John 3:16-18 - Jesus Loves Me

There is a story of two men who were on a plane together. They got to talking and one asked what the other did. The man replied that he was a minister. “Oh, I don’t go for all that God stuff, it’s for children, you know, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” The minister didn’t know quite how to respond to this man so he asked the man what it was that he did. The man replied that he was an astronomer. “Isn’t that kind of childish,” the minister replied, “you know, twinkle, twinkle little star…”

There is another story about one of the great theologians of the 20^th Century, Karl Barth. He was visiting New York for a conference and at the end of his talk he asked if anyone had any questions. He got a few questions about what he had been talking about, some theological questions that, quite frankly, were really boring. And then someone asked him what the greatest theological discovery he had made in all his years of studying the Bible was. He thought for a moment and responded that there was one truth that really had become real to him as he spent more and more time studying scripture and trying to know God better. And that truth was, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

A simple truth, one that it can be argued is for children. But one that has so much meaning and power to it that one of the great theologians of this last century claimed it as central to his whole understanding of theology. So today we are going to look at this simple truth that comes to us as a children’s song, Jesus loves you.

I. Back to the Basics

It’s interesting, but there are some parts of the Bible that are known much better than other parts. I can guarantee you that there are places in Numbers for example, or perhaps some of the prophets at the end of the Old Testament where the vast majority of us have never gone. But there are other parts that jump out and have become a part of our culture, they have become a part of the world of Christianity. The 23^rd Psalm is one of these. “The Lord is my shepherd” There’s books out there that approach that psalm from a Christian, Muslim and Jewish perspective. There are books that approach it from an atheistic perspective, but they all look at how it helps us to work through difficult times. John 3:16 is another of these. Whether it’s written on a sign at the Superbowl or on a t-shirt walking down the street. John 3:16 is one of those scriptures that Christians have realized summarizes the Bible so very well. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” It’s such a great summary of the Christian message, for it tells us of God’s love, it tells us of what that love did for us, and it tells us how we are able to receive that love.

“God so loved the world.” We believe that this world is something that God created. And we believe that, though he is disappointed in some of the things that go on in this world, he loves it. Just like a parent can be disappointed in things that their children do and yet continue to love their children. So often, the disappointment is precisely because of the love. So we begin with the truth of the children’s song. Jesus loves me, God loves the world. This is the starting point of our faith. This changes everything. It changes the way that Christianity can be seen. It changes the way we view God.

We all have different views in our head about who God is and what God is like. For some reason, growing up, God always looked to me a lot like Charlton Heston’s version of Moses: an old man with a white beard who holds on to thunderbolts. The God I grew up imagining looked a lot like Zeus. For some reason, there was always anger or terror in this version of God. For some reason he was someone that I worried about, that I was afraid of. Maybe it was those lightning bolts that I pictured him throwing around. Others see God as a stern disciplinarian. Others see God as this happy-go-lucky guy who will let anything go. None of these characterizations are true to who God really is, though.

God does reveal himself to us throughout the Bible and we learn a few key things about him. We know that he has a bit of the disciplinarian in him. He has suggested certain things that people should do if they want to live good and healthy lives. He gave us the Ten Commandments. He set up rules for his people to live by. Again, I like to think of this as good parenting. Sometimes parents have to set down rules for their children that the children don’t understand at the time. When a parent tells a kid that they cannot play in the street it might feel to the child like the parent is just trying to put limits on the child, but in truth, the parent is thinking about the safety of the child. God’s rules and laws do much the same thing. Not only is adultery something bad and against God’s law, it is something that is bad for you. God also tells us in the Bible that he is a jealous God. He wants his people to follow him. God also tells us in the Bible that he is all powerful, but that he gives us control of our own lives. And again and again, he tells us that he loves us.

“that he gave his only begotten Son” Jesus came into this world for a reason. It wasn’t just a fluke, and Jesus wasn’t just a great teacher. Jesus tells us himself that he was the Son of God. And Jesus did things that only the Son of God could do. But again, Jesus being the Son of God and Jesus coming to this world is a sign of God’s love. Jesus was special. And his coming to this world, which we celebrate each and every Christmas, and his living in this world and teaching us how to live, and his dying for our sins and rising on the third day which we celebrate at Easter time, all were done out of love.

“that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life” Here is the hope and the part where we come in. If we believe in Jesus, if we accept him as our Savior and Lord, then we shall not perish but have everlasting life. We’ve spent some time at this church talking about what it means to “believe in” Jesus. It’s important to realize that to believe in Jesus doesn’t just mean that we are to accept some facts as true. Instead, our actions and our faith are much more connected. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we discover that our lives are changed, we discover that we are not living for ourselves anymore but living for him. This is what it means to believe in Jesus. It means that we are to follow him and love him and submit to him.

II. Not to Condemn

John 3:17 continues by telling us that Jesus did not come into this world to condemn the world but to save it. This, I believe, is where a lot of people get mixed up. When people look at Christianity, they see a group that claims absolute truth. They see a group that claims to be on the inside, saved by God with everybody else around them condemned to hell. People think that by putting this choice of heaven and hell in front of them, whether to follow Christ or not, God is condemning them for who they are. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. And this is the thing that I believe non-Christians sometimes don’t get about Christians. When Christians tell you about the need to repent and turn to God, it’s not out of spite, it is because they love you, it is because they are following the God who loves you and wants you to be saved.

Billy Graham puts it this way: “No matter how bad you are, how evil you are, or how sinful you are God loves you. God is crying out to your soul and heart. "I love you. I love you. I love you." What is your response to the love of God? Will you say no and laugh in the face of God? Will you refuse God's love and spit into his face? Or will you say yes to God, yes to Jesus, and yes to the Holy Spirit? Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Trust Jesus to save you and let him be the boss of your life. What will it be? The decision is yours! Are you on the side of God or are you his enemy?”

III. What God Offers

Let’s go back to the beginning. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. When God looked at the world that he created, he spoke out and said that it was good. God created this world, God created people to be good. He created us all to live in relationship with him and with each other. But God didn’t want robots who followed him because they had no other choice, he needed to give us free will, so that we could choose whether to follow him or not. And he did that very thing. And humanity discovered sin, we discovered unfaithfulness, we discovered selfishness, and we discovered the things that go along with this like pain and death. And we can see throughout history and even in our own lives that these things have a control that sometimes seems overwhelming. We condemn ourselves by living lives of selfishness, by refusing to love our neighbors, by letting pride and fear rule our lives. When these things are in control in our lives, our relationship with God is hurt. There is a divide between us and him that these things cause. And the fact is that we cannot cross that divide. But God, in his wisdom and in his love, sent his Son to cross that divide and show us that we don’t need to let pride and selfishness and fear rule our lives. Instead we can follow him. Instead we can live again as his children and have that good relationship that he created us for. Instead we can allow him into our lives to change our lives. But these things, pride, selfishness, sin, they have power over us, they have a hold on our lives that they aren’t ready to give up. And so there needed to be a sacrifice to conquer that power that sin has over us. So God himself offered the sacrifice, in the death of his own Son. And because of this, the condemnation can end. Because of this, the death and resurrection of Jesus, not only can our sins be forgiven, but their power over us is gone.

This is the freedom that God offers. This is the power that God has. This is the love that God shows. We all have sins, we all have things that have power over us, even today. We all have problems that we cannot work our way out of. Don’t be ashamed of this, for you aren’t the only one like this.

Instead, give God power over the things that have power over you. Let him work his healing and his love in your life.

God created you to live in a special relationship with him. He created you to have a special purpose, a special meaning to your life. He created each of us for this. You don’t need to work yourself to a certain point before he will have anything to do with you. Give him control. Allow him in. He will fill you, he will make the changes he needs with you. You don’t need to get to a certain point before he will say yes to you. He’s saying yes to you right now. He loves you.

It is truly that simple. Accept Jesus, allow him into your life, and you will find salvation, not only from hell, but from the sins and trials that plague you here on earth. God is offering this to you out of love. He is offering this to you because he wants you to live a better life, because he wants you to know the joy that his love brings.

You can be a better person. Not because you are able yourself to conquer the sins and difficulties in your life, but because God will conquer them for you. This is what he offers to all who know him and follow him. This is what he offers to all whom he loves. Let him love you, let him work in you, let him make you new. Amen.

Psalm 118:1-2,19-29 - His Love Endures Forever

Think of something that you are excited about going to. Is it a game, is it a vacation, is it a visit with someone special? Think about how as the time comes for this event, you find yourself getting more and more excited, you are filled with anticipation. Sometimes the anticipation can be greater than the event itself. The perfect situation arrives when you have an activity or event that you are eagerly anticipating and then it comes and is everything you were hoping. Unfortunately, this often isn’t what happens.

I remember this anticipation most acutely when I was a kid. I remember counting down the days for certain things, my birthday, the end of school, Christmas, a movie that was coming out. I remember getting really excited about what was coming and then when the time came, it was extra special.

And then I think of the excitement that I’m sure we all have every Sunday morning as we prepare for church. I’m sure we all just cannot wait; what songs are we going to sing; what’s the pastor going to talk about today; what are we going to pray about?

Okay, so I don’t actually think that this is the way we all think on Sunday mornings as we prepare to come to church. I’m sure there are many here who practically have to drag themselves here. I know I was that way as a child. It was an effort to get to church, and I constantly was looking for excuses to not have to go. Sleep seemed much more important to me than worshipping God.

But worship is supposed to be a joyous and exciting thing, something that we should allow ourselves to get excited about. And part of this is what’s going on at church, but another part of it is how we come to church. Are we coming with open hearts to learn what it is that Jesus has to say to us? Are we coming with joyful hearts ready to praise and worship our God? Are we coming with thankful hearts remembering all that God has done for us? We are the ones who make church, who make worship into a time of praise and prayer. So, let us come to God with joy this morning.

I. Entering the Temple

Psalm 118, the scripture that was read this morning, is all about coming into God’s presence. It is all about coming into his temple. It is believed that this Psalm was read by a king as he entered Jerusalem to thank and praise God after winning a mighty battle, after being delivered from his enemies by God. It may also be a psalm that was sung to remember Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. Either way, it is about thanking and praising God for the great things that he has done. And it’s also a psalm that shouldn’t just be read but it needs to be acted out. And there are three distinct parties in this little drama of a psalm. There is the king, there are the people and there are the ones in the temple, most likely priests. The Psalm begins with the people thanking and praising God. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Doesn’t this just sound like a song that the people would sing back and forth as they approached the temple.

But what’s even more interesting is that they were worshipping God on their way to the temple. They didn’t wait until they got there. Their trip to church was so exciting that they sang worship and praise songs on that trip.

Then, beginning in verse 5, and going through verse 18, and this is the part we didn’t read, we hear about the specifics of what God did for this king. And so we hear the king himself speak and tell about what God has done for him, “He answered me by setting me free.” “All the nations surrounded me but in the name of the Lord I cut them off.” “I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me.” And then, in verse 19, the king stands outside the gates of the temple and calls out for the priests to open those very gates. Now the priests, inside the temple, call out, “This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter.” Then the king and the people continue with their praises of God. And the priests then call down in verse 27 for the king to enter and come into the temple in procession with his people. The king ends by praising God again and thanking him. And the people start up their song that they had been singing at the beginning of the Psalm, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

Okay, now we’ve got the action blocked out. Boy, they made a big deal about going to worship didn’t they? It was a big thing for them to go and thank God in his temple. This isn’t something they did quietly or softly. Praising God is something to revel in, it is something to make a big deal about. This king allowed the pomp and circumstance to make a big deal about what God had done for him. And he made a big deal about going to church to thank God.

Now Jesus tells us to pray in secret and to hide the fact that we are fasting. Jesus doesn’t want us to do things in our worship that call attention to ourselves. At first this seems incongruent with what is going on with this king making a big deal about going to worship, but it isn’t. The king isn’t making a big deal about himself, he is making a big deal about God. He is praising and worshipping God and doing all he can to make sure that all praise is given to the one who saved him.

So lets look at some of the things that are said about God, and let us see this ancient form of worship and see how in can inform our worship today. Some of the things just don’t seem to apply to today, others apply too well. We don’t have a big gate and make people call out for us to open up our doors for them. We don’t have people singing hymns and praise songs together as they process through the front door. We wait until you get into the sanctuary before we begin singing. Part of this is cultural. Part of this is that it is just too cold outside to begin the worship out there. And part of this is that when Jesus died on the cross, the temple curtain was ripped in two and God made it known that there is to be no separation between us and himself, and therefore we are welcome inside his gate, whoever we are and however we are. The priests called out that this is the gate of the Lord and only the righteous may enter. We are all made righteous in God’s eyes by what Jesus has done for us and therefore we are all welcome in God’s house.

II. The Stone the Builders Rejected

So lets look at a couple of the calls that are said in this ancient worship service. In verse 22 we are told that the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is such an important praise, and it is the very center of who God is and what God is capable of. If the person saying this is talking about themselves, they are acknowledging their own unworthiness. I am a stone that was rejected by the builders, they are saying. Builders reject stones, not because there is something wrong with the builders, but because there is something wrong with the stone. It is deemed unworthy by the very people who are supposed to find worth in it. We all feel this at times. We all feel that we are lacking, we feel the rejection and pain coming from those around us and we wonder what, possibly, God could do with us, for we are lacking in skills and in drive. But God doesn’t let it go that simply. God takes the stone that has been rejected by the world and uses it in a place of prominence, he uses it to build the whole structure upon, to hold the structure together. And so God takes us, who the world thinks so little of, and uses us in amazing ways. What an amazing thing God does, what an amazing way that God works. And we know that God is capable and willing to do this very thing, because the New Testament, over and over again applies this verse to Jesus. It looks at Jesus’ circumstances and shows that this verse is describing how it is that God worked through Jesus. It tells us that Jesus is the stone that was rejected by builders. His own people, his own religious leaders turned from him, rejected him. But he was made into the capstone, the cornerstone. Through him the whole church was built.

God does things that are amazing. God takes the things of this world and changes them completely. And we are called to see things with the eyes of God and not of the world. Do not be too hasty to judge. God can take us, God can take those around us, who it seems have no chance, who it seems are unable to make any positive difference, and he can use us and he can change us. God can take the most abhorrent of people and bring them to himself. God can take the weakest of people and give them strength. God can take the ugliest of people and make them beautiful. God can take the shallowest of people and make them deep. Don’t be one of the builders who rejects stones based on first glance. Instead, allow God to work on that stone and make it into a stone that can be used in a great way.

Following this, in verse 24 we hear, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” A common phrase, one that has made it into our current worship. Sometimes it is a part of the call to worship, I first learned it as a song as a child with an echo to it.

But don’t let the fact that this has been made into a children’s song detract from its significance. It is a simple yet powerful statement. Oh there are plenty of things to praise God for, there are many reasons to rejoice, but here we start at the beginning, with the most basic. God has given us this day. This day is special. Each and every day is special and worth rejoicing in, worth praising God for.

Now I have to admit that I don’t always do the best job at remembering this. Not all days feel like gifts from God. Not all days leave me wanting to praise God. But how much of this is the day and how much of this is me? How often do I ruin a day myself by waking up grumpy, or by just failing to notice God’s work in it?

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Each day is special. We all have a limited number of days in our lives. This scripture is a call to make the most of each and every one. Remember that this day, that every day is a gift to you. And celebrate that gift, don’t let it go to waste. Praise God and worship him, but part of that praise and worship is to honor each and every day as a gift from God. Part of that praise and worship is to acknowledge God’s gift to you and do something with it. Part of that praise and worship is to find the joy that is offered in this life and celebrate it. Rejoice and be glad in it.

III. Expectations

Mostly, this Psalm is about thanking and praising God. This is something that we are all about when we come together to worship, when we come together to be God’s people. This is something that I am afraid we sometimes miss. We rush to church and do it out of obligation. Our worship has become another of the many stresses that fill our lives. We allow the cares of our lives, which can be great, to overwhelm us and keep us from truly coming in contact with God. But worship is designed to be a place where we do come in contact with God. It is designed to be a place where we find joy and peace in our lives. It is designed to help strengthen us for the week ahead.

Just like everything else, though, what you put in to an event is going to affect what you get out of it. If you come into it half-hearted you will leave half hearted. If you come into it thinking only of the obligation, you will only fulfill the obligation, nothing more. But if you come in ready to meet your God, if you come in ready to learn something new, if you come in filled with excitement: who knows what God can do.

So let us enter worship each and every Sunday with the gusto of that Jewish King so many years ago. Let us enter with a song on our lips and joy in our hearts. Let us enter knowing that this is the place where we come in contact with our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us enter expecting to come out of worship changed, expecting great things to happen. God is ready to meet all these expectations and more. Amen.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-11 - Shine Jesus Shine

When I was in college I had a friend who I would go on night walks with. We would go out into nature and hike around at night to see where we might go. I remember one night where we drove up into the Cascade mountains and found ourselves hiking through a dried up river bed. We didn’t have flashlights, though it was a clear night with a close-to-full moon, so once our eyes were adjusted we were able to see our way pretty clear.

There was something exciting about hiking this riverbed at night. I’m not sure what it is. I know that if I’d come to it during the day it just wouldn’t have had the same power to it. There was an air of adventure to what we were doing that wouldn’t have been there during the day.

Things look different in the dark. Things that are commonplace become mysterious. Without light, the world seems much more dangerous. When you cannot see, you never know what might be coming next.

Unfortunately, the very thing that made our trip into an adventure also caused us a problem, for my friend twisted his ankle not very far into our walk and then we found ourselves in a place where his car took forever to turn around, we did about a 90 point turn, for we didn’t have much space to turn and we couldn’t drive backwards because we couldn’t see in the dark. We made it back okay and his ankle ended up being okay, but the darkness took our adventure and made it a little too dangerous for us, and because we were living in the darkness, we ended up suffering a bit. And so we come to today’s scripture where we are told to live in the light.

I. Out of the Darkness

There’s something about light that makes it a great metaphor for faith and right living and following God. I think it comes down to the fact that light brings safety, light brings illumination, light allows you to see all that is going on around you.

Throughout the Bible, Jesus is referred to as light. He is the light of the world. He is the one who illumines our path. We are to live in his light and we are to shine his light to the world around us.

Winter is the time of year where light becomes most important to me. When most of the hours in the day are spent in darkness, one seeks the light as much as possible. And as each day becomes a bit longer and we see more and more light each day, we remember that this cold, that this darkness will end and spring will come. But light is something we take for granted with the ready use of electricity that surrounds us, but when I was a child and went on vacation with my parents sailing, we treated the light much more reverently. We needed to conserve, so we didn’t let ourselves waste the light that we had. We found ourselves living more by the rising and setting of the sun. The amount of natural light dictated what we were able to do.

In today’s scripture, again we find reference to light. We are told that we are not in darkness, but rather we are children of the light and children of the day. Just before saying this, Paul tells us that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. But we, as Jesus’ followers should not allow this coming of the Lord to be surprising, for we don’t live in the night, we don’t let ourselves be surprised by the things of the night. Instead, our lives are lived in the light, in the day.

That means that when we live in the light of God, we will not be surprised by the things that God does. Instead we will come to know God so well that we are able to see God at work in all the things going on in our world. I have to admit, I’m not there yet. I do find myself surprised by the way that God works. I often am not able to see God’s work until after the fact looking back at an event. And I think that Paul, when he writes this, knows that this is where most of us are. So he continues by telling us what living as children of the day means.

II. Belonging to the Day

Starting in verse six he says, “let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” Living as children of the day means to be alert and self-controlled. Living as children of the light means that we are to live in faith and love and remember our hope of salvation.

Let us begin with being alert. I think this is probably the simplest of the parts of belonging to the light. Being alert means to keep your eyes on what’s going on around you. Being alert means not tripping over something in front of you because you missed seeing it. But in this context, I believe it also means looking for God in the events around you. Be alert! Look to see where God is working. We look across the world and see such horror going on right now. We think of the hundreds of thousands killed in the Tsunami. We think of the millions who are without home or food. Where is God working in that event? I’m not one to say that God was responsible for the earthquake or Tsunami, it was a natural occurrence that God allowed to happen, and the type of which will continue to happen until the end of days. But God is present in the midst of it. God is working through all those who are reaching outside themselves to help in this time of need. Missionaries and Christians are working alongside Muslims and Atheists to help bring safety and healing to those who need it. Muslims are seeing the good side of Christianity, which they aren’t always able to see.

And here in America, people are being changed. People who spend all their time and energy focused on getting more for themselves are realizing that this isn’t the center of their world. They are seeing the power in giving. They are seeing that we all have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters who are less fortunate than us. So, the Tsunami is a horrible event, and it in itself is in no way of God. But when we are alert, we can see God working through it and using evil to bring about good. And I need to add that it is not enough to be alert and see where God is working. We also need to be sure that as God’s children, we are about God’s work ourselves. When we are alert and notice God’s work in the world, then we as a church and as individuals make sure that we are a part of that work.

So that’s being alert, but Paul also says that we are to be self-controlled. Now Paul mentions drunkenness in this passage, but I think it is just an example, one that ties to darkness verses light. This is not the only self-control that he is talking about.

There is something about darkness that allows for us to think we can get away with more than what we’ll try to get away with in the light. When your actions are shown in the daytime, you live a more self-controlled life. Hiding in the darkness, hiding behind curtains and closed doors, what secrets do you hold? We all have them. But the truth is that we can hide none from God. Now I have to be careful here, because my goal (and Paul’s goal) is not to scare you into being a good Christian. When I worked in Chicago, I had a boss who told us to use fear to get our workers in line. She told us that we had to let them know that we were watching them and so they’d better watch out because if we caught them doing anything inappropriate, they’d be in trouble. And, you know, sometimes you need this. But these workers didn’t. Oh, they needed to know that we were watching them, but this wasn’t something that they needed to be scared of. We were watching them so that when they needed help, we’d be able to help them. We were watching them so that we could help them to become better at what they were doing. We were watching them because what they were doing was important. God is not an evil disciplinarian watching us and worrying about each thing we do wrong, ready to strike at us the moment we sin. Oh, he is watching us, but that is so that he can help us, because he loves us, because we are important. And so he calls us to a life of self-control and he offers us tools to help us live that life of self-control. Those tools are faith, love and hope. He describes faith, love and hope here as defensive armor. Faith and love as our breastplate and the hope of salvation as our helmet. I don’t want to make too much of the analogy but faith and love protect our heart and soul whereas hope protects our heads. And these three are all things that are gifts from God, but they are things that we do. Faith is believing, love is reaching out to those around you and hope is trusting. We know the importance of these three because they come up throughout the letters of Paul together. Faith, hope and love. They are so important to him because they are the things that protect us, they are the things that bring self-control to our lives. When you live in faith, you believe that God is real; you believe that Jesus died for you; you yearn to follow him, and therefore you live the life that will follow him, a life of self-control. When you live in love, you think of God and others before you think of yourself. You live humbly and you don’t allow your own desire and wants to become too important to you, and this is the very definition of self-control. When you live in hope, you believe that God has a plan for you. You trust that God is the one in charge and God will prosper you in God’s way and God’s time. Again, when you live this way you will discover that you will not be living for yourself, but allowing God to care for you and therefore reaching out to those around you, again, living the life of self-control.

III. Build Each Other Up

Paul doesn’t end this discussion of living in the light with telling us to live with self-control, though. He ends it with good news and then with a “therefore.” The good news is that whether we are living in the day or the night; whether we’ve succeeded or not at the life that he has prescribed, God offers us salvation through Jesus Christ. So don’t fear. If you don’t always see God working in the world around you, if you don’t have the self-control that you’d like, it is not the end. You are still offered the grace of God’s love.

And then there is the therefore. The word “therefore” tells us that all that has come before leads up to what is coming. “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Again, our focus is not on ourselves but on each other: encourage one another; build one another up; live for each other. This is what living in the light is about. This is why we are children of the day. So that we can help each other out. This is the response that Paul calls us to. This is the community that God calls us to. This is how our light shines, this is how we live out the faith, hope and love that God gives us, by supporting each other through good and bad, through joy and sorrow, through the times we follow and the times we fall. This is what it means to be the church. Being the church isn’t about coming together once a week to worship, though that’s something the church does. Being the church isn’t about conducting the business meetings that the church has, though that’s something the church does. Being the church isn’t about hearing the pastor preach, singing songs, maintaining the building, giving offering, teaching Sunday School, being on a committee or board, though these are all things that people in the church do. Being the church is about being the family of Christ. And being the church is about holding each other up, supporting each other, encouraging one another, loving each other, and reaching out then to the world with that same support, encouragement and love. Being the church isn’t about you, it’s about those around you and how you can do something for them.

So, be the church today, be the church this week. Reach out to those around you with love and encouragement. Practice self-control and be alert. This is what it means to be a child of the light. This is what it means to allow Christ’s light to shine in your life. Let his light shine. Amen.

John 1:10-18 - Grace and Truth

What do you do when you’re excited about something? I’ve discovered that when I’m into something, when something excites me, I need to physically respond to it. I need to do something with my hands to show my excitement. As a child this meant that I built lego constructions based on things I was into. I was a fan of Transformers, these toys which turned robots into cars and back again. It wasn’t enough for me to have the transformer toys, I needed to construct my own using legos. I have found that drawing has also given me a way to respond to things that I am interested in. I have drawn pictures that respond to scriptures that touched me, or comic books that I have enjoyed. I have taken action figures and painted them to represent characters in books that I have liked. And I have built models of cars or spaceships that I am interested in. I find that when I get excited about something, I need to respond in some way. It is not enough for me to just be excited. There needs to be some sort of response. And often this response needs to be a physical one for me. I know I’m not alone in this way. This is one of the reasons so many of us have collections of one sort or another. We are responding to things that we are excited about.
But how do we respond to our excitement about God? How do we respond to the wonderful thing that Jesus did for us? At Christmas time we respond to Jesus’ birth in a number of ways… many of them good. We respond by spending time with our families. We respond by giving gifts to each other. We respond by decorating our houses and going to a couple extra church functions. We respond by dressing our children up like Mary, Joseph and Shepherds and Wise Men and having them act out the Christmas story. We respond by singing Christmas carols.
All great things. All worthy responses. But is this the response that God is truly looking for from his people? God became man. Creator became created. We rejoice and praise God for this… but how are we truly going to respond to such a wonderful thing?



I. Word and Flesh
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” We have been talking about the incarnation in the time since Christmas. Two weeks ago we talked about God becoming man, about the Creator becoming a part of the created. We remembered how special this is, how much it shows that God loves us. He loved us so much that he became one of us, he came to experience the things that we experience in our daily lives.
But there is another side to this glorious story of Jesus becoming human and dwelling among us. Not only is it a way that God comes to know us better, now we are able to know God better. Now he is revealed and we are able to understand him in a way that we haven’t before.
The scripture that we read this morning from the beginning of the Gospel of John is all about God revealing himself and us knowing him. It begins in verse 10 by talking about the world not recognizing its creator, something that is not at all uncommon. But then it shares that there is life, a glorious life for those who do recognize and accept him. And when we recognize him we receive grace and truth. Mostly, the scripture tell us that when we know Jesus, we know God. So it’s all about knowing God. And we know God through Jesus.
Throughout the history of God’s people, humanity tends to miss recognizing God. It happens again and again throughout the Bible. It culminates in the religious leaders in Jesus’ day having Jesus killed, but it starts much earlier than that. In the Old Testament, we see the nation of Israel continue to turn from God and worship other gods. It happens when Aaron builds a golden calf and proclaims it the God who rescued them out of Egypt and it continues through the lives of the kings as they so often worship other gods and listen to prophets who tell them what they want to hear and not what God wants to tell them. God sends prophet after prophet and the people of God refuse to listen to these prophets, and have them hunted down. And then God does the miraculous and sends his very son, and the religious leaders of the day want nothing to do with him. They are too focused on their religious life and rituals and expectations to recognize the very God who they have been worshipping. But it doesn’t end with the Pharisees, for when we look at the New Testament, Acts and the epistles, we discover that even Jesus’ disciples don’t always recognize what it is that he is doing in the world through the Holy Spirit. Therefore we have councils and meetings of the apostles as they decide whether to allow gentiles to become Christian without having to follow the Jewish laws. Again, God is working in the world, spreading the good news to the world in a new way, and God’s own people don’t recognize him right away. The difference is that the New Testament church sought to recognize him and therefore spent time in prayer and discussion with each other so that they could recognize him in the things going on in their world.
So, God’s people, and the people of the world, don’t always recognize their God when he works in the world. Partly this is because he doesn’t ever do exactly what you’d expect… instead of coming as a king he comes as a refugee baby. Instead of conquering the Roman Empire, he allows himself to be crucified by them. But partly, it is because God’s people, and the people of the world aren’t truly focused on the things of God, but rather on the things of the world. When power guides your decisions, you are not going to recognize the God who wields his power in the most unusual of ways. When selfishness guides your decisions, you are not going to recognize the God who gave everything of himself for a world that treated him horribly.

II. Grace and Truth
But there is hope here also, for John does tell us that there are those who will recognize Christ. And there are two words that pop up a couple times in this scripture when talking about recognizing Christ. They are grace and truth. Interesting words. Words we don’t often spend much time thinking about. But important words nonetheless.
Grace and truth first show up in verse 14 as we see God’s glory revealed through Jesus, who lived among us, and that glory is full of grace and truth. And then in verse 17 we see that we receive grace and truth through Jesus.
Let’s do a quick word study on verses 14-17 and look at what this is saying to us. Starting with verse 14: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Word refers to Jesus and focuses on his wisdom and glory… we’ll see more about glory later. Flesh refers to human nature. Dwelt is the word “tabernacled” or “lived” or “set up residence”. In the Old Testament we have the tabernacle which is the place where God dwelt. It is the place where God’s presence rested among his people. Now his presence is resting in human form through Jesus. And because of this we see his glory. Which is full of grace and truth. God’s grace is his redeeming love. Grace is about God loving his people so much that he brings salvation to them. Truth is something that we see throughout the Bible. But it is not truth in general, there are specific truths that are focused on. Sometimes these truths are the truths of what we are to believe as Christians: that we are all sinners, that Jesus died for our sins, that Jesus rose from the dead, that the Holy Spirit is sent to us, that God loves each of us. In this case, the truth is that God is faithful to his promises. In a way, this wraps up all the truths of the Bible. God is faithful. When he promises something to his people, when he promises something to the world, we know that he will follow through. He always has and he always will.
We are then told that we have all received grace upon grace. This tells us that this grace, this redeeming love is endless, it continues and builds upon itself, and we are shown that these are much greater than the laws of Moses, the rules that we live by. They fulfill those laws and again bring grace and truth to us.

III. Sharing
What is so important to see in this scripture is that the grace and truth, God’s grace of redeeming love and the truth of his faithfulness to his promises are available to all. Jesus didn’t just come for you. He didn’t just come for those who go to church. He came for all people. He desires for the whole world to recognize him. And we have a part to play in that. God revealed himself through Jesus. God made himself known. And we are the ones who he has been made known to. But how many of us have known him for most of our lives? How many of us learned about him from our parents and our childhood. That is my history. I grew up believing. I trusted and received Christ at an early age. And there’s something wonderful about knowing God as a child. But there are so many who don’t have that opportunity. There are so many who have not grown up in the church and who do not therefore know God. And this is a trend that is going to continue in our country and in our world. And we cannot be complacent. We need to reach out to them in grace and with truth. We need to share the grace of God’s unending love. We need to share the truth that God is faithful to his people. We need to let people around us know the wonderful God that we know. We can do this as individuals. We can do this as a church. One way that we can do it is by inviting people into our lives… inviting them to be a part of the things that we are into. This means inviting them to church, but it means more than that. It means inviting them over to your place. It means doing things with them. It means sharing with them about your life and how God has worked in it. Starting on January 30th and lasting for three weeks we are going to be having worship services with a more evangelistic bent to them. I’m going to be preaching the Gospel at its most basic, at its simplest. We are going to be talking about the basics of the faith, we’re going to get rid of all the clutter. What is it that a Christian believes? How is it that a Christian lives? If you know God, it’s a good message to hear again. It’s the good news that is so central to our lives. If you’ve never picked up a Bible in your life, and don’t really know what this Christianity thing is about, here’s your chance to find out. I encourage you to invite friends from your neighborhood, from work, from school to come to church with you those weeks. The message and worship those weeks will be for them to experience. But don’t just invite them to church. Invite them to dinner afterward. Invite them to experience your life with you. Invite them to experience God with you.
We have something to be excited about. Jesus loves us. God’s love is unending and his promises are true. How can we respond to that excitement but by doing something? Let us share that excitement with those around us in a new and fresh way. Amen.