The BIG "SO WHAT?" of TRUTH: Fourth Sunday of Easter April 29, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today is a day that signals the middle of our series on 1 John and also a celebration of a journey with several students who are graduating today. Today will be the LAST lunch until September, between services at the EMU Site. We will have ONLY ONE Worship Service at 10:15am starting next week at the EMU site. Today we recognize three students who are part of our Cross and Res family and are graduating and so we celebrate with them... Joshua Brudi (U of M) Joan Stauffer (EMU) and Joe Kosel (Cleary University) Congratulations!!

Our series on the BIG "SO What?" of Easter continues by looking at 1 John 3:16-24
¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. ¹⁹ This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence ²⁰ whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
 ²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²² and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ²⁴ Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. 

Verse 18 and 19 really strike me as speaking to what we looked at last week when we spoke of LOVE and how we BELONG, BELIEVE and BECOME in our relationship UP, IN and OUT to God, the church family and others. St. John is letting the church know that we cannot love just with words or tongue but with actions and truth. This is what happens when we are being purified as belonging and believing children of God. St. John further states that it is by our actions we have confidence that we belong to the truth. The Gospel lesson today, from John 10, reminds us that Jesus is our Good Shepherd and that he has died so the that we can belong. St. John reminds us here in 3:16 that we respond to belonging by believing ("yada" in Hebrew "to know") that is more than just thoughts and words but ACTION. He reminds us that the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, took action by laying down his life, now we will copy his actions.

The BIG "SO WHAT" of Easter is the TRUTH that we love because he first loved us, we sacrifice because he sacrificed. My desire today is that people have great confidence before GOD and live this truth by acting as Children of God. We tend to put so much emphasis on justification that we only give half of the truth because it is obvious that sanctification (to be made holy) is a huge part of this truth. SO WHAT does belonging to the truth do for us? It provides a way for us to act, become who we are. We tend towards comfort when I think the Lord wants us to move towards commitment.

I will never forget being told as a young person "remember who you are." I would have much rather had a detailed list of things I should not do rather than having to think about HOW what I did affected my parents and family. If it is just rules we can make excuses but if it reputation it is a huge responsibility.

Today we think about what it means to know the truth that sets us free! Today we think about the truth of "Christ has Risen! He has risen INDEED! Hallelujah!!" and understand how knowing this gives us confidence and by the Spirit he gave us we can show LOVE by ACTIONS and TRUTH in a world that sees everything as relative. This is priceless!

I watched the movie "The IRON LADY" and appreciated Margaret Thatcher's saying, that is a quote from Gandhi: “Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

This was a good reminder that what we do in Hebrew understanding cannot be separated from what we think. It is the western, Greek mindset that we separate these. May we understand that we are to hear Jesus, St. John, St. Paul and so many who teach us by the Holy Spirit to know the truth and the truth will set us free! St. John 8:  ³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus wants us to have a relationship with the truth, to intimately know the truth and be set free so that our actions, our behavior will become our habits and will become our values and will become our destiny! We will be people of truth that the world so desperately needs.


Love in Christ, our risen Lord and Savior,


Pastor Bryan

The BIG "So WHAT?" of LOVE! Second Sunday of Easter April 22, 2012

Today we continue our series on the BIG "So What?" of Easter. Every Sunday in our church is a Easter/Resurrection celebration. This is why we don't have our main service on the Sabbath, which is from 6pm or sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday. We keep the Lord's Day on Sundays because each Sunday is a little Easter celebration.

The "so what?" of Easter is evident in the whole ministry of the church. During the 40 days between the Resurrection and Christ's Ascension we are looking at the first letter of St. John  to the church. Last week we talked about his words in chapter 1 "to make our, or your, joy complete." Today we are going to look at the LOVE that St. John refers to in the 3rd chapter.

1 John 3:1-7

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous.

This is the theme for our church; striving to be a first century church in the 21st century. We talk about "knowing Christ and making HIM known." Through: BELONG, BELIEVE, BECOME. 

BELONG: We see in this chapter these words in action. Verse 1 starts with LOVE. This is a LOVE that is "lavished" on us. It is not just a big hug but it leads to the redemption and adoption of us as "Children of God." He says that is what we are! That is what we are because of the love of the father, even without our response. St. John shared this in his gospel chapter 3: "¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,^[f] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." How do we as a church make people feel that they are children of God, for that is what we are!?

BELIEVE: We see that St. John then explains that the world into which we are called to serve will not know us because it does not know him. We like to look at KNOW as a Hebrew word "Yada"which is an intimate relationship rather than the Greek way of "knowledge" as "thinking." We want to experience Jesus as HE IS and in the presence of His people when we worship together and partake of HIS body and blood. We believe more, because of the relationship we have with Jesus and HIS people, than with the knowledge we learn in classes.

BECOME: He then talks about about being purified and growing into Christ-likeness. He says that if we do not grow in sanctification we do not KNOW Christ. This is why, as we grow in our relationship by belonging, which is total grace and love, we grow in purity. Salvation, or belonging to God, is all the work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. St. Paul says in Ephesians 2: ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Therefore we are justified by grace through faith, we belong, then we grow in relationship "knowing" and then becoming more like Christ as witnesses and doing the good works that God has planned for us.

Today we celebrate with all of heaven, as Luke 15 states, as we welcome Asher into the family. Through simple water and God's mighty Word we will publicly celebrate what the Lord is doing in lavishing the father's love on Asher. May God allow us to know the POWER of LOVE each little Easter and throughout the week so that we may be light and salt in this world and make Christ known by our example and in our relationships.

Christ has risen! He has risen INDEED! Hallelujah! AMEN

Love in Christ, our Risen Lord and Savior,

Pastor Bryan 

   

The BIG "SO WHAT?" of JOY! First Sunday of Easter August 15, 2012

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus our Risen LORD,

Christ has Risen! He has Risen INDEED! HALLELUJAH!!

We begin our journey through the Easter/Resurrection Season with the start of our series on the first Letter of St. John to the churches of Jesus Christ.

This Sunday we will look at how the Disciples went from "overjoyed" when they say the Lord that first Easter Sunday night, to John writing to all the churches so as to "make our joy complete!"  Have you ever wondered what changed from the OVERJOYED TO COMPLETE JOY? We will look at this in the series: The BIG "SO WHAT?" of JOY! 


In John 20: we see the Disciples on the night of the first Easter
¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
 ²¹ Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

 ²⁴ Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”    But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
 ²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
 ²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
 ²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
 ³⁰ Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹ But these are written that you may^[a] believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. 

These last few verses describe the purpose for which John wrote this Gospel and now we see the 1st Letter he writes to the churches, where in chapter 1 he states that:
 ¹ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ² The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴ We write this to make our^{[some manuscripts say YOUR]} joy complete.  ⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all^[b] sin.  ⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. 

So what happened between the OVERJOYED disciples of John 20 and the St. John who writes about 30 years or more later about making "our" or "your" JOY COMPLETE! 

The word for COMPLETE is the Greek word: "Pleroo" or pronounced: "play-ro'-o"

Which means to be complete filled to overflowing. JOY is "Chara" Together it is the fulfillment of JOY. This is what John "the Elder" wanted to share with his family as he writes in 85-95 AD. He wants them to know that, as heresy is encircling the churches and some are following the ways of "Gnosticism" (which taught a secret knowledge that spirit was entirely good and matter entirely evil.) the truth would be revealed and JOY complete. The family of God to whom John is writing would had to deal the Docetism, from the Greek "dokeo" (to seem) which claimed Christ only seemed to have a body, (John's account of Thomas being invited to touch Jesus' hands and side blows this out of the water). The church also had to deal with Cerinthianism, named after the leading spokesman, Cerinthus. He taught that the Divine Christ joined the man, Jesus at his Baptism and left him before he died. Also the teaching the matter, or the body is evil and therefore what you do in the body is not sin, the Gnostic heresy led to licentiousness with horrible sinful things. This is the reason for the words in 1:8 "if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

St. John will deal with these heresies and how the family of the church should live together in LOVE.

Today we see the fulfillment of JOY in the letter to set things straight among the family and we can understand that the disciples, "the 12," without Thomas or Judas would be as the Greek Word: "Chairo" states, rejoicing exceedingly in John 20:20 when our Resurrected Lord Jesus appears in the room and takes away darkness and fear to show them who HE is. They would definitely be OVERJOYED. I often think that this is the fulfillment of what Jesus promised on Maundy Thursday at the Seder (his Last Supper) when He said in John 16:22-24

²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. ²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Sounds amazingly similar to what has happened.

May we be OVERJOYED as we experience HIS TRUE PRESENCE in worship, word and Sacrament together as HIS Family. I think John would agree it makes our joy complete. 

Christ has risen! He has risen INDEED! HALLELUJAH! AMEN

HAPPY EASTER! Lord Teach us HOW to pray: Conclusion "For Thine is the KINGDOM, the POWER and the GLORY!"

Happy Resurrection Sunday! Happy Easter! Today we gather for the Sonrise Service at 7:45 at EMU then Breakfast and 10:15 Celebration with 11 am service at ALIVE! Lenawee County.

We cry out CHRIST HAS RISEN! HE HAS RISEN INDEED! HALLELUJAH!! This is the message for the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer that we have studied during the Lenten Season this year. "For thine is the KINGDOM and the POWER and THE GLORY Forever. AMEN" is a great way to end the prayer our Lord teaches his disciples how to pray. You will have to look at the notes in your Bible on Matthew 6 to see that this is added in some manuscripts. Many scholars believe it was added because it shows up in the late first century Didache, (teaching of the twelve apostles) as part of the liturgy as the response in the Eucharist and at the end of the Prayer. It is an amazing summary of how we should feel after we hear the Lord's answer to "But deliver us from evil" where he says "yes" because he has defeated Satan, sin and death with his blood on Calvary and proven in the empty tomb we celebrate today! We celebrate this every Sunday! He has risen and therefore we know we have the victory in Christ!

Today we will attempt on this Resurrection Sunday to express what these words summarize that our Lord is KING, HE has the POWER and HE deserves the GLORY Forever! AMEN means "let it be so" we pray that all we have prayed for, according to God's will, will be done among us.

I hope we all get a chance, as we join together in the family of God, to celebrate and experience the presence of our Risen Lord in the Worship service through HIS Word and the Lord's Supper! I know that because we have the worship time around the Lord's supper I often feel that our words do not even come close to expressing the experience. It is the AWE of being in the presence of our Lord in the HOLY of HOLIES that causes me to just summarize with the words "For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever AMEN!"

We will hear the words of a sainted preacher who shared this with his congregation when he tried to express how we feel coming face to face with our Risen Lord:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzqTFNfeDnE

INDESCRIBABLE CHRIST

Dr. S.M. Lockridge was the Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, San Diego CA from 1953 - 1993. He entered heaven in 2000. He is well-known for a passage out of his sermon titled “He’s My King”:


“He’s enduringly strong, He’s entirely sincere, He’s eternally steadfast. He’s immortally graceful. He’s imperially powerful. He’s impartially merciful. He’s God’s Son. He’s a sinner’s savior. He’s the centerpiece of civilization. He stands alone in Himself. He’s unparalleled. He’s unprecedented. He’s supreme. He’s preeminent. He’s the loftiest idea in literature. He’s the highest idea in philosophy. He’s the fundamental truth in theology. He’s the miracle of the age. He’s the only one able to supply all of our needs simultaneously. He supplies strength for the weak. He’s available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He guards and He guides. He heals the sick, He cleans the lepers. He forgives sinners, He discharges debtors, He delivers captives, He defends the feeble, He blesses the young, He serves the unfortunate, He regards the aged, He rewards the diligent, He beautifies the meek. Do you know Him?

Well, my king is the king of knowledge, He’s the well-spring of wisdom, He’s the doorway of deliverance, He’s the pathway of peace, He’s the roadway of righteousness, He’s the highway of holiness He’s the gateway of glory, He’s the master of the mighty, He’s the captain of the conquerors, He’s the head of the heroes, He’s the leader of the legislators, He’s the overseer of the overcomers, He’s the governor of governors, He’s the prince of princes, He’s the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

His life is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteous. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Well. I wish I could describe Him to you. But He’s indescribable. Yes. He’s incomprehensible. He’s invincible, He’s irresistible. I’m trying to tell you, the Heavens cannot contain Him, let alone a man explain Him. You can’t get Him out of your mind. You can’t get Him off of your hands. You can’t outlive Him, and you can’t live without Him. Well. The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him, but they found out they couldn’t stop Him. Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him. Herod couldn’t kill Him. Death couldn’t handle Him and the grave couldn’t hold Him. That’s my king!

He always has been, and He always will be. I’m talking about He [who] had no predecessor and He [who] has no successor. There was nobody before Him and there will be nobody after Him. You can’t impeach Him, and He’s not going to resign. We try to get prestige and honor and glory to ourselves, but the glory is all His. Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, and ever, and ever, and ever. How long is that? And ever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and when you get through with all of the forevers, then 'Amen'."

“Oh I wish I could describe him to you.” 

May we recognize our indescribable LORD and simply summarize him with the words: FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER AND EVER AMEN!

Happy Easter to you and your family,

CHRIST HAS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! HALLELUJAH! AMEN!

Pastor Bryan