GLORI(FIED)

October 26, 2008

Finish this statement: No guts…

No GLORY. There is something very powerful, very attractive about GLORY- something or someone or some event that is truly GLORIOUS. It draws us in and invites us to celebrate.

I’m sure most of us watched Michael Phelps this past summer in the Olympics. He is the kind of guy that we would say is a glorious athlete. He embodied the spirit of the Olympics, obliterating the standard for glory and excellence. The most gold any athlete has ever won, the most gold in a single Olympics ever won. It was truly glorious to just watch him do what he does- swim. To swim better than anyone else has ever swam before. To see a human that is almost more at home in water than on land. Quiet, meek, focused, listening to Little Wayne on his ipod. He takes his place on the podium, the buzzer would sound, and he would win. It got to the point where you just knew you weren’t so much watching a race, you were watching a win. We were glued to the set to see how this glorious swimmer would win his next gold. Would it be by a body length, or two body lengths, or just by a finger. It was like we all knew the victory has already been decided. We were just watching it play out. The victory has already been won through the hours of suffering through training and preparation and practice. The race was always his, the glory was his- he knew it, the competitors knew it, we knew it.

But one thing that amazed me was watching how Michael celebrated his glorious achievement. When he won a race he was obvious pumped- so thrilled to win. He always struck me as a gentlemen- never gloated, never said I’m number one, eat my wake suckers, in your face! He embraced the glory in a way that really showed some depths of character, I think. But what sticks out for me is how he reacted during his team events. During his first relay race, when his teammate took the lead in the last half-length of the final lap, he started going crazy. And when the team won, the place went nuts. I thought he was going to have a heart attack, or that his head was going to explode. He just went bonkers. There was nothing more glorious it would seem than when the team took that gold, and when he shared in the glory of that moment with others.

And that is the image I want you to hold in your mind this morning- that there is nothing more glorious than sharing the win. Sharing the victory. Sharing the glory. When we are part of something bigger than ourselves, something more than just us, and when we take the gold, the glory is greater than anything else in the world.

We are wrapping up this series that has walked us down the path of salvation as taught in the bible. We felt it was important to walk you through, in what we hope has been a very clear and compelling presentation, of the bibles explanation of salvation. Now on one level I never want to make complicated what is clear and concise. It should always be enough to say that it is enough to believe. It is enough the bible says to just believe. To just have faith. To say I believe in you God. I turn to Jesus as my savior and Lord. I give my self to you. That’s enough, and that’s really how it always starts. But how great that we have a very detailed and thorough explain of belief in the bible.

We started with the Petrified service. Here we examined the human condition. The bible says that on our own, left to ourselves, we are spiritually dead, and dead in our sins. And as spiritually dead beings, we find ourselves in a pretty helpless state. Just like a physically dead person cannot and does not spontaneously bring themselves back to life, so we, as spiritually dead creatures, do not spontaneously bring ourselves to spiritual life. We do not make the first move toward God. Instead, God takes the first move toward us. Ezekiel 36 gave us the promise:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

So God moves upon us, gives a spiritual rebirth. It may happen when we are young and can’t even really remember. It may happen when we are an adult, and we can see the change has happened. It may happen instantaneously. It may be a very long and drawn out labor with lots of pushing and pulling and grunted and sweating and fighting God at every turn. The important thing isn’t ultimately the details of the birth, but that we are re-born, regenerated, that God takes our heart of stone, and replaces it with a heart of flesh.

The next movement is our justification. This is the one that theologians have worked to define, explain, teach and apply for centuries. It boils down to this simple (not simplistic) truth- once we are re-born, we repent and we put our faith in Jesus. We have faith that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, that he satisfied the real need for justice to be done in the eyes of God. This is so important to embrace. Our God actually deals with the real problem of sin in the world and in our lives. There is sin. How do I know that- because people hunger. Women are raped. Children are molested. People are homeless. Wars are fought. The wicked prosper and the needy are forgotten. How do I know sin is real- because I feel it waging a war within my own body and mind. I’m not the way I’m supposed to be. The world is not the way it’s supposed to be. And our God does something about it- he has begun the process of eradicating sin and death. He justifies me, he justifies you, he justifies all his children on whom he sends His Spirit, on everyone who has faith that Jesus lived, he died, he rose, he is coming again.

So far God has done all the work. God gets all the credit. He has taken petrified people and given us rebirth. He takes sinful people and he says we can be justified through putting our faith in Jesus. Now we step into the process of salvation. Now that we are in this relationship with God we begin to work with God. It is called our sanctification. Now God can start to do something with us, and we get the blessing of knowing we are a part of the process. God doesn’t just want us alive, he doesn’t just want us justified, he wants us sanctified- set apart for his plans and purpose in the world and on into eternity. Justification fixes our fundamental problem- we’re dead in sin. Our sanctification is the ongoing work of fixing our fundamental issue- we don’t love God, and we don’t love our neighbors. Through the ongoing work of the Spirit in our lives we grow more and more into the image and likeness of Jesus. Touch somebody and tell them- I’m being sanctified!

Here is what’s so awesome about sanctification, and what leads us into glorification- when God takes the trouble, when God pays the price to breath new life into us, because let’s be honest, justification has cost God a lot- when God does this in our lives, it is very clear why. Please don’t miss this- it’s because he loves you. God loves you; there is no other reasonable explanation or understanding for why God does all this. And then second, it’s because he has a plan for you. He sets you apart and begins growing you in this relationship because he has a plan for your life!

You set things apart for which you have a plan. When there is only one serving of ice cream left in the carton I set it apart for a reason- so that I can eat it and my kids can’t. I set aside time to be with my family. I set aside money to save for a vacation or a new car. I set aside certain things I own because they hold a very special place in my heart- like my skis or my bike. To sanctify is to set apart for a very special purpose and plan, and that is exactly what the bible teaches that God does with us- he sets us apart for a plan and a purpose- for his plan and his purpose. And what is God’s plan and purpose for this whole process of salvation- our regeneration, our justification, and our sanctification, is for His and our glorification. It’s all about his Glory friends.

Of all the words that are abused and have lost their significance in our culture, I’m so glad that Glory hasn’t lost it’s meaning. I say I love my kids then I say I love my coffee. Now early in the morning I may in fact love my coffee more than my kids, but still, it degrades the word love, because really, I like coffee. I enjoy coffee. I don’t love it. I don’t have a mutually beneficial and blessed relationship with coffee. I love my kids. I say God is awesome, and then I say a movie was awesome. You know this, you do this, and it’s the evolution of language. But glorious has resisted this degradation. We seem to use the word glorious in a very guarded way. And that’s why it’s such a perfect word for this final step in our salvation process.

Let me say what glorification is, then apply it to our lives. I have printed an extended passage of scripture for you to follow along. I’m going to read the passage, and along the way, interject some explanation.

Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Have you suffered in this world, in this life? If not, let me know how you’ve done it. In this world we will have trouble, Jesus says. But take heart, I have overcome the world. The Christ follower, the person who has put their faith and trust in Jesus for life, has this amazing, revolutionary, transformed and transforming outlook- nothing we suffer in this world is worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed IN US. Did you catch that part- IN US. There is going to be something glorious revealed in us through God. God loves you so much he brought you to physical life. He breathed into you spiritual life. He has set you apart, and he is going to reveal a glory that will shine through your life that is going to rock our world.

And he goes on-19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that[i] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Do you realize how green our God is? How green our glorification is? The creation is crying out for the glory of God to be revealed. People have subjected the creation to frustration and degradation. Folks, this was written 2000 years ago. 2000 years ago the Christians looked at what people had done and were doing to creation, and they said the world is already longing to be freed from it’s bondage to decay. Those words were true then, and they are like exponentially truer now. What we have subjected the creation to because of sin is anything but glorious- it is heinous, it is horrific, it is wrong, and it will be changed. The entire creation is going to be brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. You don’t start living the full Christian life until you catch a vision for the redemption not just of your body and your life when Jesus returns- you must catch a vision for the redemption of all of creation! We should be leading the way, raising the bar and greening the way to the glorification of all of God’s creatures and creation!

It goes on: 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

God have mercy this is like the most awesome passage ever! We go back to the re-birth analogy. But it’s more than just an analogy- it’s reality. We need to be reborn, and the whole creation, the whole world, needs to be reborn. The whole creation is in fact groaning, as if in the pains of birth. And we too are still in this birthing process. For though we are brought to life, we are justified, we are being sanctified, and we are yet to be fully and completely glorified. We have this hope that guides and directs and inspires our lives.

And so he pulls together this process in these verses. 28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Yes, God set you apart for a reason he is going to work everything out for good, in this world or in the one to come. Why…

29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

And the final step in the process of glorification is this endgame when Jesus is celebrated like the first born among many brothers and many sisters and all of us together, we are predestined, we are called, we are justified, we are being sanctified, and we will be glorified.

The endgame of the Christ-follower is glorious my friends. And Glory is most glorious when it is celebrated and shared. Michael Phelps cheered when he won gold in one of his individual events, but he went nuts, he lost control, he went glorious when he was on a winning team. And folks, glory isn’t glory when it all about you or just all about me. Glory is glorious when it’s all about God, and when we step into a relationship with God, and when God does something glorious with all of us together.

And just like watching Michael Phelps win each time, glorification is about the absolute assurance that in the end God will win. That God has already won, and we are just watching that victory play out. It’s just like our history folks- there was a D-Day,and a V-Day. D-Day was when the battle for Europe was decided- the allies forces would defeat the Nazis. But it still took a year of fighting, and many lost lives, for V-Day, for the final victory to be secured.

And that’s what is happening in God’s redemption plan. D-Day happened 2000 years ago when Jesus rose from the dead. The battle against sin and death was decided on Easter morning. But V-day, complete victory over sin and death doesn’t happen until Jesus returns. For those that believe we have this faith, that we are simply in the process of watching God play out His victory. We know God is going to take the gold. It may see like he’s falling behind sometimes, it may seem like evil and sin are winning in the world and taking peoples lives and wreaking havoc on nations, which in fact it is. But in the last stretch, whenever that stretch comes, God pulls ahead, and we pull ahead with Him. And the win isn’t by a finger, or a body length, or a by a mile, it’s by an infinitely immeasurable gap. Because in the end glorification is about the ultimate and eternity victory over sin and death- all sin, all death, all that separates us from God.

Glorification is our great hope as believers in Jesus. It is the hope that there is a purpose and a plan for all our lives, and for all of creation. Glorification is the hope that God will make all things right in our lives and in all of creation. Glorification is the hope that the final death will be the death of sin and death itself. Glorification is the hope that there is an end to the sanctification process, because there is a time coming when all things will be set apart for God, when in fact nothing we be set apart from God anymore, all things will be drawn back to him, back into a relationship with their creator and with one another. Glorification is the hope that the work of justification is no longer needed, for there is no longer any sin to separate us or anything from God. Glorification is the hope that the work of regeneration is not long needed, for all God’s children will live into eternity with our God.

So what does this all mean? Is this some sort of pie in the sky, a new world is coming and everything will be great and glorious then? Absolutely. The bible teaches that this is the trajectory of redemption that is playing itself out before our very lives. That there is a great hope and a great and glorious future for all the children of God, for all whom he calls, and that we can begin living into it right now. And that’s the rub folks. Don’t miss this- don’t miss the glory now. Don’t miss the kingdom now. Don’t miss Jesus now. No guts, no glory. You needs to have the guts, the gumption, the gall, to start living now for the glory of God.

I mentioned in our first service that the message that Jesus preached more than anything else was this- the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom, the glory, of God, is at hand. It is in your grasp. It is stand there before you. And the message of Jesus is still the same. The kingdom and the glory is at hand- take hold of it. Take hold of him.

When you go to Starbucks and you get the pumpkin spice caramel frappuccino, you get a taste of the glory yet to come. When you wrestle with your kids and fall to ground in exhaustion and laughter, you get a taste of the glory yet to come. When you hold your wife or your husband in your arms, and there is nothing between you- no pretense, no façade, no lies, nothing but love, you get a taste of the glory yet to come. When you experience being forgiven of something that has weighed you down with guilt and shame for a lifetime... When you offer forgiveness to a brother of sister and you see the weight lifted off their shoulders… when you reach out in love to a neighbor…when you offer a cold drink to a weary traveler…when you offer a meal to the weak and hungry…when you offer you coat to the cold…when you open you home to the hurting. When you know you are alive in Christ. When you know you are forgiven by God. When you know you are filled with the Holy Spirit and are being set apart by God. When you share your faith in Jesus with those you know and love, and when they start to taste the glory of God for themselves. When you know God has used you, and is using you, and will continue to use you. When you have the hope, you just have it in your head and in your heart and down into you bones that God has a wonderful future in store for all his children- you get a taste of the glory of God.

Centuries ago the church realized that this is what life and living for God is all about. They wrote a confession of faith that started with this bold statement- what it the chief purpose of life? To glorify God and enjoy him forever. To glorify God and enjoy him forever.

As we now wrap up this series it has been and will continue to be our prayer, and our hope, that you will taste the glory of God. That you will want your life to be glorious and glorifying to God in everything you say and do and think and believe and embrace and embody. And when you do this- that you will enjoy God, you will delight in God, you will embrace and love and laugh and live with God.

SANCTI(FIED)

Sunday, October 19, 2008
Here's Ben Jolliffe's sermon- I commend it to you!

Welcome this morning. Excellent to be here. My name is Ben and I am part of Connections Community Church. I am not George. He is taking some much needed time off from preaching this week, and he asked me to stand in for him. I am having a few issues standing, I was in a 10k race yesterday and this old guy (he was about 35) tried to pass me and I nearly died trying to beat him. But beat him I did.

Nevertheless, I am here. For good or for ill. Let’s go.

We have been on a journey here as a church for the past few weeks, wading and sometimes swimming through some deep theological waters. Two weeks ago was Petrified. And we noted that though dead in our sin, God has moved on the hearts of men and women to regenerate them. He literally calls our spiritual lives back from the dead, back from being rock-hard and petrified and allows us to respond to Him in faith.

Then last week George spoke on what being Justified is all about. To quickly summarize, it is an act of God to declare us righteous in his sight. It is a one-time event where someone by the grace of God, through Christ by faith, becomes a Christian.

And the question is – what happens afterward? So let’s say we become Christians, then what? I mean, are we just treading water till Jesus comes back or we step in front of a truck? Or is there something in between justification and death?

The answer of course is Yes. Sanctification is in between.
But the problem with preaching on sanctification is that most of the Bible is about it. The stories and teaching often concerns Christians and our growth after being justified.

I think George gave me this week because he didn’t want to pick just one passage. So today we are going to spend some time trying to only get a drip of water from a raging fire hose.
To start with, let’s define Sanctification so we know what we are dealing with:

Sanctification is the progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and more like Christ in our actual lives.

So let’s go to Romans 7. Romans is written by the apostle and missionary Paul, who of all people knows a great deal about justification and sanctification. Before becoming a Christian, his main job was throwing Christians in jail. God had miraculously saved him and he knew full well the journey that comes after that.

And we pick his reasoning and summary of his own life experience in Romans 7. Verse 14. I’ll read down to vs.24

For we know that the law is spiritual but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it but the sin that dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

20 Now if I do not do what I want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death.

Now what Paul is describing here is his own life after becoming a Christian. This is not a pre-Christian Paul describing how he really wants to put Christians in jail, but is unable to. He is a Christian and saying he wants to be like Christ, he wants to love God and love people, but for some reason, he keeps doing things he hates doing.

And is this your experience? Can you feel him on this one? I know many, many Christians struggle with guilt, disappointment, bitterness, all kinds of stuff, because they think – “life is not supposed to be this way.” After I became a Christian, stuff was supposed to work out, go better, be easier.

It’s not true, sometimes God blesses, but God is more interested in your holiness than your happiness. He cares more that you look like Christ than that nothing bad ever happens to you. And we swallow the lie that Christianity will make us cooler, or smarter, or richer, or better looking or fix our kids or get us a new job – and Jesus never promises that. He promises that you will look more like Christ. And in the meantime, you will struggle with sin.

I mean, how often do we do what we want? How often do you want to exercise but end up eating a big mac? You know it is wrong, but somehow the good you want to do just keeps ending up wrong.

Now think about this, Paul has a desire to do good. That itself is a demonstration that his heart has been regenerated and he has been justified by God. Some people are constantly worried about whether or not they are saved. One good sign is what do you want to do? Do you have desires to serve God? To love other people? That is a good indication your heart has been regenerated.

Also, unsaved people generally do not worry about whether they are saved or not.
Let’s move on.

Though our hearts may desire to do good, we are still twisted by sin. Though we desire to do good, we end up doing bad.

I don’t know if you can feel that in your life, but this passage reads like my diary. I have the desire to do good. I want to read my Bible, I want to love God, I want to love my wife, but my life does not reflect that. Instead, it is so easy to get caught up with all the other things that creep in: for me it is my fantasy hockey pool, video games, reading, playing sports. For you it might be facebook, TV, checking your stocks, playing barbies.

I don’t know what you do for fun that is legal.

Or take a step farther back – how many of us want to exercise? WE know it is good for us. We want to exercise. But instead we live lives of French fries, car driving and unused gym memberships. I am not condemning you, because it is the human experience. We want good things, but we lean toward bad things. Our desires are twisted by the other stuff that is inside us.

And this goes beyond working out and eating right. Your desire to read your Bible turns into a late night with the TV, watching junk that messes up your mind. Maybe you want to have friends and be known by others, but instead of initiating with them and sharing your heart, you make fun of them and drive the closeness away.

And it is because there is still sin that dwells in us and it wars against us.

Verse 22-23 is like my life verse. There is a literal war that goes on daily in my body and I can feel the push and pull of my mind vs. my sin. And that is what makes sanctification so dang hard. Because you still have junk in your trunk. When God saves you he doesn’t give you a get out of jail card that frees you from all sin forever. He does some work, rearranges some stuff, but says, take some time to figure out the rest. You are a big project. 50 years or so.

And he begins to use the ups and downs of life to work the sin out.

And where it gets really scary is here. Your sin is deeper than you realize. I tell the young punks I work with at UWO this all the time – if you want to know how sinful you are, get married. Because it not only brings out the best in you, your loving, sacrificing side, but you get Darth Vader along with Luke Skywalker. You discover depths of selfishness and pride that you never knew existed. It is amazing.

If you are single and want to experience this, pick a good friend and tie yourself to them with a short rope for 3 days. That about summarizes it.

Back on track.
And the wild thing about sin is that you realize that the surface sins, the everyday variety are just the tip of the iceberg.

Martin Luther, the great reformer and theologian, says it this way, “No commandment is ever broken without the breaking of the first commandment.”

That is, the first commandment is to love God with all your heart soul, mind and strength. If you always do that, you will never break another commandment.

Take this for instance. We are shooting a rack of pool and you beat me. I get angry and frustrated. Now this is the surface sin.

But the root sin, at the base of it, is that I need to win so I can feel good about myself. And what that actually that is, is self-worship. I am placing my needs for self-esteem as my god and letting that dictate my emotions.

And what that makes me realize is that I am a way bigger sinner than I ever thought. I don’t do just struggle with frustration and self-image, but I practically I worship myself instead of Christ.

If I worshiped Christ, I would be secure enough to lose gracefully because my identity and my validation has been purchased by Christ and he makes me who I am, not pool or my job or my car.

Think of this - why do people have sex when they are not married? Because they are worshiping pleasure, instead of Christ. It is not just that you are sinning against God by sleeping together, but you have displaced Christ with pleasure and you are figuratively bowing down to pleasure to worship it.

See what Paul realizes in this passage that will shock you, is that you are more depraved, and more sinful than you ever imagined. This is not a popular message in our narcissistic, our self-obsessed culture. You are not okay. You are in big trouble. Your sin will swallow you up.

That is, in my marriage, when Jen wants to talk to me and I want to sleep, I am not just being selfish, I am worshipping myself and my needs.

And we all have substitute saviours. We worship the approval of others, we worship a perfect body image, we worship success, we worship freedom or independence or pleasure or power – and that is Christians. That is us. We do not do what we want. We are sold as slaves to sin. We are incapable of changing on our own.

Even though we have been justified, we cannot sanctify ourselves. We cannot become more like Christ on our own.

And this brings me to despair. I have sat with my head in my hands as I surveyed the carnage of my life. Because as Romans says elsewhere, sin brings death. False saviours cannot deliver. They only bring death. Me worshiping me brings death to my relationship with my wife, it alienates friends, it destroys trust and it cuts the legs out from under living as a missionary to the culture.

And vs. 24 eloquently expresses that frustration: Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

And Paul uses exclamation points for a reason. Cause this is big. The level of our sin is disgusting. It is repugnant, even to us, let alone God.

But here is the astonishing beauty of the whole story. Jesus can deliver. He can absolutely deliver. And he loves us more and cares more for us than we ever dared dream.

Think of it this way, “If I am this dirty and this depraved and this sinful and this unfaithful and this evil and Jesus loved me enough to die for me and redeem me and justify me and work to transform me, then that is the greatest thing I have ever heard.”

The depth of our sin shows the awesomeness of Jesus as our Saviour. He looks absolutely glorious. Because he didn’t just pay for me junk, he paid for yours, and yours and yours. And that is truly mind blowing.

And first of all we become thankful people. We have just been forgiven a massive debt, Visa just called, the University just called, and said all is forgiven. And we should well up with thankfulness at a God who could love like that. Verse 25 sums it up exactly.

And we realize in 8:1, that there is no condemnation for those of us in Christ Jesus. We try our best, we continually repent and we are never condemned.

And our thankfulness leads to repentance and George hammered away at that, so I just want to touch briefly on it. But repentance coupled with the work of the Holy spirit in our lives, is how we deal with the idols is our lives.

When I realize that I am worshiping myself, the answer is not trying really hard stop. If I have a solution that only involves me, that is not Christianity, that is religion. Religion in the bad sense, is a man-made moral code imposed on other people. Religion says try really hard to stop being selfish. Be nice to other people.

But Jesus knows, you can’t stop. You are addicted to your idols. And so instead of going to religion for help, we turn to Jesus and say, “Help!” I am addicted to myself and I can’t stop. I need you to change me.

Repentance begins with an acknowledgment of your sin. Who or what are you worshipping instead of Christ? And we turn from them to Jesus.

And then as he changes us, we partner with him by arranging out life to bring him more glory. God promises in Phil 1:6 that once he begins to work in you, he will carry it through to completion. God promises to do his part in sanctifying us. But he requires a partnership.

And this is the other side of sword, and I want to walk a fine line today. Because there is this tension in the Christian life and people often fall off one way or the other.

1. Some people try to change themselves
2. Some people want God to do all the work.

Both of them fall into trouble. You trying to change you is futile. No man can change the heart. You can arrange your outward actions so it looks like your heart is different, but in the end you end up bitter, tired and shallow.

It becomes all about looks, all about the appearance. There is no joy there. God is not glorified there. And in the end, it doesn’t work.

On the other hand, some people want to “let go and let God.”

We ignore the Bible where it says “to offer our bodies as living sacrifices” or in 1 Corinthians where it says “to run [live] in a such a way as to win the prize… beat your body and make it your slave.”

D.A. Carson, in his book, For the love of God says it this way:
“People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith.
We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”

And I think this is more us. We have seen and grown up in families and churches that had all the structure, but no heart. None of it meant very much at all.

And we react so strongly to overbearing parents and hypocritical churches that we avoid anything that sniffs of effort. Anyone who encourages you to read your Bible when you don’t feel like it, oh man, why do that?

But there has to be an element in our lives where we obey God when we don’t feel like it. We pray even though God feels distant. We go to church, even when it is early.

God will not change you if you are sitting on your butt waiting for something to happen.

But the Bible promises that as we work out our salvation and God works in us, we begin to change. A lot of Romans 8 covers the work of the Holy Spirit in us, and it describes how we need to walk with Him and let Him change us.

And change we will. Many in the crowd today, you can testify to that. We could parade people up here to tell stories of how they used to be and how with a lot of effort and a lot of God, they are different today.

I have a friend who grew up going to church, but there was nothing under the surface. He wandered from God and while attending church, began dealing drugs. He didn’t use drugs, because he didn’t want to be addicted, but he made thousands of dollars selling drugs to high school students. He stored the money in off-shore bank accounts and learned all sorts of skills that are useful for illegitimate operations. He learned to break into cars, pick locks, bring down web sites, the whole bit.

But when God got a hold of his life in university, it messed him up. He didn’t change all that much at the start. But through years of faithful Bible study, accountability, fellowship, he is a different man today. He loves God, serves in his church, disciples younger men, uses his skills for good. He gave away all his drug money and only breaks into cars when a friend locks their keys inside.

The sanctification that has occurred in his life is amazing.

And it took time and likely for you, it will take time. Sanctification is not always discernable, but it is there if you co-operate with Jesus.

And let me be really practical here, so that you don’t leave without knowing where to go.

1. Think of your heart idols – what are you worshiping instead of Christ?
2. Repent of your idols, worship Christ, glorify and thank him as the Saviour who is unbelievable in his ability to forgive and cleanse.
3. Ask God to change you from the inside out. You need Jesus to change you.
4. Ask him to help you live in ways that glorify God. Ask for the desire to read the Bible, pray, love your neighbours. Then start living that out as best you can.

There is nothing new here. I struggled with the message because many of you have heart this before. But this is the truth, that a holy life, one that looks like Christ is not won in a day, it is not imparted by magic or incantation or prayer, it is not bought by giving money to the church, it is not found in meaningless rituals, and it is not a one-time act.

It is the daily war against the sin that dwells in you. You, Jesus and your Christian brothers and sisters, fighting relentlessly, unflinchingly, courageously against the flesh and the Devil which would seek to drag you away from Christ and make you ineffective and impotent as a Christian.

So, I would urge you, be sanctified. Amen.

JUSTI(FIED)

Series: (FIED)
Sunday, October 12, 2008

Last week we kicked this thing off with our PETRIFIED service and I realized that I never even really used the word PETRIFIED. We were talking about this spiritual reality of REGENERATION or REBIRTH. That is, the bibles teaching that left to ourselves, and our own devices, we are spiritually dead. It’s harsh, it’s rude, and the bible teaches us, it’s reality. It is like we have hearts of stone the bible says. We are petrified.

But like that key verse, Ezekiel 36:26 promises us, God will reach into our lives and take our heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. We will be regenerated, reborn, a new creation. For many of us this is the perfect picture, the perfect analogy of our salvation. We were far from God, uninterested in God, uninterested in spiritual matters. Then God came into our lives, the eyes of our hearts were opened, everything started to change.

Like natural births, our Spiritual re-birth is unique to every individual. Some of us had an experience of regeneration years ago. Some of us very recently. Some of us probably feel like we’re in the womb, we feel like we are growing, learning, experiencing, but we’re not there yet. It can happen in an instant. Sometimes it seems like that baby is so ready to come out- you couldn’t stop it if you tried! Or it might take hours, days, pushing, pulling, two steps forward, one step back. Other babies seem to fight it every step of the way.

But whether it takes a moment, or a month, or a practically a millennium, the point is transformed, reborn, lives. The bible tells manifold stories of how this happens. Last week we read about Nicodemus to whom Jesus first taught this. Nicodemus was probably a very good an moral man, a man who had sought faithfulness to God his whole life, but he walked away. We later find him standing up for Jesus among the Pharisees, asking for a fair trial instead of prejudging Jesus. Then, after Jesus’ crucifixion, we see Nicodemus completely reborn I would argue. He cares not for his own reputation, or his own life. He takes the body of Jesus with Joseph of Arimetha for burial. His was a rebirth that seemed to come in several stages.

Another man, Saul, likewise was a very religious man who sought God, But he was wickedly evil. He was persecuting the early church, throwing Christians in jail and approving of their execution. But in a moment, he was changed when Jesus revealed himself. He was radically transformed, he planted churches throughout the known world, and he wrote half of our New Testament. His was the most radical and complete of rebirth experiences.

And there were other experiences. A rich young ruler walked away from Jesus, and was never heard from again. Judas seemed to be a changed man, but it was entirely on the outside, nothing really changed in him. Zacheus was a crook, maybe not the worst guy in the world, but he was changed into a loving, generous, amazing guy. A Samaritan woman, caught in adultery, changes her entire town.

Whether is dramatic, or mundane. Whether were young, or old, whether there is emotion, or intellectual comprehension, the point is that when God moves in our lives, we move toward Him. We are reborn in him, and with that rebirth comes repentance and faith.

Now I’m going to speak to some whom I rarely address directly, but who probably makes up half or more of Connections at this stage. What about those of us that grew up in the church, we were baptized or dedicated as a child, and have always been apart of this. We can’t really pinpoint a time when and where and how it happened. We were raised to believe, and we do believe. What is our rebirth?

I can’t remember at time in my youth that I didn’t believe in God, as God talk was a normal part of my life. We prayed before meals and bedtime. We did devotions, sporadically like most families, but we did devotions. We went to church on Sunday mornings, and when I got old enough, I sat in the balcony with my friends, goofed off, or even slipped out and went to the quickie mart for candy and donuts. I may not have always liked doing church, but I was committed to God. What did rebirth look like for me?

A rebirth moment for me was getting the Jesus thing when I was in the fifth grade. It was this moment when it kinda all started falling into place- Yes, there is a God, a creator, something greater than us that made us and made everything and all that stuff. Ok, I believe that. But now we can know that God because that God became flesh and blood, that same God, is Jesus, who lived as a man, loved us, taught us, touched us. That’s how we know God is a relational being. All of the sudden it wasn’t just about believing in God, it was believing in Jesus, the Son of God, and calling upon him to be my Lord and savior.

Later I had another rebirth experience as I began to become aware of God’s Spirit in my life. Jesus said he’d send us his Holy Spirit so that we could all be in a relationship with him. If he was still just flesh and bone, just one man, we all couldn’t have the experience of an abiding relationship with him. And that’s why he said it’s better that he goes back to heaven and sends us his spirit. And when he sends us his spirit, when his spirit comes into our lives, we are reborn into this new relationship with him.

For me, I genuinely believe this, God’s hand and Spirit was on me as a child. And the truth is, we read stories of this all the time. That there are children born naturally, who are also born spiritually. God’s hand was on Isaac and Jacob even as they were born and called by God for a special purpose. When Moses was born, he was born for be Israel’s deliverer. When a woman named Hannah was barren, she cried out to God, and he gave her a son named Samuel, and Samuel was called by God as a child. Right up into the time of Jesus, the Spirit was on Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, and John the Baptist was born and grew up in the spirit. Then Jesus himself was born simultaneously of the flesh, and of the Spirit.

And so, those of us that grow up in God, we have a series of revelations in understanding our rebirth with God. And what is so great for us, is that when we are really steeped in this faith stuff, is looking back on our lives and seeing God’s hand on us all the while. For those of us that have a more radical adult rebirth experience, we are simply more consciously aware of it. We know that something has radically and fundamentally changed in us, we know this is a new beginning, we know we need to ask questions, to understand it better, to read the bible and make sense of this stuff, to be in a community of believers who will remind me that I’m not crazy, I didn’t make this stuff up, it really happened!

For all of us, now matter when and where our rebirth occurred, we are now part of a new family. The bible says that once we are born into this new relationship with God we are justified by our faith in God. Specifically, we are justified by our faith that in Jesus we are made right with God. So that is our next really big church word, can we all say it, JUSTIFIED.

In particular, the book of Romans talks about justification incessantly. The writer, Paul, is obsessed with justification. In chapter 3 Paul presents the case that God is righteous, we are not. God is holy, we are not holy. No one is good enough, religious enough, to please God. You can’t be born into the right culture, the right ethnicity, the right economic class, the right gender, the right generation. No one is born into it, you have to be reborn into it. You have to receive it, like a gift, from God and through Jesus Christ.

In chapter 4 he tells the story of a many named Abraham, the earthly father of the Jewish faith, and how even he, as great and wonderful as he was, did not earn his justification, his salvation. Instead, he was justified through faith, by the grace of God, just like we are. Finally, plowing through to chapter 5, he just can’t drop it yet, not until he makes one more point about justification clear-

1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Those who have been reborn by the Spirit, who have repented of their sins, who have put their faith in Jesus, now stand justified, right, before God. Not because of anything we do, but by the faith we hold. We don’t earn it, we don’t achieve, we simply receive it. Jesus says I have a right relationship with God, and through me you will have a right relationship with God. And then the next vital movement of the Christian life is to exercise this faith in our relationship with God.

This is the one thing that is required of us- faith. It is what god desires from us. It is what God requires of us. That’s the thing- it is, and I don’t think this is overstating the case, it is the one thing that is really required on our part. It is the start, following our rebirth, of our relationship with God.

The bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Without our faith, God can do whatever He wants. Let’s be clear on that- God is sovereign and can do whatever he pleases. But with faith, we enter into a relationship with God, and we start to participate in his plan. And that is very pleasing to God- to enter into a relationship with Him.

I had to rework this whole portion of the sermon after I listened to a message that messed me up this week. I had coffee with a guy named Pat, and he mentioned a sermon series he was listening to online, so I went and loaded up the first message, and it was awesome. And it started with this, and this wasn’t even the main point, but dag, God used it in my life.

Matthew 8:5When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6"Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."

7Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."

8The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

10When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

Jesus is well into his ministry and has called most of his closest followers at this point. They are heading into Capernaum when a Roman Centurion comes to Jesus. A Centurion, as you may know or could have guessed, is a commander of 100 men. Now understand this, so you understand something about Jesus and the situation- this is the bad guy. Jesus and his posse are Jews, Rome has taken over the Promised Land. They allow the locals to do their thing as long as they do two very important things for Rome- worship Caesar and pay their taxes. You can have you gods, but Caesar is Lord.

When a centurion comes up to you, it’s like seeing the lights in the rear view mirror. You say just what I’ve said- well praise the Lord, I must have been speeding and this officer is going to help save me from my own folly and protect others as well. We should think that, but we don’t, and while the centurion and his men are to keep the peace, the disciples are not too thrilled to be pulled over.

So when the centurion says he has a servant who is sick, they probably want to say, well we’ll keep you in our prayers, then they look at each other and say well good, I hope he dies, and I hope you get what he has, and I hope all your men get what he has, and I hope it spreads throughout all the Romans, and you can all just drop dead for all we care!

But the centurion addressed Jesus in a way that would have been extraordinarily unusual. In fact, more than unusual- at this point unprecedented, and extremely dangerous. He addresses Jesus as Lord.
Roman citizens Roman soldiers especially, do not go around calling anyone but Caesar Lord. And they especially don’t call a homeless Jewish rabbi Lord. Jesus says, I will go and heal him. The disciples would have been freaking out, even though by now they should have put together that Jesus is pretty much going to always do the opposite of what they think he should

Then it gets really wild. As amazing as what he just said was, what he says now is even more astonishing- Lord, he really gets the LORD thing, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is amazing, that is humility, and this is not just some false flattery, because otherwise someone could say, oh, he just didn’t want a Jew in his home. It would be bad for his reputation, and how man of us are afraid to have Jesus in our home because it might mess up our reputation, but that’s a whole other thing. But he says, just say the word and my servant will be healed. And if he would have stopped right there we be in awe. This is amazing. But he doesn’t even stop there, but he goes on to explain how he knows this.

He says I am a man under authority myself. I tell a solder to do this, and he does it. And why does he do it? Because of my authority. But more specifically, it’s the authority I’m under, which I represent, which is Caesar. Caesar is my authority, and because Caesar is Lord to my soldiers, they do what I tell them. In essence he says Jesus, I’ve been watching you, and I see that you are also a man under authority. You say to some one who’s sick, be well, and they are. You say to someone blind, see, and they do. I see that you are a man under the authority of a higher power, and because of your relationship with that authority, you can basically tell sickness, blindness, sin and death to take a hike, and they do.

And at this Jesus was astonished. No where else in the gospels is Jesus astonished by anything else anyone says or does. And that is hugely important. Not even anything anyone else does astonishes Jesus. What astonishes Jesus, what amazes Jesus, faith.

His faith amazes Jesus. And he says to his disciples never before have I seen faith like this in all of Israel. And it is that kind of a faith that God desires that we’ll place in Him as well. And I hope that we can be the kind of people, I want to be the kind of man, that might astonish God with my faith. Because faith is at the heart of our relationship with God. Faith is what God desires from us.

In the Garden of Eden it is a lack of faith in God that leads to the faith. Adam and Eve are tempted into sin yes, because the temptation was strong. But the temptation was strong because their faith was weak. God asked them to exercise faith in Him in one area, faith that He has the best plan and the best life for them, but they did not maintain their faith in God, and their relationship, and our relationship, with God was broken.

During the Exodus God was teaching them to have faith in Him. Faith to bring them out of slavery. Faith to bring them through the red Sea. Faith to bring them to the Promised land. Faith to fee them. Faith to protect them. Faith to deliver them. Faith to bring them into the land.

And that is still what God is asking of us today- faith. Faith to trust that God will be our deliverer, our sustainer, our provider, our redeemer, our everything. Faith is what it’s all about.

God moves upon us, awaking our spirit, giving us a heart of flesh. Some times when we’re really young, sometimes when were old, sometimes in an instant, sometimes, over a series of events, but He moves on us and turns us around and turn us to Him. And then he ask something of us- won’t you move toward me now in faith.

And there is one thing, more than anything else that God wants us to have faith in- faith that he sent us his son; faith that Jesus died on a cross at an atoning sacrifice for our sins; faith that he rose from the grave conquering sin and dead, the ultimate consequence of sin; faith that he ascended to heaven and is the Lord of all the universe and the way, the truth and the very life of God; faith that he is coming again.

When we start to exercise faith in that, then we stand in a right relationship with God, and I believe this, He is still astonished. And we are justified. And then we are ready for our next step- sanctification...

PETRI(FIED)

Series: (FIED)
Sunday, October 5, 2008

Many of you have met and know my daughter Eden. Everyone who meets her knows she’s a very special girl. With our first pregnancy we didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl. So I prayed that if we had a girl she’d be Godly, and smart, and beautiful like her mom, and that if we had a boy he’d be Godly, and smart and great looking and athletic and funny and charming and musical and artistic… like his mom. Thanks be to God and by His grace, all my kids take after their mom. But perhaps none more so than Eden. But Eden is really very special. Eden is a millennium baby. Eden was born January 1, 2000. We always tell her that the whole world celebrated her birth.

Now Eden was our first baby so we really had nothing else to compare her birth. We had some friends call us right at midnight while we were in labor and Robin says she remembers through the contractions and the agony she was enduring, hearing me say- “Oh yeah we’re having a blast!” Let me tell you it was a real blast. First off, Eden had been due nearly two weeks earlier, and I thought I was going to get a big fat tax write off for all of 1999. Instead I got a big fat bill. I’m still gonna make her pay for that someday. But not only did the pregnancy drag on, so did the delivery. Hour after hour after hour began to tick away. Soon a whole day went by, and we went well into the next day, 40 hours of labor. All our hopes and plans for a natural birth went out the window.

You see, Eden was posterior, and it halted the progression of the birth. In fact, when your posterior in the womb, birth really isn’t an option. You are stuck. You are facing the wrong way, and you aren’t going anywhere. You aren’t going anywhere until you turn 180 degrees. A complete turn-around. With the help of the doctors and a midwife, and lots and lots of prayer, Eden finally turned, and when she turned, she was born. It was that simple, and that complex. 180 degrees between being born, and being stuck.

Today I want to talk with you about being stuck, and about being born. About being stuck where you are at, and about making a 180 degree turn, and being reborn. The bible teaches us that the explanation of our condition is that we are stuck, dead in our sins, petrified, and that our only hope is to be regenerated, recreated, reborn.

When we capped off the Wiii church series we did so with our very first Baptism and communion service. I said that according to the bible, only two things are absolutely required for baptism- repentance, and water. You need some water to do the outward sign of baptism, that one is pretty obvious. But what is more important, and what that outward sign symbolizes, is what happens when we repent.

This is hugely important because Jesus preached one message over and over and over again, more than anything else and everywhere he went. We don’t understand Jesus and we don’t get who he was and what he was all about until we begin to grasp this. The heart and soul and center of Jesus’ preaching, and what he was doing, was this- repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. John the Baptizer preached this. Jesus preached and embodied this. The disciples, at the birth of the church, like we talked about, preached this. When people encountered Jesus, and when people encounter Jesus today, there is one fitting and appropriate response- Repent, for you are in the presence of God, you are standing in the presence of the King.

Repentance in its most strict definition a change in once mind. It comes from the Greek, Metanoia. Roughly translated, Meta, meaning big, and annoya, the root of annoying. And it’s really a huge annoyance. Repentance is terribly inconvenient and messes up our plans. Actually it's from nous" and means one mind, one;s who sense of being. And so it means to totally change one’s mind, one’s direction of thinking, of understanding, of belief.

Now we might think of repentance as this big churchy word or experience, but it’s really a part of every day life. But there are two really different kinds of repentance- basically attrition and contrition. We are confronted with forced repentance, attrition, all the time. Especially as parents. You walk in on your kids doing something wrong- getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar. And what is the immediate response? I’m sorry. Now are your kids really sorry when they get caught stealing a cookie? Not at all, are you kidding me! They aren’t sorry in the least bit for stealing the cookie. They are sorry they got caught stealing the cookie. They are sorry they are going to get punished. We want them to be sorry for stealing, for disobeying, for sneaking around. They are just sorry they got busted. We kind of force repentance on them. And they learn a valuable lesson- be sneakier, be quieter, don’t get caught.

But there’s another kind of repentance that comes from a deeper place within us, A repentance that doens't say I'm sorry I got busted, it's a repentance that says I'm busted- busted, broken, attered brusied, and I'm tired of tryignto fix myself. It’s a kind of repentance that says I want to be free of this offense, or this behavior, or this habit, or this guilt, or this sin. I’m sorry, I’m turning around and turning it over to you God, and I don’t want to live like this anymore because it like a huge wedge between us, it a huge weight I can’t carry anymore. So I’m turning it over to you God.

The bible is very clear that this is the kind of repentance, this contrition, that God desires, and that is required for us to enter into a relationship with Him. And the bible is very very clear on how this kind of repentance comes about. This kind of repentance comes through God, moving upon our hearts, working in our lives, and bringing us into regeneration, or rebirth. God moves upon us, his Spirit comes into our life, we experience a new genesis, a new creation, a regeneration or rebirth, and the outworking of that is repentance, and faith. And genuine conversion, genuine repentance always follows this pattern- God moves first, and we respond. God turns us around, we are reborn, and we demonstrate repentance and begin to grow in faith.

There is a wonderful bible story that teaches us about this. John 3 tells us, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. I think it’s safe to say that Nicodemus got into the Pharisees and ruling council gig because he wanted to serve God and people. He wanted to do good. And I think this is a safe assumption because we see in Nicodemus a desire for the truth, and sensitivity towards Jesus. While the rest of his buddies had already formed their opinion about Jesus, basically that he was a threat to the system they had devoted themselves to upholding, he was still asking some questions. While they would have already formed their tight arguments on how Jesus was ultimately a treat to their system, their way of doing good, serving God, serving people, Nicodemus was still not so sure.

He saw something in Jesus, and he decided it was worth pursuing. Jesus had gotten under his skin and into his brain and onto his conscious. So he comes at night, when the crowds were gone, when he was safe from the eyes of judging family and friends. He comes to Jesus, and what does he say, "Jesus, Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God for one could perform the miracles you perform if God were not with him."

And Jesus says, "Awe shucks Nic, you shouldn’t say such things, you’re too kind." Jesus blushes and gets all embarrassed and wonders what to say next. NO! Jesus knows this guy inside and out and you just have to love how Jesus can say in one sentence what we could never say. He cuts right to chase, right through all the flattery and buttering up, he says “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” And the thing that gets me is that Nicodemus, instead of asking about the kingdom of God, asks about being born again. I would have wanted Jesus to explain more about the kingdom of God.

But the truth is, Nicodemus is smarter than me. Nicodemus instantly put the pieces together. Nicodemus understood that it would be useless to hear more about the kingdom of God. Nicodemus understood that what was most important then was to be born again. He asks the obvious question, what do you mean be born again? You can possible mean to be born from you mother womb? And let me just read to you what Jesus said.

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

Noe one can eneter the kingdomof God, no one can see the kingdom of God, unless they are first re-born. No one.
No one is good enough.
No one goes the church enough.
No one reds teh bible enough.
No one does enough good deeds.
No one gives enough money.
No one learns of works or tricks their way into the kingdom.
No one- you must be re-born.

According to this story if you are a Christian, you are born again. And if you are not born again, you are not a Christian. Because according to what Jesus tells us, and to be a Christian one should probably be pretty keen on what Jesus tells us, no one can see the kingdom of God, no one can enter into a relationship with Him, unless they are born again, born of the Spirit. This rebirth, or regeneration, is absolutely essential to being a Christ-follower. In fact, it is really regeneration and rebirth that begins our life of following Christ.

How many of you here, by a show of hands, were consulted on your birth? How many were asked, do you want to be a boy or a girl, curly or straight hair, brown eyes or blue eyes, tall or short, in a rich family or a poor family, a rich country or a poor country, do you want to be handsome or ugly, smart or more like George? We are not consulted on anything regarding our birth. WE may not think it’s fair, we may have come up with a whole other system if we were God, but in the end, kick and scream all you want, cry out that you never asked to be born in the first place, the fact of the matter is that you were born.

And the bible teaches us that likewise, we are not consulted on our spiritual birth. The bible uses numerous stories and teaching to describe our state of being. We are dead in our transgressions. We are captives of sin. We are under the weight of sin. We bear the consequences of sin. All sin and fall short of the glory of God. We are in fact spiritually dead. We are spiritually dead and ripped apart from a relationship with God. We have no say in our spiritual state. Because we have not spiritual state. But when the spirit moves upon us, we become spiritually regenerated persons, spiritual reborn persons, we become born again. We are not consulted on this, we can not make this happen, we can not make it not happen, it is the will of God to send his Spirit and when the Spirit enlivens us, we are awakened.

This weekend a movie titled “Religulous” opened up in this theatre and around North America. In it Bill Maher travels around the world interviewing people regarding their faith and why they think they are right. Maher’s approach is not one of sympathy. He says all religious people are crazy because believing in something that cannot be proved is the definition of insanity. He says it is impossible to have knowledge that there is a God. He says, and I quote,

“You know how I know you don’t know? Because I don’t know. And you do not possess mental powers that I do not.”

And he’s exactly right. He’s absolutely right that I do not possess any mental powers that he does not. In fact, I’m pretty sure that he does in fact possess mental powers and abilities that I don’t. He's probably better educate, better read and more thoughtful than I.

But he couldn’t be more wrong. Because faith and belief in God doesn’t start with the mind, it starts with repentance, and repentance, true repentance always starts with God. It starts with God first moving upon us, and sending his spirit on us, and moving us to turn away from sin, and turn to Jesus. It starts with the Spirit taking us, turning us 180, and giving us a new birth.

And many of you know exactly what I’m talking about already. You were going about your life. You were happily living your life of sin. You were all about a life completely ignorant or opposed to the things of God. You didn’t know God, you didn’t want to know God, you didn’t want to serve God or worship God and God talk probably got on your nerves and you probably thought a lot more about yourself over and above all those Jesus freaks because you couldn’t understand how they could have faith, and you could not, and so were the one who was in fact smarter than they.

Then somethign happen- a conversation with a freind, and invitation to church. A tragedy. A crisis. A transition. Somethignhappened, and something began to change in you. A year ago you would have never thought yourself in a million years going to a worship service. Given the choice between church, and poke in the eye with a sharp stick, you may have taken the stick. You never read a bible in your life, because it was just weird. Now, you read it, and it makes sense. The thought of willingly going to someone’s house for the express purpose of talking about the bible and faith was absolutely absurd, and now you can’t wait until your Connection Group meets again this week.

The bible tells us this promise,

”I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26

I have experienced being given a new heart, a heart of flesh, a heart pointed towards God. And because of that, I know that God can give you that heart of flesh. And some of you over the past few months or weeks or days or even in this moment, you feel a heart of stone turning to flesh, You feel this cold hard heart starting to beat, starting to swell, starting to live. And maybe it’s flooding you with faith right now, it’s filling you with hope and joy. That’s repentance friends, and that’s re-birth. Maybe it’s flooding you with emotion, with tears, with grief, that repentance friends, and that’s rebirth.

And some of you, you’ve felt this, but like a baby that’s just been born, you know you have a lot of growing to do. You are just now starting to understand what happened to you, that God came into your life, that God gave you a new life, and now you need to live into that life.

And here’s the thing- the thing I believe down to the marrow of my bones- that if you’re here, if you’re wondering, is god calling me, does God want to come into my life, does God want breath into me new life- yes, yes he does. That’s why he sent his son, and that’s why Jesus sends us his spirit.

There’s a hook in this Nicodemus story that we can easily miss. The word for the Spirit of God, and for the wind, comes from the same word. IN the Hebrew it was the “Ruah”, the breath of God. The same breathe that breathed life into men and women at creation. It’s the same breath the breaths new life into us, it’s the same spirit that comes into our hearts, and makes us new again.

And it’s just the beginning folks. It’s just the beginning. God breathes new life into us for big plans, and big purposes and a great big awesome place for us. And it’s gonna take us the whole month to walk through it, and you don’t want to miss it!

Here's where we're going...

PETRI(FIED)
JUSTI(FIED)
SANCTI(FIED)
GLORI(FIED)

Wiii Church

September 28, 2008

Everyone knows that pastor’s kids have issues. My girls are already starting to show signs of problems. A few years go Eden and karis were taking a bath. As I check in on them a few minutes later I see my four year old Eden pouring water over Karis’ head saying, “I Baptist you in the name of the Father, the sin, and the Holy Ghost.” OK, that was wrong on so many levels. For one, Karis has already been baptized, and scripture says there is only one baptism. Then, she was baptizing Karis into sin, which she needs no help with believe me, instead of the Son. And finally, she’s claiming to be a Baptist yet she’s practicing infant baptism! How many levels of blasphemy can one child commit! If you can recommend a good counselor I’m soon going to be in the market.

Today we do the most revolutionary thing of all in the church. We invite people lay down their lives to Jesus, to publicly declare their faith in him as the savior, to make his their Lord, and to be baptized into the church. Today we invite the church, all the church, all who put their faith in Jesus, to come to the celebration feast of the revolution- the table that Jesus left for us, the Lord’s Supper. Let me tell you, if you did not grow up in the church, if you are still exploring Christianity and wondering about all this Jesus stuff, this is going to be the weirdest service we’ve had yet. But it really might be our most wonderful. I’m telling you the truth- this frightens me, because I don’t want to frighten you away. But this is like the real thing today folks. This is real deal Jesus stuff. This is what makes the church not just a building, not just Sunday morning service, not just another group of people who gather for a reason. This is something that we have to talk about, because this, more than anything else, is what makes us the church. It’s what makes you and I a part of the body of Christ. It’s what makes us a living breathing, growing thing. Because things that are alive and growing need tow things: They need to be born, and they need to eat.

One of the things that amazed me the most when I became a father was the immediate, instinctive, and voracious appetite of all my kids. The were born with pucker power I liked to say- they just wanted that milk. They were made for that milk, and that milk was made for them. It is how they grow, it is how they are nourished, it is how they receive immunities, it is how they live- by their innate desire, and ability, to nurse. But more so, anyone who has had children and nursed, you know that there is so much more going on than just feeding. There is bonding. A physical, emotional, and even a spiritual bond if formed between the mother and the child, while the dad gets to idly sit by, still in shock from the whole birthing experience. But it really is amazing, to see the child nurse, to experience the bond that happens, the communion between baby and mother. It’s a beautiful thing.

Likewise, baptism represents our new birth in Jesus, and for as long as the church has been around, and been baptizing people into her, these new babes in Jesus come into the church, screaming, crying, and read to eat, ready to nurse, ready to bond. And by the instructions that Jesus left for the church, we have something to give them. They come into the new life of in the church, and they have that pucker power kicking in, and we say come to the table, come to the banquet set before you by our Lord Jesus Christ, come and eat, come and drink, come and bond with your savior.

The instructions are layout plainly for us in the Bible:

1 Corinthians 11: 23-28 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Simply put- this is the story of Jesus told through participation. It’s EXPERIENTIAL THEOLOGY. It’s the story of Jesus told through the senses to taste and touch and smell. It’s a reenactment of the last night of his life. And to understand the fullness of this experience, we need to understand the context from which it was given to us

Jesus and his closest disciples went to Jerusalem to celebrate the holiest Jewish festival- Passover. A few of the disciples went ahead of Jesus and found a room that had been prepared in advance for them, just as Jesus promised. They went in a the evening started just like any Passover feast they had celebrated before.

There was the unleavened bread; there was the new wine; and there was the Passover lamb. But Jesus was about to transform the Passover into something new. He was about to bring the Passover to it fulfillment. They had no idea what was unfolding before them, but what they were actually witnessing, what they were taking part in, was the fulfillment of the promise and prophesy of the bible. That Jesus was about to become the Passover lamb. The innocent, perfect sacrifice for our sins.

He took the bread, he broke it and he said this is my body, broken for you, eat this in remembrance of me. And then he took the cup of the covenant, saying this is now the new covenant seal in my blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.

Then Jesus was betrayed by one of his closest friends. He was handed over to a kangaroo court on trumped up charges, lies and deception. But Jesus willingly laid down his life as a sacrifice. He was hung on a cross and died. He was buried. His disciples all abandoned him. But the bible tells us that on the third day he rose from the grave. And when he appeared to the disciples. And one thing he did repeated as he appeared to his followers- he took bread, and he broke it, and it say in the bible, their eyes were opened.

My friend Doug once told a group a story of how his life was changed, and how he came to first understand what the Lord’s Supper is really all about. It was many years ago now, late in November just after American Thanksgiving. He and wife were driving home late at night when some snow began to fall and the roads became icy. Up ahead of them on the interstate they saw results of a terrible crash- what appeared to be a car that had hit a patch of ice, spun out of control and began to roll over.

They stopped the car and He jumped out and began to run towards the wreck. As he was running towards the wreck, others were already leaving. But they had a look of shock on their faces. They were saying things like, they couldn’t have survived that crash, and I can’t handle this I have to go, I just have to go. He came up to the car and found a young woman who was still in the car, and a young man who had been thrown out. The woman was screaming and crying in hysterics, trying to free herself, trying to get out of the car to the unconscious body of the young man. Doug’s wife ran around to the woman. She tried to comfort her while asking her about what had happen. She was just crying about the ice, and losing control, and crashing. In the air hung the strong smell of red wine, and she had to ask if she they had been drinking. She only a little bit. The wine was from a bottle that broke in the crash, a gift to them from her family, because they had just gotten engaged. The man was in the military and they were returning to the base after the holiday.

Doug went over to the young man who was unconscious, bleeding profusely, but still holding onto life. He tried to do what little he could, he took off his coat, he put it over the man. Doug is calling out for a doctor, for someone to call 911, for someone to get the police.

The woman who was in the car began to cry out to her fiancé, “Jason, I love you. Jason I love you. Somebody please help him. Somebody please help us.” And she just kept crying out “Jason I love you. Jason don’t you die on me. Jason don’t you leave me. Jason I love you.”

And while she was crying out, Jason died in Doug’s arms. The fire trucks and ambulances arrived, the paramedics took over, Doug and his wife were taken aside by the police and gave their statements. Then they got back in their car, and began to drive. In silence they drove while they desperately tried to process what they had just witnessed, and as they desperately tried to warm up. The hot air of the heater was pouring out onto them, and as it did it began to release the smell of Jason’s blood, and the wine that had broken and gotten all over them. And in the silence all they could hear over and over again was “Jason, I love you, Jason don’t you die. Jason don’t you leave me. Jason, I love you.”

That following Sunday, when Doug was in church, he came to the table, to the Lord’s Supper, and he saw the broken bread, and he smelled the juice from the cup, and he was flooded with emotion, and for the first time he really understood what it was all about.

And now, when we come to this table, we cry out to Jesus. We say Jesus our lives are spinning out of control. Jesus I can’t save myself and I am going to die without you. Jesus I love you. Jesus I need you. Jesus, don’t you ever leave me. Jesus I love you.

And then, as we take this broken bread, as we dip into this cup, we remember that Jesus’ body was broken for us, that Jesus’ blood was shed for us. And as we eat this bread and as we drink this cup we hear Jesus calling back to us, “George, I love you. George, I love you and I will never leave you. George I love you and I will always be with you. George I love you and I will give my body for you, I will give my blood for you, I will give my life for you. George, I am dying to be with you, and I will always be here for you. I will always be right here for you.

Folks, you want to know what the church is all about? It’s about a God who is so in love with you, so passionate about a relationship with you, that he gave his son for you. And his Son Jesus gave his life for you. And his Holy Spirit will come into your life. That is what the church is all about- it’s about knowing this God who knows us inside and out. It’s about loving this God who loves us with undying, everlasting, life saving love. It’s about loving Jesus because he comes to us as our savor and our Lord. It’s about loving his Holy Spirit and being filled with Him so we can be alive, so that we can be forgiven, so that we can be empowered, so that we can his people, so the we can be the body of Christ now, his hands, hit feet, his eyes, his ears, his voice in the world.

You want to know what the Lord’s Supper is all about- it’s about touching and tasting and remembering afresh, with all the emotion, with all the amazement, with all the joy of knowing that as surely as we eat the bread and taste the cup, Jesus will never ever leave us or forsake us, but is always here, right here for us, right here in us.

You want to know what baptism is all about; it’s about giving our lives to the one who gave his life for us. It’s about dying to ourselves, and our sins, and to the horrible things we’ve done, and to the horrible things that have been done to us, and dying to the notion that we can save our selves and make ourselves and make a go of this world and this life ourselves. It’s about rising to new life in Jesus, being born anew, being born of the spirit, being washed clean and being found in Jesus. Before there was communication cards, or raising your hands, or any of this stuff, there was baptism. The outward sign of what has happened to us on the inside.

When we put our faith in Jesus and turn to him as our savior and Lord, it means the Holy Spirit has moved on us to have faith, to seek forgiveness, to confess Christ. We have been born anew and washed clean because of Jesus. In response we baptize with water. This doesn’t save us, Jesus does. This is just about being faithful to the one who saves us. This is about honoring what Jesus commanded. This is saying Jesus, since you died and made me new, I’ll be baptized cause you told me to.

And right now, we want to give you the chance to start life over again. To give yourselves to Jesus. To be baptized and to be feed!

Baptism and Dedication
Adult Baptism:
Jesus tells us very clearly the way to salvation- himself. All that is required on our part is repentance. All repentance means is that we turn from sin and turn to Jesus. _____, let me ask you...

"Do you turn to Jesus, believing in faith that he is the Son of God, the one who cleanses you from all sin, as your savior? And do you embrace him as Lord of your life, seeking to obey him faithfully in all things? Do You?"

Then I'll ask you to kneel, symbolic of laying your life before God. I'll ask you to bow your head in repentance and humility. I'll dip my hands in the water and lay my hands on your head as I say this:

“_____, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

"All of us who have been baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore we have been buried with him. And just as Christ was raised from the dead, so we rise to new life in Jesus. The old life is gone, and new live has begun! (Romans 6:3-4)"

Infant Baptism:
Acts 2 tells us, "This promise if for you, and for your children, and for all whom the Lord our God will call." Claiming that promise over their family, today _______ and _____ bring forward their child _____ to be baptized.

In bringing forward our children for baptism we humbly acknowledge none of us, infant or adult, can save ourselves. All of us must rely completely on the saving grace of our God. SO today we baptized _____ in prayerful expectation that the day will claim this baptism for him/herself as she confesses Jesus as his/her Savior and Lord.

Infant Dedication:
In the gospels Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of god like a child will never enter it.” And then he took the children in his arms and blessed them.

Today we want to bless the infants and children of Connections as well…
“The Lord Jesus bless you and keep you, may his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, an may you grow up to know him, to love him, to serve him and give you life to him as your Lord and savior.”

Now, in the spirit of Pentecost, I invite anyone else to come forward who would like to be baptized, who would like to baptize or dedicate their children to the Lord, or who would like to reaffirm their baptismal vows.

The Lord’s Supper:
Now we invite all who profess Jesus as their Lord and savior to come to the table of our Lord to share in this communion.

We ask that you simply come forward to the table closest to you. Take a napkin. Take a piece of bread. Dip the bread into the cup (please don’t get your fingers in the juice). Eat the bread and return to your seat. If you are not comfortable taking communion for any reason, please do not feel obliged, awkward, or judged. Simply sit and observe.

Please move from the front rows and progress towards the back. The band will play, I’ll pray, then we’ll sing a closing song.
_____

Testimony of Mr. Mike King…

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Michael.

There are infinite reasons for me standing here but I wish to share just one, one that I believe to be the foundation of this road I have chosen. The road that I have followed, and got lost so many times along the way.

That one reason is so simple, yet so profound. That I love the Lord, and that I trust that the lord loves me back.

I choose today to be washed of my sin and I choose that my daughter Lailah, and my Wife Andrea, grow in the knowledge that they are loved and protected by our God.

I would like to read to you Philippians 3 vs 13 and 14. These two very short sentences shot out at me the other day.

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind, and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win a prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.


I would Like to end off with saying, Thank you Lord for all you have given me and for the gift of washing me clean of my sin.

Thank you so much!

Amen

Wii Church

September 21, 2008

We started our Wiii Church Revolution two weeks ago talking about the very nature of the church. (Remember, the Wii game system was originally called Revolution) Our theme came from the verse found in your bulletin, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” 1 Cor 12:27 The implications, the ramifications, of that proposition, when you really think about it, are enormous. It is more than enormous- it is revolutionary. It will revolutionize who you think you are. It will revolutionize how you see other people. It will revolutionize how you view and experience God. It will revolutionize what you think is your purpose and place in the world.

If you’ve been a Christian your whole life, and if you’ve been a church-goer, or if you are checking out church and Jesus for the first time, the revolution begins when we realize, when we have the epiphany, when our eyes are opened and we finally get that church isn’t a building, or a meeting, or a denomination. It’s you, it’s me, and it’s us together. It’s flesh, and blood, and spirit. It’s you, giving your life to Jesus. It’s me giving my life to Jesus. It’s us living in Jesus, now living spiritually joined together, as one body. To call the church a building is as ridiculous as calling a person a 2x4. The church is organic, alive and growing; and the church is the hope of the world, the eternal, enduring body of Christ.

Last week I wanted to propose a way of being church together. We started with the affirmation that this is being the church. Gathering together in public to worship God by celebrating, sharing, singing, learning together. This has its origins in the OT temple worship, and it was in a public gathering that church was born. We are unapologetic about wanting the world to hear the best news we’ve ever heard, and more so, experienced, that God is love and send his Son so we can know life.

Being the church is something that has implications and ramifications for every single moment of our lives, every single thing we do, every word we say, every hope we hold, and every dream we have. I outlined for us what will be our guiding principles of Connection Groups- our gatherings in homes throughout the city: That we will gather around a common purpose, in a Common Place, and begin to see understand as sharing Common Possessions.

I have to tell you that I was freaked out about preaching that to you. That’s not comfortable Christianity. That’s not safe Faith. That’s not seeker sensitive. That’s Revolutionary. But the thing is, the more I read my bible, the more I study the life of Jesus, and the birth of the church, and the more I pray and ponder my own life, and what I’d like to be, and do, and how I’d even want to be remembered, I keep coming back to the revolution. I keep coming back to a place where I say I may not live up to it, I may be afraid of it, I may even fail at it, but I can’t deny that I long for it. No, I don’t just long for it. I ache for it. I ache for more of Jesus. I ache for a higher spiritual awareness and sensitivity. I ache for deeper community and connection.

I ache for a common purpose with the people around me. That we would come together around the bible, and around this man Jesus Christ, and that we would fall deeper and deeper in love with him, because he is amazing. And more and more I’m learning that outside of Jesus I don’t even know who I am; and the more I am in Jesus, the more power, the more purpose, the more joy, the more freedom, the more direction, the more peace, the more faith, the more hope, the more love I start to feel. Folks, there is no greater purpose in all of creation that we can gather around than Jesus; because Jesus says he is the way, the truth and the life. And the more I’m with him the more I experience he is the way and I don’t want to be lost, he is the truth and I don’t want to live a lie, he is the life and outside of him I am dead.

I ache for a Common Place. I want to call my neighbors by name. I want to know the streets in my neighborhood. I want to a place to call home and a place to belong. A psychologist tells the story of a young man he was counseling. The man came from a deeply religious family, but religious in pretty much every bad sense of the term. His parents divorced when he was young, and inadvertently, just because of their own issues and brokenness, his parents always made him feel that it was his fault that their marriage didn’t work. The young man entered into a string of failed relationships, failed studies, failed careers, and self-destructive behaviors. As the young man reflected on all his life, one of the breakthrough moments came when he said, “I guess I’ve just never had a place to call home.” We are working and praying to create a culture of “home” here. A place where people can belong.

Finally, and clearly most frighteningly, I ache for Common Possessions. Something in me, something in all of us, should look at the inequity of distribution of good in the world, that we would look at our own accumulation of stuff, that we would see how people, far too many people, and so self absorbed in their stuff that they are literally incapable of meaningful human relationships. That all of us would be better off if we loosened our grip on our stuff, and took hold of relationships. And folks, I’m not entirely clear on what all this means. But I do know this, giving people, generous people are happy people. I know rich people who are giving, I know poor people who are giving, and they are all happy. And I know possessive, hording, greedy people are unhappy people. I know greedy rich people who can’t enjoy their stuff. I know greedy poor people who can’t enough their lack of stuff. And in the end, it comes down to this, in the early church the people shared what they so that no one was in need. And I like the sounds of that- no one was in need.

Last week I ended with a plea- don’t rob yourself of the experience of real Christ-centered community. Don’t rob yourself of the opportunity to be around some people from this church, because I’m telling you that you will find people worth dying for here at Connections. I know that because you’ll find people here at connections. The greatest commandment is this: love God and love your neighbor as yourself, then all your neighbors are worth loving. Don’t rob yourself of the blessing of neighbors, and don’t rob others of the opportunity to get to know you and be blessed by you.

I want to pick up there, because I know that is a hard proposition for many. Which is harder for you to believe? That other people are worth being with, or that you are worth being with other people? Now of course I hope, and it would be awesome, if we were all right in the middle. IF we all saw the inherent, God given value and beauty in other people immediately. And, in the same glance, we would see ourselves as made in the image of God, persons of immense worth.

But what I have to suspect, is that there are some folks here who have been burned. You’ve been burned really bad. You’ve been burned really bad. You’ve had the. “George, I can’t tell you what I’ve gone through” things in your life. Some of you were abandoned by your parents. Actually, many of you were, so I’m not even singling any one person out. You were abandoned by a friend in your most needy time. Abandoned by a spouse when they found someone prettier. You have no idea what it’s like to have that experience of a home where trust, where love, where happiness, where laughter is the norm. You have no idea, and it breaks your heart, and it breaks my heart, and it breaks the heart of God, and you have suffered because of it. You have never been sure of other people. And now, as I’m getting all excited about a Wiii church Revolution, and experience of community, of connection, of church, where people are deeply invested into other people, you don’t trust it. You want to, but you can’t. You are, and this is not to be offense, it’s just the way it is, you are relationally retarded. Your relational growth has been stunted. What should be normal and come natural is anything but. The thought of moving from dependence on others, to your own independence, to your willing interdependence with others is a journey your not willing to take.

Some of you are at the other end of the spectrum, maybe because of a similar experience. Now, because you were abandoned, broken, beaten, abused, dissed, devalued, divorced, and distanced, you’ve taken those acts, you’ve taken those projections, and you’ve exchanged the truth of God for those lies. You’ve taken those lies and made them your reality, and now, now you think you have nothing of value to offer anyone. You really think that other people are better than you. You really think that you deserve the crap that people have thrown your way. So when I say don’t rob others of the gift of yourself, ha, that was just in one ear and out the other because you don’t think that you have anything to offer. And you think you are doing other a favor by not burdening them with your problems. Have you ever heard that? Oh, I don’t want to be a burden on anyone. What a cry for help.

I want to take a step back and go the beginning of all this being the church, the body of Christ. When Jesus was about thirty years old, he began his public ministry. Jesus had a cousin named John who many thought to be a prophet, and who in fact was, though he never claimed the title. John was called to prepare the way for Jesus. John started up a ministry along the Jordan River. He had a really good angle that seemed to strike a chord with a lot of people. He told them they were sinners and they needed to repent and be baptized. Jesus came to him to be baptized. John immediately protested, saying he needed to be baptized by Jesus, but Jesus insisted. He stepped into the Jordan River, came out, and immediately all the people heard a voice from heaven say this is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased. And they saw the Spirit of God, looking like a dove, come down from heaven, lighting in Jesus. Jesus left from there, experienced his 40-day temptation in the desert, and began his public ministry.

I tell you this, as you need to know this to understand the birth of the church. The book of Acts in the New Testament is short hand for the books of the Acts of the Church. It tells us the story of how the church came to be, it is also synonymously called the books of the acts of the Holy Spirit, because without the Holy Spirit, there is no church.

Acts picks up the story of Jesus where the gospels, MMLJ, leave off. Jesus was crucified, rose from the dead, and began to appear to the disciples over a period of forty days. The final time he appears to them he told them plainly, do not leave Jerusalem but wait until for the gift my Father has promised, which you’ve heard me talk about. And the gift is this- John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And when you do, you will receive power, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth! Then he was taken from them, up into the sky. Are you freaked out yet- you should be.

Ten days later they gathered for worship, because they didn’t really know what else to do. It happened to be the time of an ancient Jewish festival in Jerusalem, so thousands of people were in the city. When the disciples gathered, just as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and the bible says they began to speak in other languages.

Peter stood up and he preached to them. And he told them all about Jesus. And afterwards the people said what should we do, and Peter said you should believe. You should repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you, and your children, and for all who are far off- for all whom the Lord our God will call. 3000 people believed, and were baptized.

If you are here today, if you have been coming to Connections, listening and learning and hearing these stories of Jesus, then I have great news for you- the promise is for you, and for your children, and for all who are still far off. The promise is for all whom the Lord will call. And if you’re here, and if you can hear me, chances are pretty good, that you are called. If all this talk of a revolution of love resonates with you. If deep down you want to know the purpose of loving and living for Jesus. If you long for a place to belong. If you long to share your gifts with the world to make a difference, then there is one very clear next step that you need to take according to the bible-

Be baptized. The bible tells us that when belief begins to well up inside of us it is because we have been baptized by the Holy Spirit. Belief itself, faith itself, is a gift of God. It happens when his Spirit comes to us and calls to us, and in response we callout to Jesus.

Many of you have called out to Jesus in recent weeks. We think that this is the most awesome thing in the world. It is what we are about. And for those that have called out to Jesus the bible is very clear on what we should do next- be baptized. It is the outward expression of the inward reality that has changed out lives. Because we have been washed over by the Holy Spirit, we take a stand, and we tell the world, and we visually, publicly, openly enact what has happened.

Jesus commanded this. He told his followers all authority in heaven and in earth has been give to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Today I invite you, as we always do here at Connections, to call out to Jesus, to say Jesus, I believe, I can’t save myself, I’m sorry for my mistakes, take me, cleanse me, make me yours.

And for everyone who has called out to Jesus, or who is calling out right now, next week we want to baptize you. I have one guy lined up who wants to be baptized. But you don’t have to be lined up. You can simply come, and be baptized. The only prerequisite in the bible is belief, and water. When Peter preached at the birth of the church, when people were baptized with the Holy Spirit, 3000 people were spontaneously baptized. Because they were gathered in the temple it is very likely that what they did was to have people come to the fountain of ritual cleansing, which was the center piece of the temple courtyard, and the people would have had water poured over them to symbolize, to visual, to tangibly play out what happened in their souls, the cleansing of God.

When Philip shared the good new of Jesus with an Ethiopian Eunuch (someday I’m going to do a series on eunuchs in the bible), he believed, and was baptized. When Paul was in prison, and there was an earthquake, and when Paul and the believers didn’t escape, and the jailer was so astounded that he believed, the bible says that that very night, at midnight, he and his whole family were baptized.

And so we want to baptize everyone who wants to take this stand, make this profession, and honor what god has commanded. I don’t know if we’ll always do it the way we’re doing it next week, but we felt it was time to take this step. I meet with the mall to ask if we could use the fountain in the middle of the mall…and the said no. I still have a week- I’m gonna try one last time to change their minds. If they don’t, then I trust that this simple isn’t God’s plan.

What we are going to do is embrace the longest standing tradition in the Christian church- that is to offer in worship, on Sunday, the chance for you and your household to be baptized. If you are an adult who has not been baptized, you are invited to step forward and affirm two things- your repentance. And your turning to Jesus as your Lord. We will have a little pool here, you can take off your shoes, roll up your pants, or wear shorts, we will have towels here, we will drape it over your shoulders, you will bow your head in humility before God, and symbolically as you lay your life before him. I will pour water over your head to symbolize the forgiveness of sins by your heavenly Father, the washing away of your old life in Jesus Christ, and the filling of the Holy Spirit in new birth. You will stand up, and we will applaud and celebrate your life in God.

Likewise, if you are a household of faith, if you have a child whom you wish to know and love and live for the Lord, we will baptize your baby. If you are just not sure of the whole baptizing babies thing, we will likewise be equally honored to dedicate your child to the Lord. This is area where good Christian people come from different traditions, and we are happy to honor both traditions, as don’t see either as a doctrine to die for, and as long as you are happy to be a part of a church that is inclusive of both traditions.

And finally, we will offer baptism for anyone who wishes to publicly dedicate your life to Jesus. If you were baptized as a child, or if you have recently had re-birth kind of experience, we will do what is called affirming your baptism vows. If you are reaffirming your baptism we ask you the same things- that you once again turn from sin and turn to Jesus. And I even go this far, if you were baptized as an infant, and have no memory of it, I ask that you prayerfully consider that next week you will, for yourself, and to honor the promise that your parents claimed for you, experience the affirmation of your baptismal vows.

We only ask that everyone embraces and understands two things- first, baptism doesn’t save your soul. God does. Baptism won’t save your soul, or your baby’s soul. But then two, that for adults this enacts the baptism you have embraced in the Holy Spirit through belief, or the promise you claim for your household. That’s what Peter said on the day the first believers were baptized- this promise is for you, your children and for all whom the Lord will call.

Folks, this really is simple, and it really doesn’t save your soul, but it really is beautiful, and it really is biblical, and it really doesn’t have to be controversial. If you are an adult, claim the promise, and be baptized. If you have children, claim the promise and baptize them. If you come out of a tradition that does not baptize infants, then please dedicate your children to God, because Jesus did bless the children that were brought before him. And if you have never claimed that baptism for yourself, claim that promise for yourself, and affirm the vows. This is the greatest way to honor your baptism as an infant,

If you know you will participate in this next week, please let us know so we can prepare. And also next week, we will for the first time celebrate Communion. It’s going to be amazing. It’s going to rock your world, and it’s how we are going to cap off our Wiii Church series- by celebrating baptism, birth into the church, and celebrating communion, the feast of our Lord Jesus to nourish, sustain and empower all who call on him. It really is going to be life changing!