As Peter watched the Lord bend down to wash the other disciples’ feet, something within him rejected the idea. I believe that it was Peter’s pride that would not allow the Lord to touch him. Although I do not know from the text precisely in what way Peter’s pride kept him from allowing Jesus to touch him, I have observed four different types of pride that often keep people from bringing our sinfulness to Jesus to be cleansed.
The Gospel of John was written to persuade people to believe in Jesus as their Lord and God, and thereby receive eternal life. Yet as we have gone through John’s gospel, I intentionally skipped over a major section. I did so, because this section is not directly connected to the theme of bringing the reader to faith in Christ, but stands out as Jesus’ last words to the group of people who did believe in Him, his disciples. As a Christian, as someone who has already come to faith in Christ, these chapters should stand out to us apart from the rest of the book. In these chapters, Jesus is getting ready to leave, to return to the Father, and he is giving us instructions of how to reach him while he’s gone. These chapters speak of a surprising intimacy that Jesus expects us to share with him, even while he’s away. I say surprising, because it is a problem each of us has probably wrestled with at some time – how do I have an intimate relationship with a guy who lived 200 years ago and is invisible now? Yet in these chapters Jesus assumes that it is not only possible, but something we are to foster if we are to live vibrant, fruitful and joyful Christian lives.
I guess I always get the bad press. I’m the doubter. Did you know I’m even in the dictionary? Doubting Thomas: "one who habitually or instinctively doubts or questions." How original. But come on. Would you have believed it? Seriously, would you have? Be honest. Your friends come to you and tell you that they’ve seen your friend, your teacher, who you saw put to death and buried with your own eyes, out of the tomb, walking around, alive. You’d be a bit skeptical too, wouldn’t you?
What do you think of Jesus? Many people, respecting that Jesus founded one of the world’s major belief systems, yet not completely comfortable with the Christian’s worship of him as God, try to find a safe middle ground when it comes to Jesus. He was a great teacher, they’ll say. He taught us how to live and the golden rule and all that, but he certainly wasn’t trying to get everyone to worship him as God. If we followed his teachings, then we’d see what a great man he was. Like Buddha or Martin Luther King. While I’m not going to say that I don’t think Jesus was a great man, it is important as we study the book of John to understand Jesus as he is presented. In chapters 5-11 of John’s gospel, the life of Jesus is presented through a series of miraculous events and interactions with crowds of people. In these 7 chapters, Jesus makes seven astonishing claims about himself, that we need to understand in order to gain perspective on the meaning of his life and his teachings.
One barrier that prohibits people from being able to see Jesus as John presents him is religion. I often meet people who describe themselves as recovering Catholics or recovering Baptists. For them, the religion of Christianity has left a bad taste in their mouth. They’ve been hurt. They’ve been let down. They don’t want to hear about Jesus and they definitely don’t want to hear a sales pitch. Sadly, the fact is that religion has killed their faith. The ironic thing is that if Jesus were talking to them, he’d say they are exactly right! Religion does kill faith. It does suck life out of you.
First impressions are so important. What has been the strangest way that you have ever been introduced? I remember when I was introduced to the entire town when Jean and I moved to Japan. They said they were excited that I was going to bring some of that “Texas Spirit” to them. The only problem? I’m not from Texas. I’m from Wisconsin – I had only lived in Texas for a short time before moving to Japan. I didn’t know whether I should just stop the Texas connection right there and embarrass my hosts for their mistake, or just play along with it and don a cowboy hat and a fake Texan accent for as long as we lived among them. I ultimately laughed it off afterward, and it wasn’t a big deal.
Today I want to introduce to you a new series I am hoping to begin. Since this summer, I’ve been wrestling with the question of what to do after we finished the book of 1 Corinthians. I’ve had a number of ideas as to where to go, and I even started working on a series preaching through our new EFCC statement of faith - I even sent out an email to the worship team telling them what to prepare for - but as I started writing that series, I realized my heart and my spirit weren’t in it. So I went back to prayer like a carpenter returns to his workbench, and I want to present to you this morning what came out of that struggle.
As we come together on this first weekend of 2009, I want to bring a message to you that has been growing on my heart particularly in the past three months, although it has been a work in progress over the past year and ½ that I have been with you. The ideas that I am going to share with you today are not my entirely my own to share. They have been developed through interaction with you, through understanding our history as a church, and through discussion with many of our key leaders. I hope that what I say today may help us to understand the challenges and opportunities we as a church face entering our 33rd year, and provide a starting point for dialogue at every level about how we can better fulfill our unique mission as a church.
It being the end of the year, it is natural and proper for us as a church to look back and reflect on the lessons that we have (or should have) learned over the past twelve months. This year we have looked at over 35 or so messages from the book of 1st Corinthians. It’s been quite an undertaking and I know that I could have taken much longer to get through the book (or maybe some of you wish I would have taken much quicker). That said, today I want to quickly review the entire book of 1st Corinthians and share with you thirteen of what to me were the most important lessons.
Every Christmas season carries its own mood. Some years are jubilant. Some carry with them great anticipation and excitement. Some Christmases are like an unopened present under the tree, mysterious and inviting. Some Christmases are peaceful, like softly falling snow the season quietly sneaks up on us.Some Christmases seem rushed, business and tinsel and lights and rushing around running errands.Some Christmases are loud! Some are more somber. One thing I try to do as a pastor is to try and discern the mood of Christmas and speak to that mood in my Christmas messages.
This year, I have taken the title for my sermon from last’s weeks #1 movie in North America, The Day the Earth Stood Stood Still.