All posts by Michael Clinger

Native of the 615. Avid sports fan and reality television consumer. Into Jesus. Engaged to a wondrous woman.
Sermons

Come in to the Party – Acts 15

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Right now, we’re sharing each week how we’ve seen God in our life, and each year when this date comes around, I’m reminded how blessed I am by this church family, and beyond that, how blessed our community has been by our presence in Hermitage. I’m happy to be a part of a church that if we were to just stop, people would notice. So thank you for being part of our story, and I’m looking forward to all that God might do in our midst in the next year.

Today, we’ll be continuing our series as we lead up to Easter, with a familiar parable of Jesus.

Let’s pray before we go further:
Lord, thank you for bringing us here together today, and thank you for 7 years here as New Garden. Thank you for the relationships that you’ve grown between us and for the relationships you’ve grown between our church and our community. Lord, as time passes, we ask that our presence here will continue to be a blessing to our neighbors. For the next little bit, God please speak to us. Give us a message from you today. If there’s anything that’s from me and not from you please just let it fall away from our ears. Help us to be more like Jesus, in His Name we pray, Amen.

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Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable…:

“There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

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Today we’re talking about one of the most familiar stories in our Bibles. Probably one where even people who aren’t in a church this morning could get a lot of the details right if asked. Why does this story have such a widespread appeal? This is the type of story that draws us in. We can relate to it. We’ve all got family of some sort, and there’s probably a lot of us that have family or know families that portray a similar dynamic. An older son, the family standard bearer, going into the family business, and the younger son, who resists accepting the family expectations and wants to go out and see what all the world has to offer. And at the same time, I think this story sticks out to us because a lot of the characters actions in this story, specifically the father’s actions, are not the actions that we would expect. Not how our fathers would act, likely not how we would treat our kids were they to act like these sons.

Before we get too much into this familiar parable, I think it’s important that we take note of who Jesus is telling this parable to. When we read Scripture, the why is an important thing to interrogate. For what reason did Jesus tell this story? In verses 1 & 2 we see this:

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus was a rabbi, a teacher. But the people who wanted to be around him and hang out with him didn’t look much like most rabbis’ entourages. Most rabbis would be followed around by straight A’s, star students. They’d be around the synagogues teaching their disciples and discussing things with other rabbis and religious leaders. But Jesus wasn’t like most rabbis… His entourage looked different. Sure, he was around the synagogues, talking with the religious leaders, but he also had friends who you wouldn’t expect to be with a rabbi. People who normally wouldn’t like to be around the religious, wanted to be around Jesus. People who were rough around the edges, who would probably feel judged by most of the religious Jews, didn’t feel that way around Jesus.

The Pharisees don’t like this… The Pharisees are proud of their limited list of acquaintances. They’re proud that they don’t associate with tax collectors and people who don’t follow the rules. In fact, they are sort of using Jesus hanging out with these people to discredit him, to somehow prove that he’s not a legitimate teacher. Jesus knows their attitudes, so he tells them this parable. When we think about this parable, its good to keep in mind who this parable is for: both those regarded as sinners and these religious leaders.

And Jesus tells the story. A man had two sons, and the younger one comes to him and demands his share of the inheritance.

The younger son falls into a common misconception: that his father is holding out on him… You could argue that every sin has a root in this lie. Think about Adam & Eve in the Garden, the serpent plays into this, saying that God knows when you eat this your eyes will be opened and you’ll be like God, and God doesn’t want you to have that experience. Of course, God had this rule in place for Adam & Eve’s benefit, but they fell for the lie that God’s way wasn’t quite enough. This younger brother falls for it too, like we do sometimes. We start to think that we know best. That we need to break out of this lifestyle Jesus has outlined, or maybe more relatably, that we can hold back some things over here and still experience the deep life of meaning and goodness that God has for us.

We should also mention that this was a deeply hurtful and disrespectful request from the younger brother. He’s essentially telling his father, “I wish you were dead. I’d rather have your stuff than a relationship with you.” How would your dad react if you had made a request like that? How would you respond if your kid demanded that from you? This father isn’t completely like our fathers though, is he? He gives the son what he desires. He probably knows that this son isn’t going to use this inheritance wisely, but he gives it anyway. This father gives generously without strings attached. He doesn’t use his money to coerce his son into good behavior.

We know how the story goes, the son goes off to a distant land and wastes all of his dad’s money on partying, using it all to do what he thinks might make him feel good or be happy, but eventually the money runs out, and things go south. So he had to get a job feeding pigs. And it’s when he’s so hungry that he would eat pig slop that he hits rock bottom. Sometimes we have to get there before we realize what a mess we’ve made. It’s at this point that he comes to his senses. He remembers his father’s house. Even the servants there live pretty well, but he’s out here broke & starving.

So he makes a plan. He’s got his speech ready to go. He’s going to go home beg his father to take him back, to let him just be one of the servants at the house. It’s not the life he started with, but it’s a better plight than what he’s got right now. As he nears the house and he’s still a long way off, his dad spots him. His dad doesn’t see him coming and wait for him to knock on the door. His dad sees him coming and he runs to meet him. He wraps him up in a big hug, he kisses him on the face.

Just imagine this for a moment. A father running out to meet his adult son. Weeping and running, holding up his robe so it doesn’t drag on the ground. If this happened today it would go viral on Facebook and be on the Today show. Headline: elderly father runs to embrace his son who returned home.

The younger son says his little speech that he practiced, “I have sinned against heaven and against you, I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.” And his dad says it’s party time, put the best clothes on him and fire up the grill, we’re having steaks!

That’s a great story right!? God’s love for us is unmatched. There’s nowhere that we could ever go and nothing that we could ever do that would change God’s love for us. Whether this son was gone for a month or 10 years, we don’t know, but his father was waiting for him to come home and ready to embrace him when he did. God loves us like crazy. God wants those who have gone away to come home.

But that’s not the whole story, is it? Now if we went on the street and asked a non-Christian to tell the story, their recollection might end there, but the story actually keeps going. And part 2 is really important.

Meanwhile… the older brother was in the field and began to hear music. So he asks one of his father’s servants what’s going on, and he tells him that his brother has come home, and your dad is throwing a party because of it. So what does the brother do? “Woohoo! My brother is back! Thank goodness, we’ve been worried sick! I can’t wait to give him a big hug!” It doesn’t go like that, does it. The older brother pouts and refuses to come inside to the party.

But just like with the younger son, the father doesn’t wait inside the house, the father comes out to him and pleads with him to come inside. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

Though these brothers have gone about it differently, this response from the older brother reveals in a way that they aren’t that different. They both want their father’s stuff more than they want to have a relationship with their father. It turns out, this older brother has been keeping score. He knows that he’s done more right things than his brother, so he thinks he has earned his father’s extravagant gifts. What he fails to realize is that the greatest gift of all is not to get the father’s things, but the greatest gift is to be with the father.

I think the language that the older brother uses is really important. He says he’s been slaving for his father, not serving him. Do you see the difference there? Slaving away for something feels so much more transactional. Like we’re doing something so that when we’re finished we can get the reward that we’ve earned, but serving is something done out of love, based out of a relationship of care for the other’s well-being.

I also find it interesting that the older brother says that he has never disobeyed the father’s orders, except I guess the party invitation … He’s never disobeyed an order from his father and yet this relationship is clearly broken. The sin that separates the older brother from his father has nothing to do with his actions and everything to do with his attitude. He’s kept all of his father’s house rules, he’s gotten all of his work done, but there’s this great distance between them.

Here’s the thing: God cares more about the posture of our heart than the scorecard we’ve been keeping. If we are doing the “right” things just so we can we be rewarded for them, then we are just as lost as the younger brother who went and broke all of the rules. More than Jesus wants us to follow the rules, Jesus wants to have a relationship with us. The father says: don’t you see, we’re always together, everything that I have is yours. The Older Brother has missed it just like his brother. Having a close relationship with the father is the best gift, not the inheritance. Not the party.

I think the older brother is mad because he thinks his brother got to have his cake and eat it too. What he doesn’t realize is he’s had it better this whole time because he was at his father’s house. He’s had everything he’s needed this whole time. If you asked the younger son, I bet he’d say “I wish I had never left. I was missing it… I had everything that I could have ever needed, and I gave it up to chase things that left me empty.”

We see the younger brother’s change of heart where he admits his sin to his father, but we don’t see part 2 of the story resolve neatly.We don’t know whether the older brother comes inside, if he celebrates with his father and brother. And I think the reason we don’t know is because we get to decide for ourselves what we will do. This parable was an invitation from Jesus to the Pharisees to come to the party, and not turn their noses up at it, thinking that they’ve earned it and others haven’t. No, these tax collectors and sinners that hang around Jesus don’t do everything right, but they love Jesus. The relationship is the most important part.

And yes, I know I know, I hear the rebuttal in my head too. “If you love someone, you do what they say.” Even Jesus says this in John 14 “If you love me, obey my commands.” But obedience does not necessarily reflect love. You can do everything your boss says at work and not love them. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says: “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

The difference between the brothers at the end of the story is that one realizes he completely missed it and he is welcomed back, while the other thinks he’s got it all figured out, and he’s standing in the field sulking. His attitude is keeping him from a relationship with his father, not his actions.

Like the father did with the older brother, God has come to meet us with an invitation to come inside to the party. To lean into a relationship with God that is far more intimate than rule following and box checking. It’s easy for us to identify with one brother or the other in this story, but the character we want to be like is the father. Will we accept the invitation to become like the father in the story? Recklessly generous, completely forgiving, and willing to run out and invite others back home. Will we be on the party planning committee or will we be the party poopers? We get to choose!

Each Sunday when we go to the Table, we remember Jesus. Jesus, who was a friend to sinners. Jesus, who prioritized relationships over rules. Jesus, who invites us to come inside to the party, even when we’re being difficult. Let’s pray and then we’ll go to the Table:

Lord, thank you for Jesus and these teachings that penetrate our hearts in new ways as we come back to them over the years. This morning, remove those things in our lives that are keeping us from the good life you have for us. Humble us, so that we can see our need for you. Be with us as we go to the Table together this morning. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

This sermon was delivered on March 30th, 2025 at the New Garden Campus of Woodmont Hills Church. You can watch it here.

Sermons

God Wants to be With Us – Luke 13:31-35

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Good morning, everyone! I’m glad that you’re here with us today. So far this year, we’ve been talking through Acts each week. Seeing how the people of God, these followers of Jesus were attentive to what the Holy Spirit was doing in their midst, they were attentive to where God might be directing them to go, to whom God may want them to go. And we sort of saw that culminate in Acts 15 as the people of God are discerning together what it means for the body of Christ to transcend this ethnic and cultural divide between Jews & Gentiles.

From now until Easter we are going to move a little deeper into this theme of Noticing… Each week, we’re going to talk through a moment in the life of Jesus, hold it up, and examine what it might show us about the nature of God, and what that might mean for us. We’ll ask the question: how do we see that playing out in our lives? Each week, the invitation will remain to share how we are noticing God in our midst, Not just in the big flashy things, but in the small moments when another kid showed kindness to our kid, when someone in our life made a decision to make more room for Jesus, when we felt love on a hard day. In doing this, we are hoping that we will grow more aware of God’s work around us, so that we can join into that good work and bear witness to it.

Let’s pray before we continue this morning:

Lord, make us more aware of Your presence here in our midst. Help us to expect your work and movement in our homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces. Today, I just ask that you will speak, that we will receive a message from you that sinks deep down into our hearts and changes us from the inside out. If anything this morning is from me and not from you, God I just ask that it will fall out of our minds. Thank you for Jesus, and in His Name we pray, Amen.

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Luke 13:31-35

31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”

32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

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This story comes at a point in Jesus’ life and ministry where Jesus has set his sights on Jerusalem, and he’s heading there, knowing what lies ahead. In this Lenten season, we sort of join Jesus on this journey as we read along. We know what lies ahead. This epic moment at the cross where the ultimate showdown occurs: the powers of the world, the rulers and authorities do their best, but its in this moment, in Jesus’s willingness to endure and in God’s great love, that God wins. God triumphs over death at the cross and proves it at the resurrection. So we can think of all of these moments from Jesus life we’ll talk about from now until Easter as prequels, as these foreshadowing scenes as we walk to the cross and the empty tomb together.

So here’s Jesus as he’s traveling south towards Jerusalem. He’s performed all these miracles in the northern part of Israel and he has this following. He’s doing all of this teaching about prayer and against greed. And in this moment, we see these Pharisees come to Jesus and tell him to leave, that he is in danger. And we don’t know if this is warning from the Pharisees where they are legitimately concerned for Jesus’ safety. We don’t know if this is more of a threat from the Pharisees, but what’s important to note is that Herod is the person who they say wants to kill Jesus.

Now Herod is in this position of power, but it comes with a catch. He is in charge of the Jews in his jurisdiction of Judea, and at the same time he is having to answer to the Roman Empire. He’s sort of in this precarious middle man position. Herod has an interest in maintaining the status quo because the status quo keeps him in power. Jesus is a threat to that. He’s gaining all these followers. There’s people changing their hearts and minds, their allegiances, people envisioning a life for themselves and for Israel that is better than the one they currently inhabit. This is a problem for Herod. He’s not that different than folks in our world today who grab power and are willing to use whatever means necessary to hang onto it. Not so much concerned for the needs of the people they rule over, but very concerned for their own position, their own bottom line.

And we see Jesus’ response: You let Herod know that I’m going to keep doing what I do. I’m going to keep healing people, keep exorcising demons, I will continue to do what I have come to do until it is accomplished. This response from Jesus is strikingly resolute to me. If I got the message: Governor Bill Lee has heard what’s been happening in Hermitage, and he doesn’t like it. He wants you to end it, or else, I’d be taken aback. I’d have to go home and think about that one for a while. But Jesus knew that his purpose, his mission was so much bigger than the rulers and authorities of this world.

Then Jesus sort of comments on the history of Israel. That this is nothing new. God has been sending prophets to Jerusalem since its founding 1000 years earlier, and time and time again, God’s prophets have been written off, persecuted, and even killed. Looming large in Jesus’ mind is probably his cousin John the Baptist, who was beheaded by Herod. To Jesus, I can imagine this is a devastatingly sad state of affairs. For 1000 years, God has been sending prophets to the people of Israel, hoping that they will simply return to a right relationship with God, but they keep choosing other things. God wants to protect the people of Israel, to gather them like a mother hen gathers her chicks, but the people continually choose to be close to and experience security in other things.

Jesus knows, the only security the people of Israel need is found in God. Likewise, the only security we need is in God. But I think all to often, we decide that that’s not enough security for us, and that’s where the tension lies. We look for security everywhere else. This need to feel safe fuels our compulsion towards making sure that other people like us at all times, making sure that our stocks aren’t falling, keeping that cable news running so we know everything at all times.

In this story, Herod is the fox in the henhouse of Israel. He’s motivated to intervene in this momentum of God and the ministry of Jesus to protect himself and his position. But Herod is not ultimately the issue. Swap Herod out with someone else and there would be someone else or something else getting in the way of the people and a right relationship with God. Paul speaks to this in Ephesians 6:


12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Herod’s not helping the situation, but he’s not the main issue. Herod’s just a king doing what kings do.  This is a pattern. The people of Israel have been in this cycle for years. They have not been willing participants in an intimate partnership with God for the sake of the world. The struggle is not against Herod, its against what Herod represents: the powers of the world with whom we far too often cozy up to.

Yes, I am talking about how we mistakenly hope for these broken political systems to take care of us, but I’m also talking about how we believe that if I just had more money I’d be safe, and if I just had a better job, I’d be happy. I’m talking about how we take pride in our busyness when hurry is this great enemy of deep and abiding relationship with God. I’m talking about how we put all of this energy into the culture wars, pressuring others to become more like us instead of us focusing on becoming more like Jesus.

When we do these things, the Enemy has us right where he wants us. Love of other things ahead of Jesus, constant distraction, a full calendar with no room for God to add things to it. That’s no way to have a relationship with God.

What we learn from Jesus in this story is: God wants a relationship with us. God wants to take care of us. God wants to be with us. Jesus is the representation of God’s divine love for us and desire to be with us. Immanuel: God with us.

The question for us today is: will we open the door of our hearts, and minds, and calendars, and wallets to this God that wants to be with us? Jesus wants to be the Lord of our life, will we let him?

If the answer to that question is yes: then we must begin to embody the lifestyle of Jesus. Spend time in community with others, spend time alone in the quiet places with God, and do these things regularly. Lead others by example as we let go of those things in our life that keep getting in the way, things that are sucking away at God’s gifts to us of time and energy. A relationship with God through Jesus is not something we can simply add into our schedule or to-do list, it’s something we must orient our lives around.

The Creator of the universe knows you and wants to be known by you. That’s why Jesus came, to bring about a New Kingdom where all of us are gathered together in relationship with God. But God doesn’t force it on us. We get to choose. Will we choose to let Jesus pull us in close?

There’s these moments in our relationships that affect the intimacy level of a relationship. They affect our emotional proximity to each other. When I’m in our living room relaxing on the couch with the basketball game on and Wesley is playing on the floor, and he asks me to get down on the floor and play, I have a choice to make. Do I stay zoned out or do I engage? When we’re in our bedroom, and Madeline is telling me about her day before bed, do I keep scrolling, or do I put my phone away and connect? I can’t say I always engage in those moments like I should, but you know what, I never regret when I lean in to those moments, those bids for connection.

In our human relationships, if we don’t rise to meet the moment enough, those relationships sever and break apart over time. Fortunately for us, God’s love for us doesn’t diminish, no matter how many times we don’t rise to the moment. No matter how many times we have failed to respond to God’s invitation, God is ready and waiting for us to embrace new life. Jesus coming to earth was this great invitation to us into a loving relationship with the Almighty God, let’s respond to that. Maybe the right response for you is baptism where you publicly name Jesus as the Lord of your life. Maybe the right response for you is sitting down and taking things off your calendar. Maybe the right response for you is deciding to read the Bible for the first time ever, or the first time in a long time. Whatever that means to you, the invitation from Jesus is to come and be pulled close. Lean in.

As we go to the Table this morning, we remember Jesus, who was committed to us to the point of experiencing death on a cross, so that we can have life. When we share in this bread and juice together, we proclaim Jesus’ death and resurrection, and we hope for Jesus to come again soon. All are welcome at these tables.

Let’s pray:

Lord, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that you want to be with us no matter how many times we’ve resisted you and how many times we’ve chosen other things. Help us to see that the best life is in you, that your ways are better than ours, and help us to look to you only for joy, hope, and peace. Help us to be more like Jesus. In His Name we pray, Amen.

This sermon was delivered on March 16th, 2025 at the New Garden Campus of Woodmont Hills Church. You can watch it here.

Sermons, Uncategorized

All That God Had Done – Acts 14

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This year, we’ve been talking through the book of Acts in our Bibles each week. Commonly known as the Acts of the Apostles, but I think a better name would Acts of the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit has been the primary mover, the primary animator, and the primary instigator in the stories we’ve waded into. From the very beginning of Acts where Jesus tells his apostles to wait for the Spirit to arrive, to the day of Pentecost, where the thousands of people gathered are overcome with the Spirit, speaking in tongues that they can all understand despite not all speaking the same language, to the community of believers selling their stuff and using the money to take care of the poor in their midst. To the miraculous healings, and the miraculous conversions of Saul and Cornelius. The Holy Spirit has inspired, motivated, and moved these followers of Jesus to give of themselves, to bring others into the fold in a radical way.

I’m excited for us to talk more about this movement of God a little more today. Let’s pray together:

Lord, thank you for being here with us. God, may we talk to You and listen for You as much as we talk about You. This morning, please provide a message for us, something that seeps deep into our bones and changes us from the inside out. If there’s anything today that’s from me and not from You, God I ask that it will fall away and be forgotten. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear what You have for us today. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

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Acts 14:26-28

26 From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

Last week, we talked about God’s radical inclusion in chapter 10. How Cornelius, a Gentile, along with his family was filled with the Spirit, about how Peter had a vision from God that made him change his thinking. God’s love and desire to be in relationship with humanity transcends cultural and ethnic boundaries in ways that Peter couldn’t have known without an interrupting experience with God.

Then in chapter 13, we see the church in Antioch prayerfully and obediently commission Paul & Barnabas to go and do the work that the Holy Spirit has for them to do. So they get going. They go from place to place preaching the good news about Jesus in the synagogues. The Holy Spirit is making this new mystery known: that God is reaching out to all people, not just the Jews. As they were going around, many people were coming to faith, people of high status and low status, Jews & Gentiles.

But it wasn’t all mountain peak moments of unity & kumbaya. Not everyone rolled out the welcome carpet for Paul & Barnabas. Yes, on their journey in chapters 13 & 14, there’s large groups of people turning to God, putting their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and then being filled with the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit performed miraculous signs in their midst, but even so, in chapters 13 & 14 they get expelled from one place, they flee another because of the threat of danger, and in this place called Lystra, this crippled man at the city gate gets healed and because of that people think Paul & Barnabus are the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes and want to offer sacrifices to them, so Paul & Barnabas have to convince them that they’re not Zeus and Hermes. Then these Jews who had kicked them out of other cities showed up and turned the crowd against them, and Paul gets stoned and left for dead outside the city.

So this is a roller coaster ride. A lot of good, a lot of bad. They’re experiencing a lot of things that would make me want to give up, and yet, before returning back to Antioch, they go back through and encourage all these new believers saying “We must go through hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” And they return back to their home church in Antioch, and they report all that God had done through them, how God had opened this new door for the Gentiles. How God is working in it all.

This singular focus that they have on what God has done and is doing among them sticks out to me. The way that Luke describes their report back to the church at Antioch sounds a little different than the way that I think we often tell stories from our lives. I think if we came back from a trip, even one where we felt God was leading us  as we went along, I think we’d probably describe it in us central terms: The craziest things happened to us. We were like preaching in the synagogues and a ton of people were there and they got baptized and now there’s these churches that are starting up because of it. And then the guy I was with got stoned, like not what we mean now when we say that, he got like rocks thrown at him and everybody thought he was dead. And then he was ok after all so we left town.

Do you see what’s missing from that description? Clearly God was in those stories, but when we tell stories we typically find a way to make ourselves the main character. And why is that?

I think there’s a few reasons. Maybe one of the most common reasons is that we maybe don’t want to over spiritualize things. We know there’s people in our world who use God as the mascot for whatever thing they want to happen, even if its not necessarily good, or beautiful, or just. I would guess a lot of us in this room came to faith within a group of people that had some doubts about the legitimacy of some other Christian groups and how they might interact with the Holy Spirit. I know that holds me back personally. As I heard Josh say earlier this week, and I think this is true for a lot of us, many of us probably came to faith within a group of people, that believed “Ya know, God just doesn’t work like that anymore.” So the scope of what we might contribute to God’s work in our world or our life is sort of narrowed down to explicitly answered prayers like for a loved one to be healed or for us to get that job we’ve prayed for.

But as we’ve been walking through Acts together, I feel like I want more of this. This kind of relationship with the Holy Spirit, where we can sit together and ask God to take us where God wants us to go, and trust that the Holy Spirit is going to take it from there. Where we ask God to present opportunities for us and actually are willing to accept what falls into our lap.

There’s a common phrase in the circles I think a lot of us run in. The phrase “it was just a God thing.” And I think we use this phrase to describe when something works out in a great and unexpected way. Like for instance, when I get a call out of the blue from a random phone number the day before a Mobile Food Pantry and its FedEx, saying they’re going to bring 30 volunteers, that was a God thing right?

I don’t want you to hear me knocking that phrase because I think it gives us a good shorthand way to talk about how we saw God work in our world or life, but at the same time, we shouldn’t limit our understanding of how God works to serendipitous God thing moments we encounter.

Yes, it’s a God thing when we run out of gas on the side of the road and a fellow church member sees us and just happens to have a gas can in their car, but its also a God thing when we watch our friend become a better father over the years as a result of their relationship with Jesus. It’s also a God thing when a loved one passes away and we have brothers and sisters in Christ who will sit with us, and grieve with us, and pray for us. It’s also a God thing when our neighbor trusts us enough to ask us to put their trash can out when they’re out of town.

The idea that we’re talking about is God’s immanence. This theological concept that the God who created our universe still is active and present in creation today. From Ephesians 4: There is one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all. Or as Paul tells the Athenians in Acts 17, in God we live and move and have our being… If we take seriously this notion that God is present with us in every moment of our lives, and not just a passive observer, then our language should reflect that belief. If God is an active participant with us in life, then we should talk about God in that way.

And Paul and Barnabas believed that. They report back to the church in Antioch all that God has done. God opened doors to new believers, God carried them through persecution, and God retuned them back to this family of God who sent them with blessing. God prompted, they responded. God lead, they followed. God did the thing, and now they are bearing witness to that truth.

During Sundays in Lent, there will be an ongoing invitation to share how you have noticed God in your life. Each week, there will be a link in the newsletter to upload of photo that represents a story. A story of how you saw God breaking into your world, your day-to-day life. As we’ve talked about today, God is immanent, meaning that God is here. God is with us in the big moments, and God is with us in the small moments.

There’s a 17th century monk, Brother Lawrence, who had this deep belief and passion for relationship with God. He was a cook and a dishwasher at his monastery in France. He wrote a book called The Practice of the Presence of God. In this book he talks about how God is present in the ordinary and the mundane things. He believed these basic everyday tasks, like washing dishes, was a way to connect with God. I first heard about his idea when I was like 18 or 19 years old. I had always wondered how it was possible for us to pray without ceasing like what Paul writes to the church in 1 Thessalonians. Prayer doesn’t have to be confined to our room at night on our knees with our hands nicely folded. Prayer can be a way of life. A way of inviting God into every moment.

As we talked about on the first Sunday of this year in January, both as a church and as individuals, we should be sailboats, not row boats. As sailboat captains, we still have a job to do, our job is to get the sails set up in a place to catch the wind. Let’s get our sails ready and go where the Holy Spirit takes us. We can only do that if we are living attentively, aware of and watching for the presence of God in our midst, when those moments of goodness, justice, peace, and love burst through the noise around us. Let’s walk open handedly into our world this week and, like Paul and Barnabas, report back all that God does.

As we go to the Table this morning, we remember Jesus. We remember the moments from Jesus’ life that we read about in Scripture, and we remember that Jesus is here with us in this room right now. We remember all the ways that God has worked in our lives, in big ways and small ways. In short moments of time and in the long nitty gritty of heart transformation. Let’s remember all that God has done in us, through us, and among us as we go to the Table today.

Let’s pray:

God thank you for being here with us today. Thank you for listening to us, and thank you for working in ways that we both see and don’t see. Help us to draw near to you and be more and more aware of how you’re leading us and working in and around us. Thank you for Jesus, through whom we have access to this relationship with you in the Spirit. Help us to be more like Him. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

This sermon was delivered on March 2nd, 2025 at the New Garden Campus of Woodmont Hills Church. You can watch it here.

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Responding to Nudges – Acts 8:26-39

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Good morning everyone, I’m glad that you’re here with us at New Garden today. Last week, we were practicing the spiritual habit of sharing a meal together at Brunch, so let me provide a little refresher as to what we’ve been talking about.

In 2025, we’ve been talking through Acts each week. Looking at the Apostles and the earliest followers of The Way as examples (or in Ananias & Sapphira’s case, bad examples) of how to be attentive to the Holy Spirit and dependent on God for movement & growth. Two weeks ago, Josh explained how the church was committed to taking care of each other and remaining unified despite their cultural differences. In chapter 6, they appointed 7 people to address a certain issue regarding equity in their practice of sharing food together.

One of those 7 guys, Stephen, is a main character in chapter 7 as he calls the religious leaders to account, explaining how their ancestors had rejected the prophets of Israel, finishing by telling them that that now they had murdered the Righteous One, Jesus. Then Stephen looked up to heaven and saw Jesus looking down while standing at the right hand of God. This was maddening to these religious leaders, so they drug Stephen out and stoned him. This began a great persecution in Jerusalem for followers of Jesus, led by a guy named Saul, who we’ll talk more about in the future. Because of this persecution, the followers of Jesus were scattered and many left Jerusalem. That’s where our story picks up today in Acts chapter 8, with another guy named Philip.

Let’s pray before we go further today.
Lord, thank you for being here with us today. Thank you for the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us and modeled the way of Jesus for us like Stephen and Philip. God give us that same steadfastness, courage, and passion that they had. If there’s anything said today that is from me and not from you, God, help it to be removed from our hearing. Thank you for Jesus, and help us to be more like Him. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Acts 8:26-39

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian[a] eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
    and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth.”[b]

34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” [37] [c] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.

I’ve heard this story preached several times in my life. It’s one of the more familiar stories in the book of Acts. And I’ve heard a lot of takeaways from it. I’ve heard it preached as how we – like Philip – should always be ready to share our faith. I’ve heard this used as a text on baptism: look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized? I’ll quickly say that both of those are fine and good! We should be walking around the world ready to talk about our faith, I think too often we relegate faith conversations to church only, when telling people about our lives should include ways in which we experience God. And baptism is a beautiful thing – committing and joining ourselves to the mission of God unfolding around us. If you are thinking about baptism, I really want to talk to you about that. And I want to invite you today to consider baptism. I have some resources that could help us walk through what that means together if you’re interested in learning more.

But in all the times I’ve heard this story told or preached before this week, the fact that this guy Philip encounters on the road is a eunuch from Ethiopia is sort of mentioned but not explained. And I don’t plan on explaining too much today about what a eunuch is, no diagrams to show or anything like that, but I think who this man is is really important to its inclusion in Luke’s account of the early church.

This is one of those times when I think the meaning can be lost on us because this was written 2000 years ago, and we don’t feel the weight of what Luke lays out before us. We have access to information that could help inform us, but we don’t automatically understand when we hear it. So briefly, here’s some context.

It’s pretty clear that this eunuch wasn’t born into Judaism. If he was, he likely wouldn’t have become a Eunuch in the first place. What we do know about him is that he was a treasurer for the Queen of Ethiopia. And so it’s likely that he became a eunuch for the sake of professional advancement, though it’s obviously a sacrifice in other ways. I read this week that oftentimes, people would have to become eunuchs in order to work with the royals to ensure that the royal bloodline didn’t get murkied. So this was a person who was dedicated to his professional advancement, and was willing to sacrifice other things about his life to that end. At some point this guy must have converted to Judaism, because Luke tells us that he was on his way back from worshipping in Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, this man may have had an unpleasant or lacking experience in Jerusalem. We learn in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy chapter 23, that a eunuch wouldn’t have been allowed in the Temple. No one who had been quote “emasculated by crushing or cutting would have been allowed inside the Temple.” And yet, here is a man committed to his faith, trying to learn the Scriptures, even if he was kept at arm’s length by his faith community.

And then we have Philip, who was one of those 7 guys that they appointed to help make sure that the church’s eating practice was inclusive of people who had different culture. In verse 26, as persecution of the church is breaking out in Jerusalem, an angel comes to Philip and tells him to head south, away from Jerusalem. Philip listens and heads south.

As Philip goes along the road, he’s attentive to the Spirit. That’s key to this story. Throughout the book of Acts, we have seen how God moves and we’ve seen how these early followers of the Way were paying attention enough to respond to God’s movement. Philip is set up for success in this story because Philip was attentive to what God might be up to in his midst.

This is one reason why we shared last week at Brunch how we have seen God lately. That was really cool, wasn’t it? I loved getting to hear how you all are seeing God. We heard beautiful stories of recovery, healing, growth, and connection. The more we hear how God is working in other people’s lives, I’m hopeful that we will be better able to recognize how God may be showing up in our lives.

So as Philip heads South, he is attentive to the Holy Spirit, and he gets this nudge from the Spirit: Go over to that chariot and stay close. Once again, Philip is listening and responds. He runs up to the chariot and hears this man reading Scripture aloud.  Philip recognizes the Scripture as part of the Isaiah scroll. And, you know, I think I recognize that moment that Philip is in. That moment where someone is sticking out to you. You recognize them or you feel that there could be a reason that you are noticing them specifically. Maybe this is at the store or at a work thing or whatever, and you feel this nudge… More times than I’m pleased to share, I must confess, I back away from this nudge. I avoid. I walk away. This situation wasn’t part of my plan for the day. But I must say, I’ve never regretted leaning into the moment like Philip does here.

So, Philip asks this man if he understands what he’s reading, and this eunuch responds, how could I unless someone explains it to me. In other words, you are just the person I needed to run into, come on up into the chariot! And Philip takes what this man is reading and walks him through how Jesus is the one that the prophets were talking about and how he had come to bring about a new Kingdom in which all may have access to God!

And I think that the question this eunuch asks Philip is really simple, but sort of profound: Look, here is water. What can stand in my way of being baptized? Remember, as a eunuch there were barriers between him and the full Jewish experience. He was in the faith, but he wasn’t allowed in the Temple. He was held at arms distance, but in Christ, that doesn’t matter. Before, there were things that were standing in his way, but in Christ, those things that have kept us apart, don’t any longer. And so he and Philip go down into the water where he’s baptized.

This is a really cool story, and there’s a lot of layers that I think we could pull apart and a lot of things you could read about it that you might find interesting, but here’s my main takeaway: The Spirit is already working in people’s hearts all around us. God is in the business of drawing people in, and God is at work in people’s hearts long before they have an interaction with you or me.

God is even at work in people’s hearts that we might view as outsiders. People who we don’t have a single thing in common with. This eunuch is a foreigner in Israel, he’s of a different race than the Jews and Gentiles in the area, he’s lived this very different lifestyle than Philip, and yet, God has been at work in this man’s life. He had already converted to Judaism at some point and here we see this guy has a thirst for more, he has this passion for God having traveled about 1500 miles in a chariot to worship in Jerusalem.

I think something that holds me back from being attentive to how God is moving in our world is my cynicism. Maybe that resonates with you and maybe it doesn’t. But sometimes I think to myself, there’s no way God would work through that group of people… We live in a tribalistic world with a lot of us and thems. Even among Christians, there’s so many divisions between groups. But may I be so bold to suggest that God can work in the thems too. And maybe every once in a while, we could be educated or encouraged by how God is working among other people.

God is moving. In ways that we can feel and see, yes, but even more in ways that we can’t see and couldn’t put together ourselves. Can we be more like Philip? As he had been living in Jerusalem, I’d be willing to guess that he didn’t know a lot of African eunuchs, and yet, he didn’t hesitate to trust in what he felt God was leading him to do. Philip was attentive to the Holy Spirit, and responded accordingly.

And guess what, God is not going to give you something to do that is bad for you. Maybe not every time you lean into the moment and respond to the Spirit will result in a story of immediate conversion, but over time God will use those moments to transform us and the people around us. This may look like giving someone a jumpstart in the Kroger parking lot. Texting an old friend that you want to get with them soon. Showing kindness to the referees at your kid’s soccer games. It may look like signing up with NICE to give refugees rides to their appointments.

As we take seriously our commission to make disciples as we go throughout our lives, having waited on the Spirit to guide us, God will heal our relationships, strengthen our communities, and connect individuals and groups that we wouldn’t consider inviting to the same dinner parties. God is at work both in us and in the world around us. Let’s be people who are attentive to how God moves and people who respond and join in with what God’s doing.

As we go to these Tables around the room together today, all are welcome to join us there. Regardless of where you’re from, where you’ve been, whether you’ve been here for years or you are here this morning by accident, we’re going to share a meal together with Christians this morning all over the world as we remember Jesus, eating this bread which represents his body and drinking this grape juice which represents his blood. We remember how Jesus dined with all sorts of people, religious leaders, social outcasts, rabble rousers, tax collectors, fisherman, and known sinners, sometimes at the same table.

Let’s pray and we’ll go to the Table together:
Lord, thank you for working in our world in ways that we can’t expect or wouldn’t choose ourselves. Give us the courage and boldness to lean in to the nudges of the Holy Spirit this week. As we go to the Table, help us to be transformed each week into being more and more like Jesus. In His Name we pray, Amen.

This sermon was delivered on February 16th, 2025 at the New Garden Campus of Woodmont Hills Church. You can watch it here.

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Bearing Witness – Acts 3-4

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Good morning! Today we are continuing our series as we start the year in the book of Acts. If you remember, Acts is the story of how God worked to form and grow this small group of Jesus’ followers into a multi-cultural, multi-national group of churches. A couple weeks ago, we talked about how Jesus’ command to his disciples in Acts 1 is to wait for the Holy Spirit. How we should be people who are attentive to where the Holy Spirit is leading us. Last week, we talked about how being led by the Spirit, this group of Jesus followers took on this lifestyle that looked different from the people around them as a response to the work of the Spirit in their midst. Today, we’re going to see how these apostles bear witness to the movement of the Spirit.

Let’s pray before we go any further:
Lord, thank you for our time together today. Thank you for using this weekly gathering to encourage us and form us into people who are more like Christ. If there’s anything from me today that’s not from you, God, I just ask that you will remove it from our hearing. Give us a message today that can plant itself in our hearts and grow us into who you want us to be. Thank you for Jesus, in His name we pray, Amen.

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Acts 4:1-14
The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.

5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected,
    which has become the cornerstone.’[a]

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 

So let me try and set the stage a little bit for what we just read. Before this, in chapter 3 of Acts, Peter and John are heading up to the Temple when they encounter a lame man, a beggar who asks them for money. Peter and John tell him we don’t have any money, but in the Name of Jesus, get up and walk. So, he gets up and he’s rejoicing! This miracle just happened. All three of them head on into the Temple and the people around are going crazy. Not every day you see a miracle happen, and they know it to be a miracle because they know this guy, they’ve seen him there day after day, and now all of a sudden here he is walking around with these two other guys saying he’s been healed.

Well of course, this draws a lot of attention to them. People are starting to think that this Peter & John guy are miracle workers. God has worked in a mighty way, and instead of accepting even an ounce of credit, Peter quickly lets the people know what really happened. He says this miracle wasn’t by us. That guy that was crucified, that you all wanted to be crucified, he’s the reason for this. And the truth is that most of you didn’t know any better when Jesus was put to death, but now you do. So if you are having a change of heart and want to undergo a heart and life transformation, now is the time. All those prophets you know about in Israel told your ancestors about this guy. Jesus was legit, the real deal. So come get on board and be renewed.

Peter and John had waited for the Spirit to arrive, and they had been attentive to the Spirit, and they just participated in this miraculous moment of healing, and now they are bearing witness to that. They aren’t willing to accept any praise from this. They are taking this moment of wonder and awe and pointing the people towards the good news of Jesus.

This is what we are going to see over and over as we work through Acts over the next couple months. People are attentive to the movement of the Holy Spirit, God moves in power through healings, prison breaks, and blinding lights, and the people of God bear witness to what God has done. Amazing things happen, and the people of God aren’t quiet about it. They step out and let people know that God is responsible, inviting those around into a renewed life.

And this is where chapter 4 starts…
While Peter and John are testifying to the Lordship of Jesus and the power of the Spirit to enter our world in mighty ways, the religious leaders step in. Peter and John are preaching this good news of resurrection and they don’t want that spreading around. That would mean that they were wrong in their assessment of Jesus. This could unseat these religious leaders’ place in society, and that’s not what they want! So they take Peter and John and throw them in jail. But these religious leaders were too late, a bunch of people heard and accepted what Peter and John were proclaiming, the church grew.


So the next day, they bring Peter and John in from jail and ask them “by what power or what name did you do this?” See there’s no debate that this did indeed happen. That crippled beggar who has been hanging out by the gate near the Temple, now he’s walking around. There’s no debate that it happened, they just want to know, how do you explain such a thing? And I wonder what in their mind they were hoping Peter and John would say. I don’t know, but what I do know is this: Peter and John once again took this opportunity to bear witness to what God had done. This was a miracle done by the power of and in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Peter & John were attentive to the Holy Spirit, God worked in a mighty way, and now they are bearing witness to what God has done. And this is what we are called to do as well. We are supposed to invite God into our lives and into our world, be attentive to ways that God may be moving in our midst, and give God glory for the ways that we see God working. We bear witness to what God has done.

So why do we bear witness? I think most of us know that we should tell people about how we’ve seen God work, but maybe we’re not sure why. So let’s talk about it. For starters, I think sharing how we’ve seen God work helps other people gain some language or understanding that they didn’t have before. For instance, there have been times in my life when there were people who I was having a really hard time dealing with. I didn’t want to see them, and you all know this, we don’t always get to choose who we interact with. And through prayer, I have seen God work in my heart over time to help me view people more fondly and to forgive people that I have had conflict with. That’s bearing witness to a way God has worked, and there could be someone I share that with who may think, I’ve never thought about how God could change the way I feel about someone, that’s cool.

Another reason I think its important to bear witness is to encourage each other. Throughout our lives we’re not going to always feel the same way about God and how we’re seeing God move. This weekend the shepherds and ministers from both campuses had a little retreat where we prayed together and shared how we have seen God moving in the last year. On Friday night we shared moments of joy that we were able to experience in 2024. At the end, one of the shepherds was really moved and said thank you for sharing these moments of joy because the last year was really hard for her. They spent most of last year dealing with a tough diagnosis and the beginning of treatment for a loved one. There’s a lot of those days in our lives where its hard to see God working, but when we bear witness to what God is doing, it can encourage those who aren’t seeing it in the moment.

And finally, I think its important to bear witness to what God is doing so that God gets the glory for what’s happening. When I think about our Mobile Food Pantries, and how many people in our community got fed last year, I want you to know that those were successful because of God’s faithfulness and provision. I promise you its not because of our elaborate planning and good strategy. God continues to provide volunteers from unexpected places to come and serve in the Kingdom, and many of them don’t even have an understanding that that’s what they’re doing. If it was all up to our planning and our precision, we’d be falling way short on a lot more stuff. God is working among us. James 1 says that every good and perfect gift comes from God. We praise God for the good things that we see and experience.

So we know we should and maybe now we have a few reasons why, but what keeps us from bearing witness to what God is doing? Why don’t we do this more? I think there’s a few reasons that we don’t do this as much as we should. Number one, I think we’re a little too afraid of being socially weird. We don’t want to be that guy who’s always bringing up God, and we’re afraid that this may turn people off. And this concerns me, because I think sharing with people how we experience God working in our life is one of the lowest hanging fruits of evangelism. Like, sharing the good news of Jesus doesn’t have to be complicated or formal or even that thorough. When we share how God is transforming us or showing up in ways we didn’t expect, we are sharing our faith.

I think that another reason that we don’t bear witness to what God is doing is because we’re not looking to see what God is doing. I think we sort of operate on auto-pilot most of the time when it comes to the spiritual element of our lives. We’re so distracted and concerned with other things, that we don’t take the time to pause and reflect on what God might be up to among us. Furthermore, I think our understanding of how God might work or move in our midst is way too narrow. Can we ask God to wake us up to the work that we don’t yet see or know? So how can we slow down and be attentive to God? How can we wait? Practices like prayer and Sabbath help us resist the distractions and concerns of the moment and lean into listening and watching for God.

And finally, I think many of us probably feel too insignificant or too insecure. We don’t think our bearing witness to God matters. Well, if that’s the case, I’ve got news for you, God uses people like you. The religious leaders in this story were amazed because Peter and John are out here sharing how God is working with the people and they were just uneducated Galileans, just some country bumpkins. God wants to use us no matter our education, our race, our socio-economic status, our gender, whatever.

God is in the business of using people of all kinds to share the good news of the kingdom of God, and we’re going to see more examples of this as we continue to work our way through Acts. You are not too small a voice or too untrained to share how you experience God. God can work through us in mighty ways, but are we willing to share with each other and those outside of this room what God is doing?

Let us be people who begin to bear witness to what God is doing among us, the ways that God is transforming us, the ways God provides for us, the ways that God intervenes in our world for good. Let’s trust that God will show up for us and share that in our circles when it happens.

Each week, we go to the Table together as a way of bearing witness to one another as to what Jesus has done for us. The bread and juice at the tables around the room symbolize Jesus’ body and blood. And in eating and drinking this together we remember Jesus, who came and lived, died and was resurrected. Jesus is alive, and we celebrate that together at the Table today. All are welcome to join us at the tables around the room.

Let’s pray:
Lord, thank you for the ways that you work in us and around us, both those ways that we see and can articulate and the ways we can’t. God, wake us up to your work in our midst, and give us the boldness to bear witness to your movement among us. Help us to be more like Jesus. In His Name we pray, Amen.

This sermon was delivered on January 19th, 2025 at the New Garden Campus of Woodmont Hills Church. You can watch the video here.

Sermons

Mark 10:37-45 – Bartimaeus – The Way of the Cross

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Today, we’re wrapping up our series reading through this middle section of Mark. In this series, Jesus is getting his closest disciples ready to head to Jerusalem. He’s now told them on three separate occasions that things aren’t going to go like they might think. They’re not heading to a coronation, they’re heading to a crucifixion. Jesus has told them more and more plainly what’s going to happen. The religious leaders will reject him, he’ll be arrested, beaten, and die a painful death on the cross.

And throughout the chapters in which Jesus is telling his disciples this, we see the same theme popping up over and over again: the first shall be last. Jesus didn’t come to be served but to serve. If you want to be greatest, be the least. Care for people who can’t do anything for you. Sell what you have and give it to the poor. If you want to save your life, you have to lose it.

Today, we’ll see yet another example of the great reversal of the Kingdom of God and talk about what it means for us.
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Mark 10:46-52

46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Let’s imagine this scene for a moment, Jesus and his disciples are leaving the city of Jericho, they’re passing through the city gates. There’s a crowd around them, people excited to be following this Messianic figure to Jerusalem where they believe he’ll be crowned king. We know better, but they didn’t. And so this King Jesus is walking down the road with a huge crowd following him around and off to the side, there’s a blind man who starts hollering out to Jesus: “Son of David! Have mercy on me!”

Imagine you’re part of this large group. You have to think: There’s no chance we’re stopping all these people to talk with a beggar on the side of the road. Parade’s don’t stop because somebody in the crowd asks them to. You’ve seen the motorcade’s that our politicians role through the streets in. Those are not stopping.

But somehow in the midst of the crowd and the chatter, despite the people who see the beggar and are trying to shut him up, Jesus hears this beggar who’s calling out to him “Son of David! Have mercy on me!”

And Jesus says, “call him over here.” Jesus is willing to stop this whole thing to have a conversation with this beggar. Not a person who can get him free tickets or a promotion, just a blind beggar. And Jesus’ question is: “What do you want me to do for you?”

If you were reading this in Mark, this question would be familiar because just earlier in this same chapter, this is Jesus’ response to his disciples, James and John. Last week, we talked about how James and John came to Jesus and said, “Jesus, give us whatever we ask,” which is a bold way to bring a request to someone. Jesus responds with this same question: “What do you want me to do for you?” They asked for positions of honor in the new Kingdom that was coming. Jesus doesn’t honor their request to be placed at his right and his left, saying that’s not his request to grant. He goes on to explain to his disciples later that the true measure of greatness is not your position, it’s who you serve. Jesus hasn’t come to serve, but to be served.

And so Jesus’ disciples are hoping for places of honor in his Kingdom, and strangely enough, this beggar’s name means “son of honor.” “Timaeus,” his dad’s name means “honor” which means Bartimaeus means “son of honor.” We don’t always get the names of people in the Bible who only pop up one time, so when we do see it, it’s good for us to investigate that name. Why, in this case, did Mark choose to include this blind beggar’s name, Bartimaeus?

I think Mark included his name here because this is a story about honor. We have Bartimaeus on the side of the road calling out for mercy. His name means “son of honor,” and yet I’m sure he is used to being treated with dishonor. In fact, in the story we see this play out. He calls out to Jesus for mercy and everyone tells him to knock it off.

But Jesus breaks this trend of dishonor and stops, having his disciples call Bartimaeus over to him. He honors Bartimaeus by offering him His presence and wanting to hear his request. Jesus honors the person in the story who is dishonored.

And instead of just assuming what Bartimaeus might want or need, Jesus honors Bartimaeus by giving him agency, asking Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?”

I think we’d be missing out on something really important here if we didn’t mention the extreme irony of this situation. Though Bartimaeus is blind, he is the one who sees the need for his relationship to Jesus and places himself in the right posture towards Jesus as someone who needs mercy. He tells Jesus, “I want to see,” but Bartimaeus has identified Jesus better than those who have already been able to see Jesus.

Now let’s compare and contrast this story to the story we covered last week with James and John asking for places of honor in the Kingdom. We see Jesus initially respond the same way to both, asking “what do you want me to do for you?” I think a simple and quick thing we can takeaway from this is that Jesus wants to hear our requests, our real requests, not just ones like “can you make me a better husband?” but all of our requests because when we are honest with someone and tell them honestly about our wants, our hopes and dreams, we grow closer to that person.

Jesus wants to hear our requests.

Jesus’ question is the same, but he receives two very different requests from James & John and Bartimaeus. James & John are asking to be honored. Bartimaeus is asking for sight. James & John are asking for status and esteem. Bartimaeus is simply asking for mercy. And Jesus honors Bartimaeus’ request because God is merciful.

Jesus honors the request of Bartimaeus, a person who likely doesn’t receive honor as he sits by the road near the city gates, but this shouldn’t surprise us because this is the gospel. This is the message that we have been hearing Jesus teach his disciples for the last several weeks: the first shall be last.  If you want to be the greatest, become the least. If you want to find life, give up the life you have. Take care of those who can never pay you back. Welcome to the new kingdom, it’s backwards from the world we often live in.

And so I think a great way for us to reflect on this passage and on this series as we conclude it today, is to ask ourselves a couple questions. The first being, do we honor who Jesus honors? In this story, Jesus honors the blind beggar Bartimaeus by giving him his time, asking how he can help, and responding mercifully.

Who are we willing to connect with even when it is inconvenient? Who are we seeking out input from? Who are we extending mercy to? If the answer to these questions is only people who look like us, people who are of similar status as us, and people who can offer us the same kindness in return, I don’t think we’re doing it right. I don’t think we’re honoring who Jesus honors.

Jesus uplifted this blind man Bartimaeus even though no one would’ve batted an eye if he hadn’t. Jesus harped on the importance of showing kindness to children, even though they were often overlooked and dismissed. Jesus honored the value of all people as he headed to Jerusalem knowing he would die on the cross.  

Are we willing to do the same? Are we willing to care for the folks we pass on the street? Are we willing to be inconvenienced on someone’s behalf knowing they’ll never be able to repay that favor? Jesus says this is the way to life. I want to encourage you this morning, take up this cross and experience the good life that Jesus is calling us into. And please encourage me to do the same.

And finally, how do we answer Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?” James and John wanted honor, Bartimaeus wanted mercy. What do you want from Jesus? Be honest, God knows your heart. What do you want Jesus to do for you?

Maybe this morning, you need mercy. Maybe you need good news. Maybe you just need a break. Jesus welcomes you with all of your needs and requests.

Each week as we go to the Table, we remember that Jesus has already given us what we most needed: new life. We drink from the cup and eat this bread and remember that Jesus has given us the best gift, himself. We have already received this mercy that Bartimaeus was calling out for. Because of that, let’s remember to offer that same mercy, that same good news to those around us this morning and this week.

October 6th, 2024

Watch here: https://youtu.be/vQv5_4dtMP4?si=ns3w1iIhRBSUYsjr&t=1700

Sermons

Mark 9:30-37 – The Way of the Cross

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Last week, Josh preached through the first week of our new series, The Way of the Cross. During this series, we’re going to be couched right in the middle of Mark. By this point in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus has amassed this huge following. It’s hard to get away from the crowds. Jesus is officially a big deal. He’s cast out demons, he’s healed the sick, and he’s raised people from the dead. And even while doing all of that, He’s still found a way to make some people mad, specifically the religious leaders because He does things a little differently. He’s broken some traditions because in doing so, He was able to care for people better.

I think it’s good for us to think about these intimate teaching moments between Jesus and his disciples as a response from Jesus. A response to the wildfire of notoriety and intrigue that Jesus’ ministry has caused. In chapter 8, we see Peter rightly identify Jesus as the Messiah, and now we are seeing Jesus begin to teach his disciples about what that actually means. It’s not all crowds and fanfare. We’re heading to a crucifixion, not a coronation.

Last week, we read how Jesus plainly tells his disciples what’s going to happen. The Son of Man will suffer and be rejected by the religious establishment. He’ll be killed, and in three days, he will rise again. And we saw that the disciples didn’t get it, namely Peter, who pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him before Jesus tells him, “Get behind me, Satan.”

Jesus teaches his disciples what it truly means to follow Him:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

Today, we see Jesus once again teaching his disciples. This is Mark chapter 9, verses 30-37:

30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

Here we see in a couple different scenes, Jesus trying to get the message to his disciples that this is not about being the greatest, it’s about making yourself the least. It’s not about getting it all, its about giving it all.

To me, this is a story about Expectations.

Between the miracles, the crowds, and what they might expect from the Messiah, Jesus knows that these disciples’ expectations may be way out of whack. Sure, these disciples started following this guy Jesus, becoming friends with Jesus when He was this up-and-coming teacher, but things had changed.

These disciples started walking around with Jesus when He was just a teacher from Nazareth in the eyes of many, but things were different now. They weren’t just filling up houses anymore and hanging out in the synagogue but now they were drawing crowds big enough fill up a venue the size of Ascend Amphitheater downtown. Just a couple weeks before this moment between Jesus and his disciples, Jesus was just out teaching on a hill and 5,000 people showed up.

This may not connect for you, but this is true for a lot of folks and myself if I’m not careful: accolades can be intoxicating. Being the person drawing a crowd or simply being in proximity to the person drawing a crowd can be a point of pride.

And so these disciples – who were absolute nobodies before Jesus, just regular joes, fisherman, tax collectors, protesting rebels – now were best friends with the Messiah, which to them meant they were going to be best friends with the king. They had basically quit their jobs and left home to follow a teacher, but now they were going to be in charge. They might start to believe that because of this meteoric rise, they were going to have land and access and wealth.

Their expectations for what was coming needed adjusting. As a parent, I’m learning how important it is to manage expectations. There’s certain things that if I say them out loud I know that I better follow through with it. Like if I say we’re going to a grandparents house, I better not say it too far in advance, and it better actually happen because Wesley’s already excited about it. Same thing with donuts. If donuts are mentioned, donuts better be had. Every Friday, Wesley and I go to get donuts at Donut Palace, and so he’s begun to expect that when it’s just us two in the car, that’s what’s going to happen. When I picked him up from preschool on Thursday, his first sentence was: “Daddy, Donuts!”

Jesus is taking this time with his disciples to adjust their expectations, to orient them in the right direction, to let them know what’s coming. He’s already told them once, and it didn’t take. I think perhaps their expectations for what was to come were so different than what Jesus was telling them that they literally couldn’t understand what He was saying. Maybe you’ve experienced something so disorienting that you literally couldn’t understand what the person was telling you.

Jesus is saying, you want to follow me and that’s great, but here’s what that really means. It’s not going to be smooth sailing. People aren’t always going to be seeing me this way. They’re going to reject me and kill me because the Kingdom we’re building isn’t like the kingdoms you’re familiar with. Once again, they didn’t get it.

The text tells us: “they did not understand what He meant and they were afraid to ask him about it.” Of everything in this piece of Scripture, I think this may be the verse that I find most relevant to me. I don’t know if you’re like this, but it’s hard for me sometimes to admit that I don’t know what I’m doing and that I need help, even though needing help is a totally normal thing to experience.

I remember when my older brother was on the high school football team, and we’d go to all his games on Fridays. We’d drive all over the mid-state during football season. One time the game was at Marshall County High School in Lewisburg, but when we got there, the football field wasn’t at the high school, it was like a mile or two away or something. So we got to the high school and there was no football field. And there was no smartphones, and we were in the boonies so there wasn’t really cell phone service either. We drove around for like 30 minutes looking for the football field and couldn’t find it. We were lost. But my dad didn’t want to ask for directions… I don’t say this to shame my dad because I also have an aversion to asking strangers for help, and I would’ve done the same thing, but when I’m driving now I have a smartphone equipped with Google and a GPS and everywhere has cell service. Of course, eventually, my dad broke down and we asked somebody at a McDonalds how to get to the football field, and we got there in 5 minutes, but we missed the whole first quarter driving around aimlessly.

When I was growing up, I didn’t think it was ok to ask questions about my faith. If something didn’t make sense or I was having doubts, I didn’t feel like it was ok to say that out loud. But it’s so important to ask questions and for us to ask questions together. I’m thankful to be a part of a church community that I think believes its ok to ask questions even if we don’t always have answers.

So these disciples don’t get it, but they don’t ask any questions. And instead of asking questions as they walk along the road, they argue about which among them is the greatest, proving again that their expectations for how this is all going to go down are way off. They don’t understand. They’ve been told twice now by Jesus that we’re heading to rejection not acclamation. We’re heading to a crucifixion not a coronation. But their expectations are so far off that what Jesus is saying isn’t making sense to them.

They don’t tell Jesus what they were arguing about on the road, but I’m sure he knows because he sits them down and tells them that if they want to be great, they need to make themselves the least. If they want to be first, they need to be the very last, and he illustrates this point by picking up a small child in his arms. Jesus says, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

You want to be great? Then welcome a child. Help someone who can’t help you back. Look after someone who can’t look after themselves.

Time after time after time, Jesus teaches his disciples to do the opposite of what the world expects: You’ve heard it said an eye for an eye, but I’m telling you when someone strikes you on one cheek, turn the other to them also. When someone asks for your coat, give your shirt to them also. When someone wrongs you, don’t return that wrong, go to them and work it out. If you want to be first, be last.

Now, we know who is first. The person who, despite being God in human flesh, became the servant of all. Because Jesus put himself last, God elevated him to the highest place. At his name, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Because He put himself last.

Jesus knew he was heading to a crucifixion, not a coronation, and he went through with it anyway. And now, Jesus is inviting us to do the same. Serve others. And not just others who can pay you back, especially those who can’t pay you back. Take care of people who can’t take care of themselves. If we want to be a great church, we have to encourage each other to walk deeper and deeper into caring for our most vulnerable neighbors. To become great, we have to make ourselves least just like Jesus did.

Let’s be the greatest church. Let’s do that by actually doing the things that Jesus calls us to do. These are not pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking suggestions, Jesus is revealing to us a new way to live, a better way to live.


When we go to the Table each week, we remember Jesus, who invites us all to sit at his Table. Who are we inviting to our tables? Whose voices matter to us? For whom do we show concern? If we don’t answer these questions the way Jesus answers these questions, we’re missing the point just like Jesus’ disciples. If we only show kindness to those who can return the favor, if we only invite people to our tables who look like us, talk like us, and think like us, we’re missing the point. When we welcome the least, we welcome Jesus to our tables.

As we commune together this morning with God and each other, let our time together inspire us to embrace the teachings of Jesus in new ways, that we will go into our world more reflective of Jesus’ love than we were before.

September 15th, 2024

Watch here: https://youtu.be/9WvmZw6D4ns?si=DgrNscP35ptZ6uA1&t=1253

Sermons

A New Heart – Ezekiel Pt. 4 (Dry Bones)

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We’re getting close to the end of our Ezekiel series with just one Sunday left after today. I don’t know about you, but I’ve really enjoyed it. The book of Ezekiel was so unfamiliar to me, but God has been showing me some really cool stuff, and I hope you’re getting some of that too. Today, we’re going to be reading the most well-known section of Ezekiel together, and I’m excited to get into it with you.

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Ez. 37:1-14

1 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

Once again Ezekiel tells the story of a vision he has received from God. And this time, there’s no creatures. There’s no wheels. There’s no wall to go through. Instead, God takes Ezekiel to the valley of dry bones. Sort of spooky right? You may be thinking you missed an awesome way you could decorate your front yard for trick-or-treaters, but there’s always next year. God takes Ezekiel to the valley of dry bones and takes him back and forth among the bones on the ground.

It’s kind of a hopeless, lifeless, post-apocalyptic picture. God tells Ezekiel that these bones represent the people of Israel. Not ones who are physically dead though. These bones represent people who are physically alive, but they are dead in a sense. They’re in exile. Cut off from the one relationship that gives them true life because of their disobedience, their pride, their violence, their idolatry.

You see, this is a story about God’s Covenant.

God’s covenant relationship with Israel is unlike any other. God has taken this small group of people and has cast blessing upon them. In chapter 16 of Ezekiel, God talks about how when Israel met God, they were completely lost. They were dirty, they weren’t cared for, and God came along and cleaned them up. God took care of them and God protected them, and God dressed them in fine clothes and jewelry.

And we know this to be true. God came to Abram, this old childless guy with an old childless wife, and entered into this covenant relationship with him, promising to make him into a great nation, with more descendants than he could count. And God made good on that promise, despite the ways that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob got impatient and went their own way.

God brought the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and led them to the promised land. God’s message to the people was simple, keep my commands and this promised land will be like Eden for you. It’s flowing with milk and honey. God brought them into a great situation and protected them from outside nations and powers, but a covenant goes both ways. The people of Israel broke that covenant again and again and again. And so eventually, God lets the people of Israel bring themselves to ruin, their divided kingdom crumbles and superpowers come in and destroy Israel.

Israel faces this destruction because breaking from God’s covenant results in death.

Remember Adam & Eve in the Garden? They have everything they could ever need, want, or even imagine at their disposal. They can eat the fruit from the Tree of life all they want, but there’s just one simple thing that God requires from them, don’t eat from that tree. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Everything is on the table, except that. God tells Adam on the day that you eat from that tree, you will surely die.

And we know the story, Eve is deceived by the serpent and then Adam joins her. Now do they die when they eat the fruit from that tree? Well, no right? They realize their nakedness and they’re ashamed. They get exiled from the Garden never to return. So they didn’t physically die, but there was a death there. The death of a kind of life Adam & Eve never got back. The death of this beautiful life and beautiful relationship that they had with God. Walking around in the Garden in full communion with God.

This covenant between Adam & Eve and God was broken, and because of that, part of their life ceased to exist, that good life they were able to enjoy as partners with God. Similarly, the Israelites broke their covenant with God, and because of that, they’re now facing the consequences as their cities were destroyed and they were scattered across the known world. Like Adam & Eve, this breaking of covenant didn’t result in instant physical death, but it did result in a different kind of death. They’ve been broken off from their communion with God and the land God promised their ancestors. And so they’re still physically alive, but they’re represented by these dry bones. They’re in need of new life.

When we’re talking about Israel and their relationship with God and how we can maybe apply some of this to our lives, it’s important to translate that appropriately. And so the connection when we think of Israel, we shouldn’t think of the United States. We’re not talking about Israel the political entity, we’re talking about Israel, the people of God. And so in today’s terms, knowing what we know now, we the church identify as the people of God. In our baptism, we are joined into this expanded covenant between God and the people of God. We’ve been grafted into this through Christ.

And so as Christians, as the Church, are we keeping that covenant pure? Are we walking in step with God’s will and God’s desires for humanity? Because if we’re not, we too are just dry bones, incapable of the true communion with God we’ve been created for. As humans, we’re prone to some of these same sins that Israel perpetrates. Like Josh mentioned last week, pride is a big one. We start to think that we are doing the heavy lifting, that we are impressive and worthy of glory. And sometimes we get envious, thinking that others are getting the blessing that’s rightfully ours. If we just had this thing or that job, then we’d be where we need to be. And we have so much stuff and that stuff starts to take hold in our hearts. We go way too far seeking pleasure and security. And as we’ve talked about a lot over the last few weeks, we are prone to giving other people, and things, and ideas the top spot where only Christ belongs in our life.

And like Israel, the result of these violations of our covenant relationship is death. Dry bones. We are too often walking around unaware of the death in our lives and how much better life could be. I’m afraid we’ve become numb to just how good life can be and we’ve accepted this dry bones life. We’ve gotten really comfortable with spiritual apathy and unconcern, and I think that’s right where the Enemy wants us to be.

So it’s bad. Israel was a pile of dry bones, and we can be that way too, but there’s good news: God breathes life into the dead.

God has Ezekiel prophecy to the dry bones, and God brings the bones back together and puts all the tendons and ligaments and muscles on them and covers them all with skin. And God has Ezekiel prophecy to them again and God breathes life into these lifeless bodies, just like God did when God created Adam in the Garden. And Ezekiel no longer sees dry bones in front of him. Instead, he sees this army of God. God takes a pile of lifeless, dead pile of bones and creates something powerful and mighty.

Despite Israel’s transgressions, God will do something beautiful. God is going to take these dry bones and redeem all things through them in Jesus. Because when God makes a covenant, God follows through with it. God did this for Israel, and God did this for us. This is from Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2:1-10
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is 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 handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.

We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Just as God calls Ezekiel to prophecy to the dry bones, God enlists us as partners in the redemption story.

When we look out at our culture, it’s not hard to see dry bones. The world is full of broken relationships, dead churches, cynicism, and despair. But we know better. God is making all things new. Jesus has brought resurrection life to the world, not just for after we die, but for now. Let’s be people who proclaim hope to the world, not hope because of our competence, but because of God’s omnipotence. God, who is rich in mercy, is going to bring us back. God is going to continue to set things right. And we should be sharing that message!

We proclaim that message in words, but also in works. God has created us to do good works. Look after people who can’t look after themselves, choose justice and mercy, even when it would be easier not to. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus came into this world proclaiming renewal: a new Kingdom. One way better than Israel. And because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can be a part of it. Because of Jesus, we are not just dry bones, we are those proclaiming life to the dry bones, inviting the breath of God into the world around us.

Each week, we go to the Table and remember Jesus as we symbolically eat and drink his body and blood. In this way, we welcome Jesus into our hearts and ask Him to reorient our hearts to His goodness & love.

November 3rd, 2024

Watch here: https://youtu.be/lNoF3sJT_F4?si=LYjEwVHhoPYnhOhf&t=1480

Sermons

A New Heart – Ezekiel Pt. 2

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This week, we are continuing our new series in Ezekiel. We established last week that Ezekiel was a 30-year-old priest in exile hundreds of miles from the Temple. God meets him in a way he never could have expected as he sat by a river. God had a purpose for Ezekiel. Ezekiel’s job was to deliver the message to the Israelites that God’s judgment was on them for hundreds of years of disobedience and that they should repent and change their ways. But God tells Ezekiel that they’re not going to listen.

God gives Ezekiel instructions on just how he is supposed to convey these messages. He’s supposed to lay on his side for over a year eating only this vegetable barley that he cooks over cow dung. He’s supposed to set up this little Jerusalem model and have his back turned to it. And he’s supposed to shave his head and burn it in different parts of the city. So though its clearly very strange, Ezekiel does what the Lord has told him to do.

Last week we talked about the prophet, Ezekiel, and this week we’re talking about the people, the Israelites. ______________________________________________________________

Ezekiel 11:14-20

14 The word of the Lord came to me: 15 “Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, ‘They are far away from the Lord; this land was given to us as our possession.’
16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’
17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’
18 “They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. 19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

As we talked about last week, the Israelites got moved into the promised land after their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and they became a kingdom, with kings. And most of those kings were not great and a good handful of them were terrible. Over 500 years or so the people of Israel got more and more ok with wicked stuff. And God sent prophets like Elijah & Elisha to the people to warn them about God’s displeasure and make them aware of their need to change their ways. And the people didn’t listen. Maybe every once in a while, there would be a change of heart, but it never lasted.

So eventually God had had enough. God stopped shielding them and let them fall to the superpowers of the day. First Assyria came in and took out the northern kingdom of Israel and about 100 years later, Babylon comes in and puts Jerusalem under siege. They take the people of rank out of Jerusalem, which would cause it to destabilize, and they were going to come back later and finish off Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah. So Ezekiel got taken out and away from Jerusalem before it was destroyed. Now he’s in Babylon, and God is telling him what’s going to happen to Jerusalem and why.

This story of Israel’s demise is largely about idolatry. In chapter 8, God comes to Ezekiel in a vision and transports him to Jerusalem. There he sees the extreme idolatry of the elders of Israel, even in the Temple. They worship snakes and worship other gods that they have created. Like we talked about last week, the Temple was supposed to be where the presence of God communed with the people of Israel, just like how God dwelt with Adam & Eve in the Garden, God was supposed to dwell in the Temple. But now, the Temple had become this anti-Eden. The Temple was supposed to reflect God’s glory, but it had become a place where – instead of the clear and proper hierarchy between God, humans, and animals – people were now elevating creations over their Creator.

This idol worship is a direct violation of commandments 1 & 2: You shall have no other gods before me & you shall not make idols. Idolatry is a key theme throughout the Bible as humans choose whether they will accept their role as God’s image or give allegiance to images of their own making. Are we willing to accept a right relationship with God? Are we willing to be satisfied with what God provides? Or do we fall into the trap of believing that God is holding out on us?

In chapter 16 of Ezekiel, God has harsh words for His covenant people the Israelites. God basically says: When I found you and made you my people, you were nothing. Unimportant, unwanted. And I made you my covenant people, we got married. And I gave you all of these nice things, I protected you, I took care of you, but you Israel have taken our covenant relationship that was between you and me and defiled it with your idolatry. You have welcomed all of these other things into our covenant. God describes it like a marriage, calling Israel an adulterous wife, saying that the people of Israel have prostituted themselves and broken their covenant with God. God’s not happy with these idols.

When we talk about stuff like idolatry in Scripture, I think it’s easy for us to lose touch with the point a little bit. Of course, I would assume if I went over to your house, you wouldn’t have idols on display that you worship. If I swung by your workplace, I wouldn’t catch you bowing down to the sun. But as my old youth minister would say, this stuff didn’t just happen, it happens.

In our baptism, we enter into a covenant relationship with God. An extension of God’s covenant with Israel. And even though we have proclaimed that Jesus is the Lord of our life, there are going to be other things vying for that spot. Though we have claimed that Jesus is Lord, there will still be things vying for our time, attention, and worship. This looks different for different people, but we’ve all got stuff in our life that wants to take that top spot. Money, sex, authority, platforms, politics, etc. This morning, I think a question we should ask ourselves when reading through Ezekiel is what are we giving first priority to, what are we trusting in, and what are we worshipping besides God? Because God takes this seriously.

There’s a pastor, Kyle Idleman, who wrote a book called Gods at War, and the premise of the book is this: sin is anything that separates us from God, and all sin is based in some sort of idolatry. That’s why it’s the first two of the ten Commandments deal with idolatry: you shall not have any other gods before Me. And do not make idols. Idleman argues that all sin comes out of putting something ahead of our relationship to God. Maybe that thing we’re worshipping in the moment is hurry, or status, or our social calendar, and those aren’t necessarily bad things, but they can become idols for us when we choose to hold onto those things instead of what God has for us.

So if we’re not careful, we too can end up like Israel, slowly moving closer and closer to our destruction because of the lack of priority and attention we are willing to give to our covenant relationship with God. There’s story after story of Christians ruining themselves because they were proclaiming to follow Christ, but their lives were not aligned with Christ. They got too entangled in something else, and then they had to cover it up, and eventually it came to light. This is what’s happening to Israel. After centuries of wickedness, their bill is finally coming due. 

God’s justice demands judgment for Israel’s violence and unfaithfulness, but in God’s covenant God promises that blessing will come through Israel. Do you feel that tension? Actions have consequences, and at the same time, you are my chosen people. This is a hard line to walk for God. To do this, God must lead his chosen people through death to bring them to resurrection and hope on the other side.

So in the midst of all of God’s frustrations with the people of Israel, and while God is fully committed to Jerusalem being destroyed for their misdeeds, God has these moments in Ezekiel like this from chapter 11:

Ez 11:16-20
16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’
17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’
18 “They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. 19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

God is a sanctuary to the exiles in Babylon, but he has departed the sanctuary in Jerusalem. God is still finding ways to reach the people and provide refuge for them even though they don’t deserve it. This scattered chosen people of Israel still has hope because of God’s faithfulness, not because of anything that they’ve done. We too have hope because of God’s faithfulness. Not because we deserve it, but because God loves us.

So the people of Israel were going to experience death. The northern kingdom of Israel was already gone, Jerusalem and the southern kingdom of Judah were on their way out. But on the other side of this time in exile, Israel was going to experience life. God was going to gather them back together better than before.

Similarly, Jesus faced death, although He didn’t deserve it like Israel did. And on the other side of those days in the tomb, Jesus got new life. And not only Jesus got that new life, we did too. Not because we were good. We learn that in Romans chapter 5 verse 8: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

In Ezekiel, God’s plan is to move the people of Israel through death so that they can have life. And this is God’s plan for us too. As we talked about a ton recently in our series from the gospel of Mark, if you want to find life, you have to lose the one you have. We have to die to ourselves to live the life that Jesus is calling us into. We have to remove the idols from our lives that are taking up more and more of our time, energy, and desire. In doing this, we can have life.

Each week we go to the Table together as a way of celebrating this new life we’ve found in Jesus. And all are welcome to join in. We symbolically take in Jesus’ body and blood and remember that God loves us so much that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It’s not because of what we’ve done or who we are, it’s because of who God is and what Christ has done for us.

October 20th, 2024

Watch here: https://youtu.be/i2QnwiS-QGQ?si=7yhVwPuKc6JXtwNn&t=1829

Sermons

A New Heart – Ezekiel Pt. 1

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There’s a lot I’m looking forward to coming up over the next 6 weeks or so, retreats, fun church things, opportunities to serve, and in the midst of all that we’re starting a new series that will carry us through Thanksgiving. During this series, which we’re calling A New Heart, we’re going to be talking through the book of Ezekiel each week. Now if you’re like me, you can’t remember a single sermon you’ve ever heard about Ezekiel or you don’t know what the book of Ezekiel is about at all. Maybe you didn’t even know there was a book in our Bibles called Ezekiel, and that’s totally fine!

I’m preaching several times in this series and to be honest I was feeling a little scared of it. Feeling intimidated, like what if I don’t understand it. But now I’m excited about it because I think God’s going to meet us in this unfamiliar text and have something for us. Today we’ll be talking about how God met Ezekiel where he wouldn’t have expected.

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Ez 1:1-3
1 In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.
2 On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin— 3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the Lord was on him.

Right here at the beginning of this book, we are getting the setting of this story – where and when this happened. And that’s really important! We have to understand setting to make sense of everything that’s happening here.

Ezekiel is this 30-year-old priest, and he’s sitting next to a river in exile when he has this vision. So to understand this a little more, we need to backtrack a little in the Biblical story. Let’s go back to when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. God sends the ten plagues on Egypt until Pharoah agrees to let them go, and we know that Pharoah still changed his mind after that and God parted the Red Sea to let the Israelites walk through while drowning the pursuing Egyptian army. And then God gives Moses the 10 Commandments, but the people didn’t trust God and didn’t obey so they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. After this wandering in the desert, God brings the Israelites into the promised land, and there they are ruled by judges. And they set up the tabernacle and that’s where the people go to offer sacrifices and where the priests act symbolically as mediators between God and the people. And the Israelites start to look around at all of the other people groups around and decide that they need a king. God has Samuel the prophet warn them against this, but they are unfazed. So God gives them a king named Saul.

Then they had many more kings some good some bad, and during that time they built the Temple in Jerusalem. And this Temple was to them the place that the presence of God dwelt. The people would go and offer sacrifices. The priests would dedicate their lives to handling all the rules and regulations at the Temple. But things got worse. The people obeyed God less and less. The kings became more and more evil. And Israel divided itself into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Well this didn’t help. The people continued to disobey God and disregard God’s prophets who were telling them to change their ways. And eventually God had enough. God allowed the Assyrians to come in and take out the northern kingdom of Israel. And over 100 years after that, God allowed the Babylonians to come in and take over the southern kingdom of Judah. The Babylonians coming in and taking over Judah was sort of in two waves 10 years apart.

This is where Ezekiel comes in. Ezekiel was a priest that got removed from Jerusalem in the first wave when they took a lot of higher-ranking people out of Judah and left them in modern day Iraq. So Ezekiel was this refugee who was forced out of Jerusalem. And to top it all off, he’s just turned 30 years old, which is the year he would’ve been able to actually start performing his priestly duties as a priest. This thing that he had trained for his whole life, wasn’t going to happen. He was a priest with no Temple to manage, no sacrifices to offer on behalf of the people. Because of this exile out of Jerusalem, he’s just a random 30-year-old refugee sitting by a river in Babylon.

Imagine for a moment how it might feel to be Ezekiel because you might be able to relate in some way. Ezekiel has been training to do something for a long time and now that possibility of fulfilling priestly duties at the Temple has just been ripped away. Beyond that, his whole life has been flipped upside down, he’s been forced to move away from everything he knows. And to top it all off, he would believe that he’s extremely far away from God because God dwells in the Temple, and now he’s hundreds of miles away in a foreign land. When we meet Ezekiel, he’s sitting by a river likely grieving this immense loss. Everything that he had hoped for and worked towards is over. Maybe you’ve felt like that before. Dealing with a loss of close loved one, the end of a relationship, losing a job.

And as he sits by this river in Babylon, this godless place in exile, the unexpected happens. God shows up. The hand of the Lord was on him, and he has this incredible vision. I’ll read some of it so we can get a feel for it.

Ez 1:4-9
4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, 9 and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.

And a little bit further on in the description:

Ez 1:22-28
22 Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. 23 Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. 24 When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
25 Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. 26 Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

God showed up in a mighty way. God showed up to Ezekiel in this mighty way that he could have never anticipated. In this moment, God is letting Ezekiel know that he’s not confined to the Temple. God is on the move. These creatures that Ezekiel describes contain a lot of icons and symbols that would have been present in the Temple, signaling to Ezekiel that the presence of God can reveal itself in powerful ways away from the Temple.

So these images to us may sound crazy, but they would have carried more meaning to Ezekiel. Here’s a little minimalist illustration that The Bible Project made of what Ezekiel’s vision could have looked like. You see the creatures Ezekiel describes are like legs of the throne that the presence of God is sitting on in this image. Obviously, we have no idea what it could have looked like aside from Ezekiel’s description, which can spark a lot in our imagination. The important takeaway though is this: God is big, God is powerful, and God is on the move.

God shows up where we least expect it. When we’re in those moments in our lives where we feel like everything is wrong – when our dreams have died, when all of our hard work hasn’t provided the results we wanted, when we’re grieving the sudden loss of a loved one or the end of a relationship – God can meet us there. God is not confined to the moments in our lives where everything is good or working out according to plan, and some of y’all in this room may know this from personal experience.

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

So God shows up in this powerful, overwhelming way to Ezekiel. But God doesn’t just show up to let Ezekiel know He’s there. God has a purpose for Ezekiel. God reveals himself to Ezekiel in a mighty way, and now he is commissioning Ezekiel with a new purpose.

Ez 2:1-8
He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.” 2 As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.
3 He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. 4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. 7 You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. 8 But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you.

God raises Ezekiel up and gives him a purpose. Before this vision, Ezekiel has got to be feeling purposeless. The thing that he thought was going to be his purpose got ripped away from him. When you’re not near the Temple, there’s no need for a priest. But here, we see God meeting Ezekiel in his grief and giving him a new purpose.

In those moments in our life where we feel like we’re floating aimlessly, God wants to meet us there and reorient us to something better. God provides us a purpose. For Ezekiel, this looked like being a watchman for God, warning the people of the peril they would be facing for their evil and unrepentant ways. God tells him straight up, nobody’s going to listen to you. But that’s not your fault. Just be true to your purpose, and the results aren’t on you.

While this is probably a disheartening thing for Ezekiel to hear, I kind of find this message encouraging. We live in a results world. If you’re in business and you’re not making money, you’re not a successful business. If you’re a team that’s not winning games, you’re not a successful team. But God’s metrics aren’t our metrics. When God calls us to do something, we just got to do that thing, and trust that God’s going to work it out from there.

In these first chapters of Ezekiel, we see God show up in a place and in a way that Ezekiel would never expect, and in this way, God gives him a new purpose. While this isn’t an encouraging time to be an Israelite, this story can give us hope. When things look bleak, when we’re at the end of our rope, when things we hold onto are ripped away from us, God meets us there. And God wants to use us to work for redemption.

Each week we go to the Table together and remember Jesus who was God and came to meet us here on earth. Because Jesus fulfilled His purpose in living a perfect life, defeating death at the cross and rising again, we too get to have a purpose for more than what we can see in the here and now. Because of Jesus, like Ezekiel, God has come to us and given us purpose.

October 13th, 2024

Watch here: https://youtu.be/kPvs9RngXNs?si=S1dKszMdrzq0tKre&t=1459