Sermons on Jesus
God Looks Like Jesus: Loving and Faithful
God “proclaimed the name of the LORD” when He revealed Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai, disclosing to Moses the character of the God covenanting with him and the Israelites (Exodus 34:6-7). Because it contains His explanation of His identity, Exodus 34:6-7 plays a crucial role in understanding God’s character. John offers a pair of equally important passages for understanding God in his gospel. After recording Jesus’ declaration of his divine identity (John 8:58), John wrote that Jesus informed his…
God Looks Like Jesus -Mercy and Grace
Matthew 12:1-8— God “proclaimed the name of the LORD” when He revealed Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:5), disclosing to Moses the character of the God covenanting with him and the Israelites (Exodus 34:6-7). Because it contains His explanation of His identity, Exodus 34:6-7 plays a crucial role in understanding God’s character that anchors the Bible’s narrative. God foregrounds a pair of characteristics in His announcement (“merciful and gracious”), signaling their importance in understanding Him. Given the importance…
God Looks Like Jesus
John 14:8-9 — Exodus chapters 33-34 narrate the unexpected and dramatic moment God revealed Himself to Moses. Yielding to Moses’ intercessions, God agreed to spare Israel following their egregious violation of its newly enacted covenant relationship with Him. Not only did God mercifully spare the nation, but He also graciously permitted Moses to see His glory. However, God only allowed Moses a glimpse of His “back” because of the danger it posed for him. That risk emphasizes the surprising nature…
The Story of Jesus’ Ministry – the People of God’s Kingdom
Matthew 5:1-12 A tendency exists to interpret Jesus’ life in terms of his birth, death, and resurrection. However, the gospels dedicate considerably more time to Jesus’ ministry than his birth and death. In fact, two of the four gospels do not even record Jesus’ birth. While volume alone does not determine significance, it does contribute to how we assess importance. Given the weight the gospels give to the long middle section of Jesus’ ministry, we began a short series two…
THE STORY OF JESUS’ MINISTRY – The rule of God’s kingdom
Matthew 28:18-20 A tendency exists to interpret Jesus’ life in terms of his birth, death, and resurrection. However, the gospels dedicate considerably more time to Jesus’ ministry than his birth and death. In fact, two of the four gospels do not even record Jesus’ birth. While volume alone does not determine significance, it does contribute to how we assess importance. Given the weight the gospels give to the long middle section of Jesus’ ministry, we began a short series last…
The Story of Jesus’ Ministry – the Arrival of God’s Kingdom
Luke 17:20-21–Next month, at Easter, many people will observe Jesus’ death and resurrection. That holiday pairs with Christmas, a date when many celebrate Jesus’ birth. Our calendar revolves around the beginning and end of Jesus’ life but includes no special times to recognize his ministry. That gap reveals the tendency to interpret his life in terms of his birth, death, and resurrection. However, we should notice that the gospels dedicate considerably more time to Jesus’ ministry than his birth and death.…
Parable of the Tower Builder
We are beginning a new year, a beginning we commonly believe contains the potential for many good things. We are using some of our Sundays this month to help us think about what we will do as a church family in 2023. However, I do not wish to prescribe a series of goals. Instead, I want to take a few weeks to consider Jesus’ parables that he used to offer insights into his kingdom and its expectations for those who claimed…
JESUS’ UNEXPECTED SALVATION
Matthew 1:18-21–The Christmas season offers a time when many people around the world think about Jesus’ birth. While his birth most likely took place in the Spring and the date of his birth possesses no sacramental value, as a family of people committed to following Jesus, we want people to think about him. So, last Sunday, we began a three-lesson series taking advantage of the attention given to Jesus in December. Last week, we considered the announcement that Jesus’ birth…
Jesus Unexpected Kingship
Luke 1:26-38 Every December, people around the world think about Jesus’ birth. While Jesus’ birth most likely took place in the Spring and while the date of his birth possesses no sacramental value, it is nevertheless a time when much of the world around us turns its attention to Jesus. As a family of people who have committed to following Jesus, we want people to think about him. So, we will take advantage of Christmas’ focus to remind ourselves about…
Now I See
Now I See
Mark 8:22-26
One man needs Jesus’ second touch to clear up his blurry eyesight. Meanwhile, Jesus’ followers depend on His repeated questions & commands to more clearly grasp He is a crucified & risen Messiah.
Good at Being a Man
Good at Being a Man
Reading: Mark 3:24-27
Jesus is the strongest man. The gospel of Mark reveals Jesus’ strength and power over nature, over disease, and over demons. Jesus walked the earth as a man, God’s Son. He wields his strength & power as a man. He shows us that when a man is good at being a man, he brings glory to God the Father.
Descending into Greatness
Mark 1:29-31
The gospel of Mark starts when Jesus starts his ministry. Mark skips the Christmas story. He ignores Jesus’ royal & human genealogies. He even leaves out the part about the Word being with God in the beginning. Mark shows us Jesus the Servant. As he does this, Mark captures the reaction of those watching Jesus descend into service. He captures their wincing reaction as the first witnesses see their great Messiah become the slave of all. To be the Messiah who saves from suffering, Jesus comes as the Messiah who serves & suffers.
Reading the Bible with Jesus
We have all endured the challenge of learning a new concept or witnessed that struggle in our children. It offers a familiar, relatable experience common to our education-oriented path to adulthood. While frustrating, struggling to learn a new concept generally carries low stakes. Imagine how that experience would change if the idea held unimaginable high stakes.
Jesus was a teacher whose teachings proved deeply challenging to his audience, even to his own disciples. But Jesus was also a teacher whose teachings carried the highest possible stakes. We will consequently consider the story of Jesus teaching two disciples in Luke 24:13-35 to see what insights it can offer us into both the challenge of Jesus’ teachings and how he worked to overcome it.
Worthy is the Lamb
Jesus did not hide the cost of discipleship to him. In fact, he repeatedly and openly talked about its high cost. While we should pay attention to Jesus’ teachings about ‘counting the cost’ of following him, we need to be careful that we do not place such emphasis on the cost that we inadvertently portray Christianity as a burden. ‘Counting the cost’ should be balanced against the overwhelming weight of Jesus’ worthy identity that far surpasses the cost and that motivates us to commit ourselves to following him. Therefore, we will consider John’s portrait of Jesus in Revelation to remind us of his worthy identity and its meaning for us.
Jesus Wept
This year, we are focusing on discipleship – our commitment to follow Jesus and learn from him so that we can be like him and lead others to him. Four areas of focus come out of our definition of discipleship:
1. Learning to act like Jesus – “our commitment to follow Jesus.”
2. Learning to think like Jesus – “to learn from him.”
3. Transforming into a Christlike person – “be like him.”
4. Teaching other people about Jesus – “lead others to him.”
Those four areas – acting, thinking, transforming, and teaching – will form the foci for our preaching in 2022. This month, we begin focusing on acting like Jesus and will give attention to learning to act like him in our relationships with other people. This lesson will consider Jesus’ interaction with Lazarus’ family in John chapter eleven to help us think about our interactions with suffering and hurting people.
Jesus’ Birth: Invitation or Invasion?
Jesus’ Birth: Invitation or Invasion?
1 John 1:1-4
What is the significance of Jesus’ birth? Did Jesus come to serve? Or to confront? Does He appear on earth to invite or to invade? Perhaps both. The first coming of Christ points Christians back to the world while challenging ideas and priorities that end up being worldly.
1 John 1:1-10 & Revelation 12:1-6
A Most Unusual Coronation
President Biden’s recent inauguration elicited numerous comments. The absence of the crowds that usually attend a presidential inauguration and the debates swirling about the legitimacy of the election combined to make his inauguration the most unusual one in recent memory. People connected to Biden’s administration consequently tried to give context to the abnormal event, working to give the ceremony legitimacy and a sense of normalcy.
We expect important events to follow specific, prescribed patterns and we feel the need to offer explanations when they fail to meet those expectations. Jesus, however, commonly turned those anticipations upside down and often challenged expectations rather than explaining his actions. Consider, for example, his inauguration – the gospels record Jesus’ inauguration taking place through his betrayal and death and the challenges his path to ‘power’ created for his followers. Even though people Jesus’ time struggled to understand and accept the means of his rise to power, Christendom today celebrates that event through its observance of Easter Sunday. We will take advantage of that focus in this lesson by giving attention to how Jesus’ death and resurrection became the unexpected means of his exaltation and what it means for our lives.
THE WISDOM OF THE EARLY CHURCH, Jesus is the center
This lesson begins a series considering the wisdom of the early church, the wisdom that allowed them to navigate the daily realities of the first century world and evidence their claim of citizenship in Jesus’ kingdom. This first lesson considers the most important, and basic, wisdom of the early church – make Jesus the center of your life
Kingdom conflict
Conflict seems to define the histories of our world’s nations. It proves so central to our understanding of nations that we even evaluate countries on the basis of their military strength and willingness to engage in conflict. Jesus came into the world announcing the arrival of a new kingdom, a kingdom over which he rules. But Jesus’ kingdom rejects the conflict thinking that defines the world’s kingdoms. His rejection of the world’s thinking does not result in his kingdom becoming some kind of spiritual Switzerland; instead Jesus’ kingdom embraces a radical agenda – Jesus’ kingdom seeks to reshape the world, which solicits the world’s hostility. This lesson concludes our exploration of Jesus’ kingdom and his expectations for those who claim citizenship in it by considering the conflict his kingdom encounters in the world and how he expects citizens of his kingdom to respond to that conflict.”
Jesus’ Kingdom Values
This lesson continues an exploration of Jesus’ kingdom and his expectations for those who claim citizenship in it. In particular, this lesson considers the values that motivate Jesus’ kingdom, how those values differ from the values that define the world’s kingdoms, and the place his kingdom values should have within the lives of its citizens.