And from this worship they become like God and give their treasures. Here Jesus and Magi at the beginning picture what will happen at the end––all nations will come and bow down before Jesus Christ the King.

Christmas Reveals your Worship

Christmas reveals your worship. The question is not whether you will worship, but who will you worship? The options in this story were King Herod or King Jesus. But this new story presents itself as the Kingdom of Jesus continues to increase.

So here are the days we live in––Jesus has been born as the King of the Jews and the Messiah for the World. How ought you to respond? Don’t be like the scribes and chief priests. Don’t be content knowing all the facts about Christmas but indifferent to Jesus Christ. Don’t be like Herod who attempted to destroy King Jesus and his increasing kingdom. Those like Herod still actively seek to make Christmas Christ-less. Be like the wise men and worship. Celebrate your discovery that you have found the King. Bow before him and delight in the gift of the Son. Imitate the Father and offer him the treasures of your life. Splurge. Celebrate Christmas in such a way that makes Christ-less kings worry. Let your battle cry ring of “Merry Christmas.”

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