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Baptism of Repentance

The year is roughly around 29AD. In the mighty Roman Empire, ruled by kings and tetrarchs and governors, the word of God comes to Zechariah in the wilderness. The son of a priest, yet disconnected from the priestly aristocracy, John’s appearance in the wilderness, bears more consistency to the prophetic heritage of Israel. In other words, John appears not as a priest to mediate between the people and God, but as a prophet with a message to proclaim. Whereas the other Gospel writers comment on on John’s unique appearance, his garb and interesting diet, Luke’s interest is solely on the message John came to proclaim. Now we already understand some things about John:
• John’s Message Was Divinely Inspired: It was prophesied by the angle Gabriel that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.
• John’s Ministry Was Prophetically Foretold: The quotation Isaiah 40:3-5 is underscored so that we understand John’s ministry as continuing the promise-plan of God.
• John’s Motive Was Preparatory: John was to prepare people to meet the Lord.
John’s Method Was Unique: There is conjecture regarding the nature of John’s baptism and its relation to other ceremonial or initiation rites of the Jews.  The latest scholarship indicates that method of baptism John was instituting was an entirely new thing, a prophetic picture of each individual immersing themselves in the wilderness through the Jordan river, each person going through their own individual exodus from sin. John’s baptism falls within the prophetic traditions where external acts actualize mental decisions. Whether John’s baptism was unique or not, his message was powerful: To Prepare People to Receive Salvation Through the Process of Repentance. 

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Jesus Comes of Age

It is interesting to us that the Bible doesn’t record a lot about Jesus’ childhood.  The period of time before he started his ministry at around the age of thirty remains a mystery to us. There are some extra-Biblical texts that describe Jesus’ childhood, but these are all considered to be the product of overactive imaginations rather than reliable accounts of Jesus’ youth. 

Luke does not, like Matthew, record the flight into Egypt away from Herod the king who sought to kill the child. Luke tells the story of Jesus through geography and has centered these opening chapters in Judea – predominantly in Jerusalem, and in Galilee, namely Nazareth. These two cities are actually going to feature significantly in the heart of the book explaining Jesus’ mission, so Luke doesn’t muddle the geography or the message of the book by including the journey to and from Egypt.  Thus, in Luke 2:39, And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. Luke simply streamlines the story.

The only recorded story in any of the gospels about Jesus’ childhood is found in Luke Chapter 2.  In this story, a twelve-year-old Jesus seeks to understand more of his Heavenly Father’s will for his life, while his earthly parents struggle with giving their child completely over to God. It is these relationships that we will focus on today as we study this passage.

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Jesus is the Savior

[Audio Link at Bottow]

Intro: I have a picture of my brother and I at Disney world. I don’t remember going to Disney world, I only know I was there because I have a picture. I remember finding this picture and asking my mom about it – what other cool stuff did they do before I was old enough to remember? Jesus may have felt similarly as he first heard of the story we’re going to be looking at today, the account of his presentation in the temple when he was about 6 weeks old. A baby dedication is a significant event in the family. Yet, as significant this event was in his family, we will see that God broke interrupted that occasion to announce in greater detail than we have seen before in Luke the significance of Jesus, not merely to this peasant family, but to all in Israel and even beyond, to the whole world. 

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Worst. Launch. Ever.

Today we are going to be looking at Luke 2, the story of the birth of Jesus.  Usually this passage is read and preached at, obviously, Christmas.  It’s kind of nice to preach it a bit earlier this year, and without the distraction of preaching it on Christmas Eve perspective, maybe we can see some things in this passage that we wouldn’t ordinarily see.  
So instead of preaching this passage with Christmas in mind, I guess that I’m looking at it through the lens of another Holiday that my country is currently celebrating – no not thanksgiving.  I’m speaking of course of Black Friday. The weekend of sales. Products to be purchased. Tis the season for marketers and product strategists. Already this fall we’ve seen some high profile product launches.  The iPad mini. Windows 8. The Wii U. some of these product launches hit it out of the ballpark with consumers lining up on the day of release. Others products fail to register at all.  A great launch can make all of the difference.
Perhaps it would be fun this morning to approach this text through the eyes of a marketing expert, to evaluate the “product” launch of Jesus, Son of God, World’s Savior.  After all, God the Father had unlimited resources, personnel, and wisdom as to make the greatest product launch in history, and the product that he was launching was something that we all desperately need. If anyone could pull off the greatest product launch in history, don’t you think God could? And isn’t this what your non-Christian friends say they want – God, if He’s really there, to open heaven and announce his presence?  How does God do on his one chance to launch a truly revolutionary product?

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Defying Conventions

Defying Conventions: Conventions: A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms or criteria, often taking the form of a custom.

  • People can have family conventions.  We don’t start eating until everyone is seated. Dad sits in his chair. You call your sister every Sunday night. Siblings will be in the wedding party. Every one in the family has attended the same university. The oldest son takes over the family business.
  • We can also have cultural or community conventions. You’re born into this community or ethnic group and that will say a lot of the expectations put on your life. The holidays you’ll celebrate, when you’ll start engaging the opposite sex, the type and length of your education. Zechariah and Elizabeth were hitting up against a community convention – how to name a baby

Some people spend their life trying to keep conventions at all costs defending them.  They are the conservatives in a culture.  Some people try to break convention at all costs – they are the rebels. Zechariah and Elizabeth, up until this point seem to be the type of people that generally keep convention, yet that makes this break all the more shocking to their friends and neighbors. 

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Luke: Investigating the Virgin Conception

Luke doesn’t waste time in his gospel hitting the controversial issues. Last week we looked a bit at one of the most universal questions posed by man: “Why do the good suffer?” and today we’re hitting one of the most confounding and disputed miracles of the life of Christ, his virgin conception.

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Suffering Strengthens the Church

There are two and only two experiences in which the church shines.  When we come together in mission, and when we support one another in suffering.  Any other state than those two leads us to bickering and complaining, and trying to see our desires met over and against one another and politicing.  This makes people jaded and give up on the church.  But these two things fill us with wonder:
i. When the church moves forward in mission, and when we come together in one-mindedness.  This is the normal state of the church.
ii. Yet at times, the intense focus on mission is set aside, because we hav to rally around the suffering of one or more of our members.  This is an occasional reality of church life.  During these times it may not be beneficial to drive forward in mission.  

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Tolerance and the Gospel

[Audio Link at bottom]
Today, were going to focus on a topic that might just be the most central issue of our day as we seek the welfare of the city in the Canadian context: the issue of tolerance. My contention this morning is this: The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us True Tolerance
This is a very disputed contention. It is in fact routinely denied in our culture, which views the Christian faith with, at best, suspicion, and more commonly, derision. 
  • On March 9, CNN talk-show host Piers Morgan interviewed Pastor Mark Driscoll, a well-known Christian pastor.  “Interview” is a charitable word, as Morgan drilled Driscoll on the issue of tolerance, rarely allowing the pastor time to get a full answer out. “Do you think you're a tolerant type of guy?” Morgan asked, “Do you teach tolerance?” When Driscoll said that he preaches that we should love our neighbor, Morgan cut him off “But tolerance – tolerance in particular.” “Because, you know,” Morgan went on to say, “my — my view about this is — is not that I don’t respect Christians or Catholics or whoever who — who absolutely swear by every word in [the Bible]. It’s just that it’s — I just don’t believe anyone who is genuinely Christian should be spouting bigoted opinions about sections of the community for their sexuality … But I also think what is harming America right now, like many countries around the world, is just a fundamental lack of tolerance and respect for people who may not share your personal values.”
  • Morgan went on to suggest that the Bible must be dragged “kicking and screaming” into this age of tolerance. Google: religious, tolerance.  The first hit is the website for the Canadian grown religioustolerance.org, the Ontario Consultants of Religious Tolerance.  About the Bible and by extension Biblical Christianity they write that: ”an overall theme of the Bible is religious exclusivity and intolerance.” 
  • Maybe you’ve felt the pressure of trying to discern how to hold your Christian beliefs in environments increasingly hostile to the “intolerance” of our faith.  What did you do on the “Day of Pink”? What will you do this year? Has your campus group faced pressure to alter its charter? Has your work adopted policies and causes that leave you outside of the mainstream.  These things are happening more and more in Canada.
  • As Canada becomes more multicultural, tolerance becomes the only virtue left and therefore is championed more and more zealously. Tolerance has come to define what it means to be Canadian. For example, University of Ottawa Professor Leslie Armour writes, “Our idea is that to be a virtuous citizen is to be one who tolerates everything accept intolerance.”

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Charity and Bearing Burdens

We've spoken in general about good works and about being benefactor households.  Today, we’ll get a bit more specific and speak of charity. Charity: generosity and helpfulness especially toward the needy or suffering; also : aid given to those in need. (Merriam-Webster).
My primary text this morning if Galatians 6:7-10:
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

• Charity is the duty of every Christian and, by extension, every Christian Church.
• Charity is extended first to the household of God.
• Charity extends beyond the household of God through relationships.
• Charity bears others burdens without taking responsibility off of the recipient.

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Strategic Singleness

Benefactor households: 
• What is the place of single adults in the household of God? (last week)
o The physically or mentally deformed.
o Those with indefinable gender, or gender issues. In about 1 in 4500 births the baby is born with amibuous genitalia which make it unclear as to whether the baby is a girl or a boy.
o Those with no attraction to the opposite gender (homosexuals and asexuals)
o The divorced that find themselves disqualified for remarriage according to Biblical guidelines.
o Single, though married.
o Those who have advanced passed the age in which they consider themselves to be “on the market” – widows who will not remarry
o Those who choose to forsake marriage for spiritual reasons relating to their calling.
• How might single adults have a particular part to play in seeking the welfare of the city? (this week)

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