Sealed in the Spirit

I have been looking at this week’s Epistle lesson which comes from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Paul addresses his letter here “to the Saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus.” The message that follows is a timeless message. It doesn’t deal with any particular problems of the Ephesian church, but it is really a hymn of praise. It is a Christological hymn, one that praises Christ. Some scholars think it is a baptismal hymn, one that was used on occasions of baptism. It is quite possible that later in the church’s history, especially in the medieval period, that this text was used for the celebration of confirmation. This text deals with the sealing of the Holy Spirit, or rather I should say, the sealing of us in Christ by the Holy Spirit. Now, there are a lot of peculiar interpretations on this passage. For example, this is one area where we Methodists should separate ourselves doctrinally from the various Pentecostal movements, and I will explain this in greater detail later. But first, let us deal with the passage as a whole, and discuss its various parts.

St. Paul says blest be God who blessed us. John Wesley tells us that God’s blessing on us was his bestowing upon us “all spiritual and heavenly blessings.” And our blessing God is our acknowledgement of thankfulness and praise for what he has done for us. We bless him first because of his own perfectness, and because he is God. And secondly we bless him because of the many blessings he has given to us. And the blessings that God has given us are only a fraction of what we are yet to receive. The blessings in this life are only symbols of the eternal blessedness that is yet to come. St. Paul refers to the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This has often been understood as a reference first to the humanity and then to the divinity of Christ. To his humanity in that God is his God, as well as ours. Jesus worships him. He praises him, and prays to him. And it is a reference to his divinity, in that he is the Father of Christ – God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God. Christ is the divine nature that becomes flesh to live among us, and who not only acts as our mediator and redeemer, but serves as our exemplar in the faith – that is, he is the pioneer of our faith (Hebrews).

But St. Paul tells us that God “chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” As the author of Hebrews says: “Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.” In the Wesleyan tradition, we understand that God predestined those whom he foreknew. It was part of God’s general plan of election – that all should believe in the name of Christ and be saved. But in his foreknowledge, he knew those who would repent of their sins and believe in his name.

We have three particular blessings of God through Jesus Christ. We have first “redemption through his blood.” And often the classical terms of salvation, such as “redemption” escape us. We don’t understand their meaning. Let redemption be understood in the sense of purchase – that Christ bought us for a price, and that price was his blood, the blood of the holy and blameless Lamb – the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John). The second blessing we have is the forgiveness of sins. We have no righteousness of our own at this point. It is solely on the merit of Christ that we are forgiven. Forgiveness of sins – it is though the slate has been wiped clean. The stain of sin would remain but by the grace of God. God does not simply overlook the sin, but he removes the sin, that we may once more be restored to wholeness. And the third blessing that we receive is the “richness of his grace.” It is because of our new standing before God – because of the merits of Christ – that we live a life of grace. No longer must we be worried of depending on our own righteousness for salvation, because before Christ we had none. But now we live in the fullness of his grace. We have had restored to us in part that image of God. We have had restored to us in part that mind that was in Christ Jesus our Lord. We have had restored to us in part that state of blessedness which we may or may not obtain in this life, but which will certainly be granted unto us after death when we are united with the Father.

Indeed we see how these blessings to us are only symbols of what is to come. You see, God has a plan for creation. God has a plan for the fullness of time – and that plan is “to unite all things in Him” whether they be things on earth or whether they be things in heaven. “The corruption of sin has affected the very powers of the universe, and the divine plan of salvation embraces them too” (M. Burrows, Biblical Theology, p. 327).

The plan is to be fulfilled in the future. The plan is to be fulfilled in the fullness of time. You know Christ came to us in the fullness of time. In God’s own time. And so again in the fullness of time all things on heaven and on earth will once more be reconciled to God. All things are under authority of Christ. Heaven and earth has been placed under his feet. And when he has subjected all things under him, then in the fullness of time will it be turned over to the Father (Philippians – Colossians). But now we are people who have hope in Christ. We “have been destined and appointed to live forth praise of his glory.” This is what we are to do. This is why our fellowship is so important. Because it is a time when we come together to praise the glory of God, and we remember the commandment to love God and to love our neighbor. This is why we live in hope. And it is because of our hope that we are enabled to live lives of Christian love. “Christian love should be especially fervent and deep within the fellowship of the Church. The sense of community is strengthened by the responsibility of being God’s hold people, his chosen and loyal saints. This involves worthy living which will command the respect and admiration of those outside the Church.” (M. Burrows, Biblical Theology, p. 252)

But it is now in our fellowship – it is now in the Church – that we have come together to hear the promise of God and that through baptism and confirmation we are sealed into the promise of God. We are told what this is. First of all it is for we who have “heard the word of truth.” And the truth is proclaimed to us by the Word of God. From time to time, God has seen fit to raise up prophets and apostles to proclaim the word of God. And we must hear the word of truth, and we must respond to it. Secondly, we must respond “to the gospel of [our] salvation.” The Good News of Jesus Christ – that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself (II Cor.). And thirdly we must “have believed in Him.” After we hear the word of truth – after we hear the gospel of salvation – our only able response is to believe, first and foremost to believe. That is, to trust in the word of God. To trust in Jesus Christ. To have our hope in his Gospel and in his word. To cast away all else, and to cling only to Him. And it is here – it is here that we are “sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.” Yes, our inheritance is the future. It won’t come until the fullness of time. But until that time – until we receive our inheritance – we have the sign, we have this pledge, we have this guarantee, and that is the seal of the Holy Spirit.

John Calvin said that “The Spirit accordingly senses as a seal, to seal up in our hearts those very promises the certainty of which it has previously impressed upon our minds; and takes the place of a guarantee to confirm and establish them” (Institutes 3.2.36, p. 542). John Wesley said that the seal is “both a pledge and a foretaste of our inheritance, ... [until] the Church, which he has purchased with his own blood, shall he fully delivered from all sin and sorrow, and advanced to everlasting glory.” (Notes, p. 704)

To understand the significance of sealing, we can look to the early church fathers, and they understood “sealing” in a sacramental sense that could be accomplished either by baptism or confirmation. The sealing itself was almost a sacrament of its own right. To the early Church fathers, the sacramental nature of baptism, that is the sign of baptism, was empowered by calling forth the Holy Spirit to consecrate the waters, that the sign of the sealing was the placement of oil in the sign of the cross on the forehead if the believer, and this was empowered by saying the name of Jesus Christ. Rudolph Bultmann said that “the sealing was the naming of Christ over the candidate, to impart power to him or her. The candidate is thus sealed as property of Christ. The candidate comes under the authority and protection of Christ.” (R. Bultmann, Theology, I, 137). In other words, once the candidate was sealed in the name of Christ, the forces of evil no longer had any authority over that individual. The individual was now under the domain and the protection of Jesus Christ, to whom that person had sworn allegiance “for Paul, the possession of the spirit is both the means of overcoming the power of sin in the flesh and `earnest’ of complete redemption hereafter.” (M. Borrows, Biblical Theology, p.77)

We then have much to be thankful for, and we have many reasons to sing praises to God. We are thankful not only for the blessings he has given us in this life, but we are thankful for the eternal salvation and blessedness that we have yet to experience. But the promise is ours! The promise is for us! The promise is for we have heard the word of God. It is for we who have heard the gospel of salvation, and it is for we who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He is our protector. We must trust ourselves wholly to Him. As he is the pioneer of our faith, and salvation, so let him be our guide to faith and salvation.

Read more...

A First Look at the Epistle for Proper 8b: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

In this week’s epistle lesson, Paul recounts a blessing from God – a high moment in his life – his spiritual journey. He speaks of being caught up into third heaven.

Paul believes that God took steps to ensure his humility by giving him a thorn in the flesh. He also states that this came from a messenger of Satan. While we can only speculate on what the thorn was, we do know is this: for a time it was a tremendous source of pain for Paul. But, as Matthew Henry puts is, “the thorns Christ wore for us, sanctify and make easy all the thorns in the flesh we may at any time be afflicted with.”

God can redeem situations that bring pain. While this “thorn” came from a messenger of Satan and was meant for ill, God used it for good. God is able to change its design for the purposes of humility. An example of this was when Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. Joseph came to realize that even though his brothers meant evil toward him, God redeemed the situation by working through Joseph to provide a place for Israel (Genesis 45:4-8).

Paul prayed three times for its removal. He was persistent in his prayer. (See Parable of the Friend’s Visit, Luke 11:5-13 and Parable of the Unjust Judge, Luke 18:1-8) Three times Paul received the answer from God: “My Grace is Sufficient for you.” This was the answer Paul was hearing from God. The answer was not a “NO” but was a call to Paul to rely solely on God’s grace. God doesn’t give us a NO – but gives us His YES...

¹⁸As surely as God is true, I am not that sort of person. My yes means yes ¹⁹because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, never wavers between yes and no. He is the one whom Timothy, Silas, and I preached to you, and he is the divine Yes—God’s affirmation. ²⁰For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in him. That is why we say “Amen” when we give glory to God through Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:18-20, NLT)

Paul was able to glorify God in his infirmities. God was able to work through Paul in his infirmities. Like Paul our trauma can move us from isolation to community and from self-reliance to God-reliance.

Read more...

Some Preliminary Thoughts on Proper 8b Gospel Text: Mark 6:1-13

While Jesus demonstrated an authority over nature and demonic beings, the healing narratives all share this common factor: the healing is requested. Sometimes it is requested by the individual seeking the healing, such as the leper (Mark 1:40). Sometimes it is at someone else’s intercession, such as with Jairus, for his daughter (Mark 5:22-23). Someone can even claim the healing without asking for it, such as the woman who had the issue of blood (Mark 5:27-29).

In his hometown of Nazareth the unbelief was so great that only a few people had faith enough to approach Jesus (Mark 6:5). Jesus was, perhaps, as amazed at their unbelief that others had been at the great things he had done (Mark 6:6).

The sense of rejection and failure is magnified by the story that immediately follows this one: the death of John the Baptist at the hand of Herod.

Jesus did not see physical healing as the main focus of his ministry. He would tell people to be quiet about their healing and whenever the word got out and the crowds pressed on him he would move on (Mark 3:9-10). While Jesus was often moved with compassion to heal people (e.g., Mark 1:41) his real mission was the proclamation of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15). By this, Jesus did not mean some “pie in the sky, by and by” but the experience of that life now. The Kingdom of God is available to you now! It takes root and grows in you (Mark 4:30-32)

Jesus instructs his disciples to go out in pairs to share the good news, relying on the hospitality and generosity of their hosts (Mark 6:7-10). They were give the authority to loose people from their bondage and invite them into the new life of the Kingdom of God. If they were rejected, they were to shake the dust off of their feet and move on (Mark 6:11). Most of the commentaries point out that the common practice for Jews upon returning from a foreign country was to shake the dust of the foreign country from their clothes. Perhaps the shaking of the dust from the feet serves as a sign to the village that in rejecting the messengers they are rejecting the Kingdom of God.

There is one message of hope in that one of the brothers who had Jesus — James — would come to faith at a later date and serve as a leader of the church in Jerusalem. We also know that Mary experienced this new life and would be with her son late in his life and remain with the disciples waiting for the day of Pentecost.

Read more...

Methodism By the Numbers

Over the last few years we have come to appreciate the significance of certain numbers in the United Methodist Church. I wish to review them here. Bill Hybels, of Willow Creek talks about vision leak. It is as though we carry our vision around in a bucket with a little hole in it and after a while all of that vision will leak out. We need to keep filling the bucket. We need to keep reminding ourselves of who we are and who God calls us to be. Counting from 1 to 5 might be a means of reminding us of that vision and keeping it “fully” before us. So, here are the numbers of Methodism.

1We have one mission in the United Methodist Church: to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. This mission statement must inform every decision we make in the church. If we are looking at a congregational study we need to ask how this will help us make disciples for the transformation of the world. It is the question we need to ask whenever we make decisions about purchasing a bus, or putting a welcome center in the narthex, or providing space for AA: how do these things help us in our mission to make disciples for the transformation of the world. As our teams meet to plan next years ministries and budget it is especially important for us to pray over this mission of the church that we may faithfully plan to do the work God has entrusted to us.

2We believe that holiness manifests itself two ways. There is a personal holiness that is connected to our relationship with God and a social holiness that is connected to our relationship with our neighbor. We learn in the Gospels that the greatest commandant is to love the Lord our God and the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. John Wesley encouraged the Methodists to be engaged in works of piety and works of mercy. The works of piety help us grow in love with God and develops our personal holiness. The works of mercy help us grow in love with our neighbor and develops our social holiness. These are activities that we do alone and in community. Our small groups help us in both of these types of holiness and encourage us in loving God and neighbor.

3We have three simple rules that have been passed down to us from the earliest days of the Methodist class meetings: (1) Do no harm; (2) Do good; (3) Stay in love with God. Consider how these rules apply to our speech. How prone are we to say hurtful things about other people that not only damage our relationship with others, but also with God? To do no harm is more than avoiding bad behavior or bad words. It also means we must be proactive in examining our lives in relationship to one another. Do I have a tendency to complain about things when I am around others? Do people see me as being a negative person? Do I comport myself in a way that I exhibit the grace of God in my life? To do good must be more than doing that which pleases others. To do good means we actively live our lives to bless others by God’s grace. We become that vessel of God’s grace and love to those for whom love and grace is seldom experienced. To stay in love with God means we practice those activities that keep us close to God. The old means of expressing this rule was “to attend upon all the ordinances of God.” This means we spend time in reading and meditating upon the scriptures. We spend time in prayer, expressing our love and adoration to God as well as sharing our burdens and failures to God. It means we gather with God’s people in worship and praise and attend the holy meal where we share in that glorious foretaste of the heavenly banquet.

4We are called to work in four areas of focus. The first is to develop leaders. Beginning with our children, we take the time to instill a sense of Christian leadership. We encourage them to be engaged in mission: local and global. We allow our youth to find their place and voice in leading worship. We equip the laity of the church to do the ministry God has entrusted to us. The second area is to create a place for new people. We do this by establishing new places of worship and revitalizing existing places of worship. At Horne, we are especially called to do both in our partnerships with Greater Heights and Calvary. We serve to mentor individual Christ followers and congregations in their faithfulness to God’s call. The third area is eliminating poverty and the fourth is improving health globally. I list these together because we seek to do both in the work we do in world missions, but especially in Haiti. Haiti is a country that is geographically so close to our own. It is one of the world’s poorest countries just miles from one of the world’s richest countries. God has given us a wonderful opportunity to love and serve these people in the name of Jesus Christ. In every well dug, every home or school or church built, in every orphan cared for we do nothing less than what God is calling us to do.

5There are five practices of fruitful congregations. We recently completed a study on these five practices, so they should be fresh in our minds. God calls us to practice radical hospitality. We park our cars away from the church and walk through the rain so our guests don’t have to do the same. We accept inconveniences and go out of our way to make others feel welcomed and at home. We become expressions of God’s love and acceptance in the lives of those the world neither loves nor accepts. We remember how Phillip and Peter and Paul were called to leave their comfort zones in sharing God’s loves with other.

We celebrate God with our passionate worship. It doesn’t matter what the style of worship is – that tends to be selected based on our own preferences. God just desires us to worship passionately and adoringly. We offer God the best we have in our singing, our praying, and our proclamation. We discover that passionate worship is not about what we get out of a worship service, but what we put into it, yet when we worship passionately we find it deeply fulfilling.

We understand the importance of intentional faith development for people of all ages: from the smallest child to oldest adult. In this life we never graduate with all we need to know about being a Christ follower. The time we spend in our small groups, Sunday School classes, or Bible Studies is important for giving us the eyes we need to see the world with all its hurts and needs as God sees it. It is important for giving us the ears we need to hear the cries of the lost and the lonely and the hurting. Growing in faith is not about how much we can learn. It is not about us. It is about becoming the people God calls us to be as we live in community.

It is at this point that we realize how God is calling us to be engaged in risk-taking mission and service. Jesus said we would be able to do greater things than he did. Do follow in his steps and in the steps of the apostles means we must be willing to fail. Caution and timidity are not part of the miraculous. Mary told the servants at the wedding feast to do whatever her son told them to do. He instructed them to draw some water from the jars and take it to the wine steward to taste. In so doing they witnessed the first of the signs of Jesus. Had they shied away, they would have witnessed nothing.

We see that these five practices build on each other and finally lead us to extravagant generosity. Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume worth a year’s wages. The early Christians sold their property and distributed the proceeds that not one of them would be in need. Our stinginess or our generosity is what informs others what we believe about God. If we are stern and stingy toward others they will believe we worship a stern and stingy God. It is in a generosity of spirit and sharing that we bear witness to a God who provides an abundant and full life.

So, this is Methodism by the numbers. May they always serve to remind us of who God calls us to be.

Grace and Peace,
Alan

Read more...

The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but we can say that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to transform, equip, empower, and nurture.

Transforms: The Assurance of the Holy Spirit

• John 20:21-22 - Peace comes with the Holy Spirit
• Romans 8:15-15 - Adoption children of God through the Holy Spirit
• 2 Corinthians 1:22 - Sealed in the Spirit (guarantee)
• Romans 8:16 - The Witness of the Holy Spirit (Assurance); also Galatians 4:6
• Romans 8:26 - Prayer through the Holy Spirit - Communion with God
• Ephesians 2:18 - the Holy Spirit gives us access to the Father

Equips: The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

• John 14:26 - The Holy Spirit will teach us all things
• John 16:13 - The Holy Spirit will guide us in all truth
• Ephesians 4:3 (and 13) - The Holy Spirit unites us
• 1 Corinthians 12:1,13,28 - gifts of the Holy Spirit
• Ephesians 4:11-12 - gifts of the Holy Spirit

Empowers: The Boldness of the Holy Spirit

• John 20:22-23 - In the Holy Spirit, we have the power to forgive sins
• Romans 12:11 - The Holy Spirit sets us on fire

Nurtures: The Fruit of the Holy Spirit

• Romans 8:27 - The Holy Spirit Intercedes for us
• 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 - the Holy Spirit changes us into his likeness – (regeneration/sanctification)
• Galatians 5:22 - this sanctification is evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit

Why all of this?

• To make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World.

What would you add?

Read more...

From Gentle Breaths to Violent Winds

Just as the Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday cycle is celebrated and understood in the context of the Passover, we need to understand our celebration of Pentecost in the context of the original celebration.

Pentecost is known as Shavuot to our Jewish brothers and sisters. In the Bible it is referred to as the Festival of Weeks, or the Day of the First Fruits. These two different names remind us that the day carried agricultural as well as theological significance.

Just as we see a direct connection between Easter and Pentecost, so is there a direct connection between Passover and Shavuot.

We remember with tremendous awe the story of God sending Moses into Egypt to demand before Pharaoh the freedom of God’s people. Moses was empowered by God to stand before the stubborn Ruler of Egypt – the Enslaver of God’s People – and repeatedly demand the freedom of God’s People. Each time Pharaoh would seem to acquiesce before his heart was hardened against the demand of God. Each time God would respond to this hardness of heart with a plague...

But, the final plague was to be the deaths of the first-born...

God gave Moses specific instructions for the Hebrews on the evening when this plague would descend as the Angel of Death. They were observe the evening with a special meal. It was to begin with the select of a pure, spotless lamb that would be sacrificed and the blood allowed to drain out of it. Some of that blood was then applied to the door-posts and mantle of the entrance way of the house. The lamb was then roasted and and eaten in a special ceremonial meal to remind the Hebrews of who they were and of who they were to become: we who were once slaves in Egypt are now living in the Land our Lord has given us!

So it was on that night – the evening of that Last Supper Jesus had with his disciples – that he celebrated the Passover meal with them. As they broke the bread he said Take and eat, for this is my body broken for you. Then after he gave thanks over the cup he said Take and drink, for this is my blood shed for you. It was a vivid reminder of what cousin John had said at his baptism: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It reminds us that as we break bread and drink from the cup that the blood of Christ – the Lamb of God – is applied to us that the Angel of Death may pass over us.

Fifty days after that original Passover (which is where we get the name Pentecost) the People of God found themselves standing at Mount Sinai. It was there that God made a covenant with the people and he gave them the gift of the Law – it was written on stone, that they could carry the Law with them in the Ark of the Covenant.

So we now come to the Fiftieth Day after the Passover of Our Lord when Christ our Paschal Lamb was sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). Now God’s people stand not at the Mountain of God’s Presence on Mount Sinai in the wilderness, but at the Temple that represents the Presence of God with his People built on Mount Zion. Here, God does not write a law on stone to give to us, but pours out the Holy Spirit that the law may be written on our hearts. As on that Mountain, Moses heard God speak from the flames of the burning bush so does God speak on Pentecost through the experience of the flames of the tongues of fire from the Holy Spirit.

The the significance of the agricultural aspect of the First Fruits and the Life of the early apostolic community – the People of the Way.

Shavuot was the day people would bring their First Fruits to the Temple of God. From the day the People of God first entered the Holy Land after the Wilderness experience they were to put to practice the concept of the first fruits. While this is very clearly seen in an agricultural context its application is all across our lives. When the Hebrews crossed the River Jordan into the Land God had Promised Them they came first to the city of Jericho. God promised the people that the city would be delivered into their hands, but that the city itself was to be devoted for God (Joshua 6:15-21), that it, they were not to lay claim to it or rebuild it, for it was the first fruits of the conquest of the land and it belonged to God.

So each year, fifty days after the Passover, the People of God would return to Jerusalem, to the temple, with the fruit fruits of their harvest and present this tithe to the temple reciting out God had provided for their means (Deuteronomy 26:1-10).

In the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost we see that First Fruits of the harvest – the provision of God – includes that Spiritual Fruit that is produced within us by the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:23-25). This is the fruit that grows in us as we learn to walk in the Spirit.

In the celebration of Shavuot the stress is placed on the fact that it is God who gives the Law, not on we who receive it, because we are continually receiving it (Reference). In the same way we want to emphasize the gift of God on the Day of Pentecost – we stress the Giving God rather than we who receive the gift, because we must be continually open to the outpouring of God’s Spirit into our lives.

The word for Spirit in Hebrew and Greek also carry the meaning of wind and breath. Sometimes the words are used in the sense of power or life. In is in the Fourth Gospel when Jesus is speaking at night with Nicodemus that he uses the word with its multiple meanings to create a playful pun that confuses Nicodemus. The wind blows where it will, you don’t know its coming or going, so it is with the Spirit. We miss the pun because we have separate words for each of these things, but poor Nicodemus wasn’t sure if Jesus was talking about Wind or Spirit or whatever! (John 3:8-10).

It is this Spirit blowing as a mighty Wind across the Waters of Creation (Genesis 1:2).

It is this Spirit, breathing life into the nostrils of Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:7).

It is this Spirit blowing as a mighty wind to part the waters of sea (Exodus 14:21).

It is this Spirit that rests upon the Prophets as they utter a Word from God (e.g. Ezekiel 11:15).

It is this Spirit, breathing life into the dead dry bones in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 37:5-6,9-10).

It is this Spirit that overshadows Mary as she conceives the Son of God (Luke 1:35).

It is this Spirit that Jesus breathes on his disciples as he gives them the authority to forgive sins in his Name (John 20:22-23).

It is this Spirit rushing in as a violent wind on the believers gathered in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:2).

It is this Spirit who assures us of God’s love for us as his children (Romans 8:16).

It is this Spirit who prays through us even when we do not know what to pray (Romans 8:26-27).

It is this Spirit whose gusts continue to fill our sails that we may be moved into the areas of ministry we are given by God.

So we are continually open to the Spirit of God who sometimes rests upon us, sometimes caresses our cheek like a gentle breath, sometimes pushes us into action with the force of a violent wind.

Read more...

North Carolina Annual Conference is Underway

You can get information online for the 2009 Session of the North Carolina Annual Conference a number of ways. You can follow the events of the sessions on Twitter. You can watch the video streams of the sessions and worship services. You can follow the blog. The handouts and materials are online and you can always start off on the main NC Conference web page. Pre-Conference Briefing Session videos are also available.

Read more...

The Nicene Creed (1995)

I want you to do something with me at this time, just a little exercise, open up your hymnals to number 880. I want to show you something then I'm going to ask you to close the hymnals, so you won't be distracted. This is the Nicene Creed. You'll notice however over on the next page the Apostles Creed. Both the creeds follow the same format. They're in three parts. The first part deals with God the Father. The second with God the Son. The third with God the Holy Spirit. When you look at the second paragraph of the creed, it states what we believe about Jesus Christ.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

These words while not written originally in English, were composed for us in the year 325 at the Council of Nicea from which this creed takes it name. It was modified later at a creed at Constantinople. But essentially these words tell us what we believe about Jesus Christ. They tell us who he is.

There are some modern critics of the creeds. Who criticize the creeds for different reasons. One of the reasons is that the creeds tell us nothing about what Jesus teaches. The creed tells us nothing about the teaching that he shared with the disciples or with us, the way that we are supposed to live our lives. Now while that is an important aspect of the faith, what Jesus taught and we have the Bible which we hold up as those wonderful words of life, I want to say to you today that the reason that that is not included in the creed, that we recite week after week is this: the teachings of Jesus are words of life but they are not life itself. The teachings of Jesus speak of salvation, but they are not salvation. The creed reminds us that if we want to see what life is, the creeds remind us that if we want to know what salvation is we look not to teachings like many other religions, we look to a person. We look to Jesus Christ our Lord. He is life. He is salvation.

I think that is what the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews was reminding people. He is giving them these instructions for life and then in the midst of it he says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." That's what we believe. This is what defines us as Christians.

Jesus was a rabbi. He had who followed him even from town to town to listen to his words, to listen to his teachings. Week after week we share in the readings from the gospels and we hear these words of Christ. These words that breathe life into who we are. But we must recognize that the word of life is Christ and who he is. The Bible speaks of Jesus Christ and reminds us that what we have with him that saves us is a relationship. A relationship of the Lord. A Savior. God. He's not just a fine example. He's not a paradigm of humanity. He's much more than that. He is God.

Perhaps the first thing that we need to recognize when we talk about Jesus Christ is that we are speaking of God as God is spoken of here in the second paragraph of the creed.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,

The early Christian fathers were very careful to distinguish on the one hand that as Christians, as Christians we do not believe in more than one God. We don't believe that there are three Gods. But on the other hand we do not believe that Jesus is somehow less than God. That he is semi-divine. That he's half divine and half human. No the affirmation about Jesus is that he is fully divine. That's important for us and we're going to come back to that in a few minutes.

The second thing that we are told in this is that through him all things were made and for us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit, and the Virgin Mary. Somebody pointed out that in the creed that apart from God there are only two people mentioned, Mary and Pilate. Mary at the beginning of his earthly life and Pilate who comes in at the end of his earthly life. Mary reminds us of the Doctrine of the Incarnation. That this god whom we worship became like us. That he took upon himself our humanity. That he emptied himself, to use Saint Paul's words to the Philippians. He emptied himself, taking on the likeness of human beings. He became like us in flesh and yet he did not sin. This Jesus is God made flesh, incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. He came truly human, not half human, not half god. Just as he is fully divine so is he fully human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate. There is the other person mentioned in the creed: Pilate. At the end of his life it is interesting that as I pointed out that here the creed goes from his birth to his death and doesn't say anything about what takes place in-between. We have that for us in the scripture. We know what's important, what is contained in the scripture, but we know that what saves us is Christ. He suffered death and was buried.

Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote "Jesus Christ Superstar", and a few weeks ago I went to see that with some other people in the church. I saw the movie a couple of years ago with the youth group at my last church and probably hadn't seen it before then since I saw it in the theater a long time ago. The music that he sets to the story is a music that is haunting to me. It's music that after I hear it, I find it in my head for long time. You can ask JoAnn that this morning I got up and I was humming one of the melodies from "Jesus Christ Superstar". But you know in the musical, Webber sees Jesus as the Son of God. He understands that in strictly human terms. One of the interesting things in the musical is that it ends, it ends with his crucifixion. You're left there hanging, or to be more accurate, you're left there with Jesus hanging on the cross. You're left there to decide: What about the rest of the story? What does it mean beyond this point? Is this what we worship? :A God who was born, a god who dies on the cross. Or is it more than this? The creed says on the third day he rose again in accordance with the scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

The author of Hebrews talks about Jesus and the implications of following Jesus. Here is where those teachings become important. It's when we live out the life of being a Christian. When you hear the teachings of Jesus, listening to those teachings, don't make you a Christian. All that makes you a Christian is your acceptance of him as your Lord. In that relationship Jesus becomes the source of your life and your salvation. At that point we do seek to live the kind of life that he would have us to live. Listen to what it says in the epistle lesson. It says, "Be hospitable to strangers." Be hospitable to strangers, that is not our natural inclination. At least for most of us it is not our natural inclination. In the gospel lesson today Jesus told a parable to the guests at the banquet. After he finishes the parable he turns to the host, the man who had invited him, and says, "You know, I've got a word for you now. When you have a party, you should invite the crippled, the lame, the blind. You shouldn't invite your brothers, your neighbors, people who are able to repay you, for there you have your reward. But if you invite these others you will receive your reward at the Resurrection of the Righteous. Show hospitality to strangers. When people come into your midst we are told that we might be entertaining angels without being aware of it.

There comes from that story of Abraham and Sarah, who sat by the oaks of Naamer and the three men came to visit them,shared with them the promise of a son being born to them. Little did they know that when they received those strangers they were receiving God himself who came to them in the form of these people.

Practice hospitality, show kindness to strangers. Then he talks about those who are imprisoned and those who are being tortured. Now these types of texts today we tend to make them absolute and we talk about all people who are in prison and all people who are being tortured. We talk about brotherhood and sisterhood as though it is all inclusive of all humanity. But in these texts generally the people being spoken of are other Christians. People who are suffering for the sake of the gospel. Yes, we should be concerned about people who suffer for any reason. Yes, we should be concerned about any who are hungry. We should be concerned about Christians who suffer and who hunger. But most important of all we are to be concerned about those who suffer because of their faith. Those who because of their faith have taken a stand. Those who because of their witness to Christ are suffering persecution. These are the people we are to remember. These are people that we are especially to pray for. These are the people we are to reach out and help in the name of Christ. We have here the stranger, you see on the one hand and the Christian who suffers for the sake of the gospel on the other. We take and receive them both, embrace them in the love that Christ has given us. Then there are our personal lives. We're to be faithful. We're to practice fidelity, to keep the marriage bed undefiled. We're not to be fornicators or adulterers. We are to be content with what we have and not to be lovers of money. We are to honor our leaders and those who share with us a word of the gospel. For these are the types of sacrifices that God finds pleasing and acceptable. Not the sacrifices of bulls and rams on the altar, but the sacrifices of good works we do not for the hope of salvation but we do for the love of God.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is our life. He is our salvation. These things that we are called upon to do we can only do by his grace. So let us make it our constant prayer that we seek to be with Christ, to hear his teaching, yes, but not to confuse it with what life is. Because life is more than hearing words about Jesus. Life is more than even knowing his teachings. Life comes when we know Jesus. Do you know Christ? Is he your constant companion in your walk? Is Jesus with you at work? Is he with you when you travel? Is he with you every day? Invite him along. Make him your constant companion. Because it is only in that relationship that we find life. and find it abundantly.

God bless you.

Read more...