Moving into Deep Waters



The stories I shared this morning from our heritage are some of my favorites.  I especially love the B. F. Hall story about the freedom he found when he realized the connection between forgiveness of sins and baptism.  Through the years some of that joy became tainted as we failed to stay true to the second half of Thomas Campbell's famous motto: "We are silent where the Bible is silent."  When we strayed from our role as proclaimers of good news to become the judges of those who don't understand baptism exactly like us, the doctrine of baptism began to feel more like a burden than a blessing. 

As we are now rethinking some of our past teachings and practices, I find great encouragement from reading the stories of the frontier preachers and their earliest views on baptism.  Truly, they understand that God gave us baptism as a gift that we might know the assurance of salvation.    There is no need to struggle and cry out to God hoping that maybe he will forgive us.  Rather, we place all our assurance in the atoning blood of Jesus.  We are baptized in full assurance of faith that our past is forgiven, our future is assured and with confidence in the Holy Spirit we set forth to live the new life!

High and Holy Becomes Meek and Lowly

No matter how many times I've heard the "old, old story" I never cease to be amazed that God would humble himself to become one of us.  The complicated doctrine of the Trinity or the difficulty in explaining the Incarnation are nothing compared to comprehending why the High and Holy One would humble himself to the extent that he would suffer all the effects of the Fall.  He who had need of nothing made himself weak so that he might restore relationship with his sinful creatures. 

Some of the scriptures quoted in this morning's sermon spoke to the in incomprehensible concept of God becoming a human.  But, the most profound scripture I know is also the most simple: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. . ."  Karl Barth, a theologican one who had wrestled with many deep biblical concepts was supposed to have been asked the question, "What is the most profound thought you have ever encountered?"  His response, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

Who Am I?

As I pondered the sermon this week I kept thinking about the Casting Crown's song, Who Am I?  After reflecting on the question of self identity the chorus strings together a series of scriptural images regarding the brevity of life:

I am a flower quickly fading,

Here today and gone tomorrow,

A wave tossed in the ocean,

A vapor in the wind.

Considering the enormity of God (as I've attempted to do the past two weeks) indeed our years are just a passing breeze and our entire existence is as a speck of dust living on grain of sand in a universe beyond human comprehension.  AND YET, the Psalmist reminds us that we were created a little lower than the heavenly beings, crowned with glory and honor and made rulers of all things here on earth.  (Psalm 8:5ff)

The fact that sin has so contaminated us that our very nature now is sinful, has never changed God's view of our purpose and reason for existence.  Because of his great love for us he sent his son to cleanse us from sin that we might be an untarnished reflection of his image on earth.  Thus the second part of the Casting Crown's song reflects God's great concern for us:

Still you hear me when I'm calling,

Lord, you catch me when I'm falling,

And you've told me who I am.

I am yours.

I am yours.

 

Thank you Lord!  What a Savior!

We Believe in God

The shrinking YOU in this morning's sermon seemed to be the most memorable part of the lesson.  I know that was the part that most impacted me as I worked on the sermon this past week.  For those who did not hear the sermon, we noticed how the frame of reference in determining anything of significant value always begins with YOU.  But the further one moves back the smaller you become: family, church, city, country, nation, planet, galaxy, universe.  Above all the universe is God.  Contrasting the High and Holy One with a human being is like contrasting the vast expanse of ocean with a single drop of water (except that the drop of water is significantly bigger!). 

After the sermon someone commented that God even knows the number of hairs on our head.  Incredible!  He is so massively huge and yet so near and concerned about even the least significant human.  What a great God we serve! 

We Will Serve The Lord

People sometimes ask me how long it takes to write a sermon.  The answer for today's sermon would be 28 years (that's the age of our oldest child).  I was reluctant to preach on parenting when the children were small thinking that the ideal time would be when they were grown.  Now that my children are grown, and the world has changed so much, I'm thinking parents really need help from someone much more in touch with the challenges of today's technology. 

But I preached today's sermon knowing that the basics of parenting never change.  That's why I love Joshua's declaration so much, "As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."  No matter what age you live in, no matter what's going on in the culture around you, this is surely where godly parenting always begins. 

Today's sermon was not intended to be deep or profound.  I seriously doubt anyone learned anything they didn't already know.  I decided to combine movie clips with personal testimony to encourage parents to do what they already know to do but to do it with conviction and sacrificial leadership.  There is not a single sacrifice Liz and I made in raising our children that we regret.  The three word sermon outline of Time, Talk, and Walk was truly a statement of our priorities.  My prayer is that every Christian family might make them theirs as well.

My Faith Journey

It felt a little strange preaching a testimonial sermon.  It's not that I mind telling my faith story, it's just that it seems the sermon time should be built around a text of scripture with personal stories used as illustration.  I think it's fair to say that that should generally be true.  However, building the entire sermon around my story today seemed a fitting way to conclude the series. 

I was reminded of a poem I heard back in college: The Gospel According to You.  It made the point that people need to see the gospel at work when they examine your life.  God communicated through paper and ink to Israel, however, when God wanted to communicate at the deepest level he sent his message clothed in human flesh in the person of Jesus.  We need to teach and preach what God has give to us in written form, but for people to really catch the vision of what it means to be in relationship to God, they need to see Jesus living in us.  They need to hear our stories of struggle and growth.  They need to hear, not just how God worked in the life of Abraham, Joseph, and Saul of Tarsus; they need to know how he has changed your life and mine.  Now that you know my story; what's yours?

The Goal of Our Faith

In 2003 I preached a sermon similar to the one I presented this morning.  I used an object lesson in that sermon to illustrate putting "confidence in the flesh".  As I talked about things a modern Christian might point to to feel secure in their faith, I would pull out trophies and set them up on a table.  I mentioned boasting in one's heritage such as being "raised in the church" or having various families members in positions of church leadership.  Then I talked about feeling secure because of all the good things I've done in life such as being baptized, taking the Lord's Supper, reading the Bible, serving on a committee, and on and on.  I mentioned putting our faith in titles such as ministry leader, deacon, or elder.  I saved the largest trophy for the last title I mentioned: preacher!  By that point the table was overflowing with trophies. 

I then brought a trash can on stage and began to put all the trophies in the trash. This was in keeping with Paul's saying that he considered all the things he formerly put confidence in to be skubala, translated garbage or dung.  At the end of that sermon we sang "The Old Rugged Cross" and I pointed out the verse that says, "I'll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down." 

I decided not to use the illustration this week since I think our church is in a different place than we were in 2003.  I find in my preaching now I spend less time talking about some of our past legalisms and more time giving a positive focus to what it means to follow Jesus.  Thus, today's sermon was on the resurrection power available to us as we share in Christ's sufferings and death.  The cross the is ultimate object lesson.  How appropriate that it hangs above and behind the pulpit where I preach each week.  May every sermon point us to the cross of Christ.

"I want to know Christ--yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead." (Phillipains 3:10-11)