“What Does It Take?”

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3-9

For the next 5 weeks, I will be offering a series from 1 Peter which will focus on what the Church is all about, or rather what the Church should be about. All too often, some people inside the church, as well as most of those who are outside the church, have a mistaken concept of what this “faith-thing” is and how it is supposed to work.
I know – you are thinking that I started with “Church”, and then jumped quite suddenly to “Faith”. So which is it – will the messages be on the Church, or on faith? And my answer is “Yes”! The truth is that neither faith nor the Church can survive for long without the other, and neither will ever grow without the other. Most church members want to define that growth as an increase in church membership, but that is the last thing that our growth should be about.

From Homiletics OnLine:
We should not be concerned with making churches full of people, but with making people full of God.
- Homiletics OnLine
And that, I believe, is what Peter’s first epistle is all about – the business of the Church.

Read 1 Peter 1:3-5

My English teachers - Mrs. Huntington in particular - would not be very happy with this passage – all of them, from elementary school to college, would call it a “run on sentence”. But then, their primary concern would be with the structure of the words, and not as much with the content. The same is true with the church – the structure of the church - our administrative organization, and the order of our worship, and the hymns that we sing, and our doctrine, and our polity - are not our guiding principles. These are not what make us Christian. They are simply the ways that we celebrate and live out our Christian faith.
Peter is establishing the basis for the faith, not the structure, of the fledgling Church. So let’s take a look at what this disciple of Jesus Christ thought about faith.

Peter begins with praise, and not simply praise for the grandeur of Almighty God. As a matter of fact, it isn’t even singular in nature – his praise is multifaceted!
He begins by praising God as the Father of Jesus. The early church realized that, in all things, we had to begin with the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that comes after Jesus must come through him. In Matthew 16:13-20, Peter makes that grand statement of faith, proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and the Lord replies that this will be the foundation of his Church. Faith in him, not the structure.

The second praise is for our Father God’s great mercy. His blessings aren’t given out of obligation, or because of his perfect plan, or even because he knows it’s important. His blessings are offered out of his compassion and love for his created. God, and the Church, live mercy, not obligation.

Third, out of his great mercy, he has birthed us into a new and wonderful life in Christ. For Israel, it was your human birth that determined whether you were a member of the faith community or not, and it had little to do with what you believed or how you lived your life. For the Church, it was also about birth, but not in the conventional sense. It was about choosing the Source of the faith, Jesus Christ, and not the other way around. For Israel, it was about being born into the community, but for the Church, it was about leaving the old community behind so you could begin to live in a new way.
And in this new birth, there was also “new hope”. Hope was no longer earned and it could no longer be taken lightly – it came to us at a terrible price to God. Hope would now exist because of the great sacrifice of Christ on Calvary and his resurrection from the death that it produced. Our “new hope” would now come from the “new birth”, and this hope that lives in us gives new life to these mortal lives. The Church must live and proclaim complete “newness”, not just a makeover of the “old”.

Fourth, along with new birth and new hope, there would also be a new kind of inheritance. When we accept Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives, we enter into a new relationship, not just into a community - a life in Christ is a life in the “family” of God. And as with membership in any family, you qualify to receive an inheritance. But this one is unlike any that we will receive here on earth.
I have a few things that were my parents – a couple of Bibles and other books, some tools and utensils, a lot of pictures, and even a little money. But all of these things could disappear in a moment, and I could never replace them. But our Godly birthright can never be destroyed. Peter reminds us that it awaits us in heaven, and that it will never perish, never spoil, never fade, never be stolen. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus teaches us that the treasure of heaven, the new hope of life, is heaven based, and therefore the powers of earth can have no effect on them.

And fifth, the salvation that comes – the new life, new birth, new hope, new inheritance – is ours by faith in Jesus Christ. We can’t earn it, we don’t deserve it, we don’t get to define it, we can’t schedule it, it is nontransferable, and to be perfectly honest, we have a difficult time even describing it. But there it is – the gift of God for all who come to Christ in faith.

That is what the Church is about.

Read 1 Peter 1:6-9

The first part of this passage was about the blessings – the joys - that come to us from faith in Jesus Christ. The second is a little different – it’s about the refining, or strengthening, of the faith. Most people think that we are made better, made stronger, are proven in faith by the things we accomplish – our ministry, our missional efforts, our activity in the church. But Peter is telling us something totally different – that the power of our faith, the quality of the Church, is proven and made better by the ways we meet the struggles and trials, as well as the opportunities, that come our way.
But he also cautions us that the process of refining takes a daunting course. He compares the refining of faith with the refining of precious metals. It takes a lot of heat to separate out the impurities in metals, and Peter is telling us that the purifying of our faith, the power, the worthiness, the true value of our faith, is only proven when the going gets real tough. And when it does, how do we respond? Do we cut and run? Do we retreat and hide? Do we throw up our hands and surrender? Or do we stand and fight? Do we look to the Lord for a resolution? Do we continue to praise our Living Lord regardless of what is going on around us? The way we react to the attacks that come from the world is the proof of how strong and focused our faith is. And the stronger the faith, the stronger the church; the more we praise God in times of trial, the stronger the church; the more we give honor to Jesus when the world renews their criticism of us, the stronger the church.

Gordon Cosby, founder and pastor of the Church of our Savior in Washington, D.C., tells about preaching at a Lenten mid-week evening service somewhere in New England. The worship was particularly dull and uninspiring. Nobody sang the hymns; nobody smiled or reacted. The only thing that moved, he said, were the offering plates.
Afterward he and his wife were down, depressed. The church had reserved a room for them in a roadside inn, above a tavern. And they couldn't help compare the sounds of laughter, music and camaraderie beneath with the grim and lifeless exercise in religion they had experienced. He said, “I realized that there was more warmth and fellowship in that tavern than there was in the church. If Jesus of Nazareth had his choice he would probably have come to the tavern rather than to the church we visited.”
- Ernest Campbell, Locked in a Room With Open Doors (Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1974), 159).

How joy-filled is the church? How focused are we and what are we focused on? If Jesus walked through the front doors this morning, how would re respond? With joy? Surprise? Fright? Expectation? Would we continue with worship and not even notice him? With the above example before us, would Jesus even want to come to visit?

The Church is a power that the world doesn’t understand, and a power that most of us don’t fully comprehend, either. Today, we have only considered what our faith, within the context of the Church, is for our benefit, and we haven’t even begun to see what the Church can be and do for the world. But maybe we’ll get to that in a few weeks. For now, we see what the glory of Christ, the power of faith in him, what Christian newness and relationship is all about, and how faith works to the good of all who will turn their backs on the world and put their trust and life in Jesus.

What does it take to be the Church? It takes a dedicated faith and trust and commitment to Jesus Christ as our Head – no more and no less.

“Early to Bed, Early to Rise”

Scripture: John 20:1-18

By Resurrection morning, the faithful of Christ were totally confused. The previous week had been a rollercoaster of emotion – first the highs of the entry into Jerusalem, then the confusing actions and teaching of Jesus, then the way that he turned the Passover Seder all round until it was barely recognizable, the arrest, the trial, the beatings, and the crucifixion. They had spent Saturday locked away, struggling with an overwhelming fear that they would be next. They had hardly slept since Wednesday, and if the truth was known, they were afraid to fall asleep, for fear that someone would find them, and that the fate that Jesus suffered would become their own.

Life had been pretty good up until now, even with the strange new teachings that Jesus seemed to be focused on - but now? Nothing was good! Wasn’t Jesus really God? If so, how could he ever allow himself to be so abused and abased? Had these 3 years been a horrible dream or did they actually happen? Some of the followers had left town, seeking safety in faraway places; some had hidden out with friends; some had even retreated to the same upper room that they had used for the Passover meal, and locked the door as securely as they could. Would Sunday be any better than the last 3?

Sabbath was over, and the routine of every day work should be started, but what would their routine be from now on? Jesus had been their guide for 3 years, but now? No one knew. As the men began to stir that morning, there was no hint of breakfast being prepared for them, and then they would remember that the women had probably gotten up early to go to the tomb to finish the work they had begun on Friday. What horrible work to begin the week with! But it had to be done.

And then, the ugliness of the previous week began to raise its head again. The women came running into the house with unbelievable news. Jesus’ body has been stolen! How could this be? Didn’t Pilate post guards at the tomb to keep this very thing from happening? (Matthew 27:62-66) 2 of the men would race to the tomb, and would find nothing there except the grave cloths. The stone had been moved, the guards are gone, the body is gone – what next?

Jesus had been laid to rest just moments before Sabbath began on Friday, and before the darkness had lifted from the holy day, his holy slumber had ended. But what about Saturday – what about Sabbath? It was on the Sabbath that the tomb was sealed and the guards were posted, but what about Jesus? Why did he have to wait?
There is no definitive thought on the “what” or “why” of Saturday. Scripture doesn’t tell us of any Divine actions that day. Saturday seems to be a lost day. In our Thursday morning Bible study at Gibson Corners, we recently read a devotion prepared by Philip Yancey on the significance of Saturday.
He wrote:
Good Friday and Easter Sunday are perhaps the most significant days on the entire church calendar, and yet, in a real sense, we live our lives on Saturday, the day in between. .. Human history grinds on, between the time of promise and fulfillment. It’s Saturday on planet Earth; will Sunday ever come?
Nelson, Thomas, Jesus: Experience the Power and Meaning of Christ, Thomas Nelson, Inc., TN:Nashville, 2011, pg 327

For Israel, Sabbath existed from Friday at sunset until Saturday at sunset. It was a holy day - no work was to be undertaken, the only thing you were allowed to do is to provide for the most basic needs of your animals, and to worship God. That was it. Reflect on the scriptures, reflect on what God had been doing in your life, give him the praise and glory that was due him.
Ancient church tradition tells us that Saturday was the day that Jesus took our sins down into hell and left them there. Granted, there was a lot of sin to deal with, but would it really take God an entire day to deal with them? Wasn’t his death enough to put them away forever?
Personally, and I may be the only one who will tell you this, but I think it may be that Jesus was giving his followers a chance to reflect on the impact that his life had had on theirs, a day to remember all that had occurred in the past 3 years before the next step in their life with him would begin. Maybe, maybe not.

But the point is, what do the past 4 days mean to us? For the disciples and the other believers, they were facing one huge struggle piled on top of another, but then, even though the Lord had given them the entire scenario, they just didn’t get it yet.
For Jesus? I believe that it was a mixed bag – terrible pain, both physical and emotional, but there was also a joy in his knowing just what was to come of his sacrifice. Saturday, for Jesus at least, was a day of rest, reflecting on all that his ministry had taught and brought to the people of earth, and a time to consider how the Father’s plan of salvation was going to play out in his name.
But really - what are these days for us? Are they important to us, or do we simply see them as “in between days”?
Yancey continued in his devotion:
Perhaps that is why the authors of the Gospels devoted so much more space to Jesus’ last week than to the several weeks when he was making resurrection appearances. They knew that the history to follow would often resemble Saturday, the in-between day, more than Sunday, the day of rejoicing.
-Ibid

Jesus went to “bed” early on Friday night, and as soon as Sabbath was completed, he was up and out, beginning to work his plan for humanity once again. But the only one of those first followers to rise early on Sunday were Magdalene and the other women. They had a job to do, and what did it bring to them? They would receive the first glimpse of glory in action. Mary would remain behind at the tomb after Peter and John had left, and she would receive another blessing when she came face to face with the Resurrected Jesus.
She had gotten up early to complete a very unpleasant task, and would remain behind to mourn and ponder the events that were unfolding before her. And in her remaining at the tomb, the Lord would bless her beyond all measure. She wouldn’t know what life after Sunday would bring to her, but for now, she would know exactly what she had to do. She had to tell others that Jesus was alive – that he had risen just as he said he would!

For Mary and the others, Saturday, even though it was Sabbath, had been a lost day. I doubt that there was much worshiping for them - no praise of God, no honor was shown to their Lord, no celebration of his goodness.
What does Sabbath mean for the people of the 21st century? For many, Sunday, our Sabbath, is just a day to play or rest or watch the game on TV - and vegetate. We have lost sight of our relationship with the Lord, and instead of eagerly getting up early to see what he may have in store for us, we prefer to sleep in.

The Almighty has a plan in place for each and every one of us, whether we want to follow it or not. And it isn’t insignificant! Everything that God calls us to do has purpose and glory behind it. It’s a new day for us – a day when the Lord wants to reveal himself to us, a day when he wants us to introduce him to someone new.

In a classic study of evangelism in the early church, Michael Green observed:
“They made the grace of God credible by a society of love and mutual care which astonished the pagans and was recognized as something entirely new. It lent persuasiveness to their claim that the new age had dawned in Christ.”
--Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970).

It’s a new day, friends. The horrors of our past life, those years represented by Thursday and Friday, are behind us; the emptiness of our “lost” Saturday has been filled to overflowing with wonder and promise; and resurrection has become our song of praise. We must see every day as a day filled with possibilities – not the kind that the world looks for, but rather the ones that the Lord has prepared for us as we walk with him in faith.
And when we shift our vision from Friday and Saturday, and rest it squarely on Sunday, we will be up before dawn, too, just as Mary was. And when we rise up early to set our sights on him, the Lord will reveal something new and amazing for our life!

“What Is To Come, Must Come”

Scripture Text: Exodus 12:3-14

Read Exodus 12:3-7

Today is Holy Thursday, and while our text is about Passover, I believe that they are inseparable. Passover is about a lamb that is without blemish, without fault, that had to be sacrificed, and whose blood would be spread on the entrance to the homes to signify that God’s people lived here and that death was to pass them by.
Passover would become a time of remembrance of God’s grace that survives even to today.
And, of course, Jesus would become, for us, the Lamb of God, who would be sacrificed on the altar of the world, and whose blood is spread, figuratively, on the lives of his followers, so that spiritual death will pass over them. This holy week, a week of remembrance, reminds us of the very great love that God has for each of us.

But for Jesus’ disciples, this day, while it would begin as a day of joyful celebration of Passover, would quickly become a day of confusion, a day of fear, a day of hopelessness. Jesus had told them over and over that he was destined to die, but that he would be raised from that death into new life. He would tell them how he would die, he would tell them why he must die, he would tell them that, even in his death, they would turn away from him.
But they didn’t understand, and to be perfectly honest, they thought that it all could be prevented, that their Lord could turn away from this terrible eventuality.

Read Exodus 12:8-11

Not only was there to be a sacrifice, not only was the doorframe to be “washed” with the blood of the lamb, but it was to be a festive occasion. Lambs were a costly commodity and weren’t normally a routine meal. This would be a special time for Israel, and before the night was over, it would become a frightening experience. They were going to see the full power of God at work, and for the Egyptians and their animals, it would not be a pretty sight. Death would be God’s final sentence on Egypt and all that they prized. The plagues of blood and frogs and gnats and flies wasn’t sever enough. The death of their livestock but the sparing of all that was Israel’s, the festering boils, thunder and lightning and hail that destroyed their crops, the locust, the three days of darkness that only blinded the Egyptians – none of it would sufficiently impress them with the power of God’s request to free his people. So there would be one more plague that would be sufficient – one that would touch every person in Egypt.

But there were some of the plagues that would not strike Israel - the flies, the death of the animals, the boils, the hail, and the darkness – by God’s very word, Israel escaped the onslaught of these. But this final plague – the death of the first born – could only be restricted by the blood and the faithfulness of the people. Sacrifice the lamb, spread the blood, roast the meat with bitter herbs, bake bread but don’t use yeast or any other leavening, eat it in a hurry, and be prepared to run! Strange words, but in faith, the people did just that, and they were spared.

Read Exodus 12:11-14

The final plague came, and Israel was not touched by the death. Why wasn’t the memory of God’s great act enough to convince the disciples and the entire world that the Lord can do all things through faith? They could only focus on the prophecy of death, and would completely ignore the words that proclaimed a new and glorious life. But they would have understood, if they had only considered the implication of the celebration that they were about to enter.

Accept the sacrifice, spread the blood, eat the flesh and leave none behind, and prepare your lives to leave all that you have known behind and strike out in the new direction that God will give you. Passover was about a death that wasn’t deserved, and had no purpose other than it would preserve the life of countless thousands of Israelites. Jesus had tried to tell them, in so many different ways, that he was doing this for them – that his death would guarantee eternal life for countless millions and even more. But unlike the death of the Passover lamb, the death that claimed Jesus would be defeated - Jesus would rise from the dead into a new life, so that he could welcome all who believed in him.

For God, and for us, there was no other way. In Genesis 15, God makes a covenant with Abraham, that he will be the father of many nations, that his descendants will be more numerous than the stars in the sky. And to seal the covenant - the promise - Abraham is told to bring 3 animals and 2 birds as a sacrifice, and to guarantee the covenant, Abraham would see a smoking pot and a blazing torch that would pass between the pieces of the sacrifice.
The passing through the sacrifice, walking in the blood, if you will, meant that if the covenant was ever broken, someone would have to die if the covenant was to be restored. The torch and pot would signify God, and that the healing of the broken relationship would be by the blood sacrifice of God Himself. I expect that the significance was not lost on Abraham at the time, but human memory is not perfect, and Abraham, and all who would come from his line, would forget the Lord’s promise, and would believe that the burden of sacrifice must be on our own shoulders.

Jesus came, not to just be our God, but to be the sacrifice that would heal the Divine bond that we have broken. He would become the Pascal Lamb who would be given up, the blood sacrifice that would be spread on our lives, the feast that would nourish our new life, the very sign that we are ones who live in Christ, and that death can have no hold on us.

But from the days of the disciples until today, people have never seen the sense of this. Why should God have to pay the penalty for what we have done, why should we be restored to God’s love simply by claiming the fact that Jesus has been our healing sacrifice, why shouldn’t we be held responsible for earning the right to regain our eternal relationship? The truth is that it is God’s covenant, that it is his Divine Word that has set it all in place, and even though the Lord has never failed us in the relationship, and while we are the true culprits of sin, the relationship that the Lord created can only be healed by him. We have done nothing to ratify the promise, and we can do nothing to set it right again. Only God can do that – there is no other way.

Even Peter thought that the death of his master could, and should, be avoided, but Jesus would set him right with the words “You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:21-23) Peter, like many others, could only see the ways of humanity, and he was blind to the things of God. But Jesus was telling him that “the things of God” were about to be revealed, and there was nothing that the forces of heaven or hell or earth could do to stop it.
For God, there was no other way, and in the infinite love that he has for you and me, he became our Passover Lamb – a sacrifice that was so perfect – so complete - that it would never have to be made again.

And so, we celebrate the great gift of Jesus, and know that life in him has come from him, and that there is nothing that we can do to earn it, or create it, or strengthen it, or renew it.

Today, we remember that Jesus is not only Passover, but he is also resurrection, and he is new life.
Today is the day when we remember that it was Jesus who would put all things right.
Praise the Lord.

“The Obedient Servant”

Scripture: Philippians 2:1-11

Today is Palm Sunday – the day we celebrate Jesus’ return to Jerusalem from his ministry in the Galilee. We remember the donkey he would ride, we remember the palms that were waved, we remember the hosannas that were shouted (Matthew 21:1-11), but how often do we remember the tears that the Lord shed as he slowly worked his way down from the Mount of Olives and back up to the gates of the City? (Luke 19:41) – “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it”.) With all of the joyful shouts, with all of the exaltation and adoration that was being heaped upon him, why would Jesus express such sorrow?
The Lord had come to offer peace to the people of Israel, and the offer had been declined. He knew what would soon come to the people – that in less than 50 years, a revolt would be violently put down, the city would be destroyed, the temple would be leveled, and the people would suffer in unspeakable ways. The peace that he had brought for Israel could have prevented the coming devastation of the nation – could have prevented the eternal destruction of souls - but now it was too late. The only thing left to do would be the very thing that his followers never understood. He had told them over and over that he would have to die, and the time was drawing near.

A rabbi by the name of Harold Hushner wrote:
I was sitting on a beach one summer day, watching two children, a boy and a girl, playing in the sand. They were hard at work, by the water's edge, building an elaborate sand castle with gates and towers and moats and internal passages. Just when they had nearly finished their project, a big wave came along and knocked it down, reducing it to a heap of wet sand. I expected the children to burst into tears, devastated by what had happened to all their hard work. But they surprised me.
\Instead, they ran up the shore away from the water, laughing and holding hands, and sat down to build another castle. I realized that they had taught me an important lesson. All the things in our lives, all the complicated structures we spend so much time and energy creating, are built on sand. Only our relationships to other people endure. Sooner or later, the wave will come along and knock down what we have worked so hard to build up. When that happens, only the person who has somebody's hand to hold will be able to laugh.
-Rabbi Harold S. Hushner, quoted in Kindred Spirits: Meditations on Family and Friends, eds. Claudia Karabaic Sargent and Peg Street (Viking Studio Books, 1995).

Jesus had offered his hand of friendship to people throughout the world, but for some reason, most have preferred to try to make their relationships difficult and complex, or contingent upon some unreal expectation, or demanding with consequence. Jesus wanted it to simply be a peaceful, loving experience for us all, but it just doesn’t make sense to the world.
The Lord knew exactly how it would go, but he came to teach and heal and reveal just the same. Obedient to the Divine Plan, obedient to the Holy Will, obedient in the hope for each and every one of us.

Read Philippians 2:1-4

The truth is that Jesus simply didn’t fit the image that Israel had of God. The words we just read are fine for humanity – love, fellowship, tenderness and compassion – those are good traits for every Christian. But traits for God? Hardly! God is supposed to be powerful, judgmental, demanding, strict. But loving? Tender? Compassionate? Humble? Peace loving? A servant’s for heart? You’ve got to be kidding! NEVER! Jesus could have made great in-roads into Jewish faith if he had just taken on the image that they were prepared to see, if he had just been willing to let them continue to seek salvation through the law and to make that way effective, if he would but remain aloof from the masses, if he would just act and look like their God should.

But if we are to be encouraged in our relationship with God, and that is one huge “if”, isn’t it, we have to be like God, and in his way. It’s not so much about the things we do, but more importantly about our attitude in doing them. In Micah 6:8, God affirms that very thing. We aren’t to think about and talk about justice – we are to be just in all that we do. We aren’t to simply be merciful toward others – we are to love the mercy we show. We aren’t to simply walk the path that God has laid out for us – we are to set our arrogance and pride aside so that we can walk with him in a humble way.
Jesus gave us every example that we will ever need, and it leads us into an arm-in-arm relationship, not one that demands subservience. Jesus was completely obedient to the plan for salvation, and never even once would he deviate from the path that it would have to take.

Read Philippians 2:5-8

Paul begins this passage with the thought that it truly is about our attitude. Are you a disciple of Christ? Is your life and his inexplicably tied together? If it is, then act like it! If we are to be seen as one in the Lord, then we also must have the same attitude that he had.
You may be wondering why this is such an important concept. First, it’s about the relationship. We all know the old saying “Opposites attract.” As convinced as I am that that isn’t always true in our human relationships, I’m even more convinced that it isn’t true in our relationship with God. Being the opposite of God is the very reason that Jesus had to come to earth! We were drowning in our own “difference”, and there was no way out. Christ’s way is the only way. And second, if we want others to see Christ in us, if we want others to come to his way, then we had better be showing him in his truth, not in our desires! We are to be just as obedient to Jesus as he was to the Father. It’s all about the attitude.

So let’s consider, for just a moment, what obedience to the plan of salvation would require of Jesus.
1. Jesus’ very nature was that of God. He is eternal in existence, infinite in wisdom, all powerful, perfect in every way, and worthy of praise from all of creation. Remember that this is the very thing that the Satan aspired to, as did Adam, and as has humanity since the time of creation. Everyone wants to be like God, and yet, Jesus did not consider these attributes as something that he must hold on to. He would be willing to set them aside so that he might be faithful to us.
2. The infinite God chose to become nothing. He was not forced into this assignment – it was his will to do it. He placed his glory on hold so that he could take on the human image – imperfect in body, limited in ability, filled with emotion, and susceptible to pain and injury and death. And what would he gain from it? Everything that was needed, and everything that he wanted.
3. Eternal and unbounded God set it all aside and took on the form of a man. And why would he do that? God can’t suffer. God can’t die. Only a created being can do that, and without his human form, Jesus could never have given us his all at Calvary.
Jesus gave up every one of his Divine attributes, but he never gave up his Divinity. Jesus took on the characteristics of a human being, but he never gave up being God. The New Interpreter’s Bible says “it is in his self-emptying and his humiliation that he reveals what God is like, and it is in his taking on the form of a slave that we see ‘the form of God’”. Obedience to the plan has not demeaned God, but rather has revealed all that God truly is. In John 14:7, Jesus says “If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Read Philippians 2:9-11

Because of Jesus’ obedience to humility, and servant hood, and the Godly love for all of his created beings, his has become the name that is greater than any other name that has ever been given. From the humble to the superlative! Glory is once again his mantle; Eternity has been reclaimed; “Worthy is the Lamb” has again become the song of the ages; and all will know exactly who he is and will acknowledge him as Lord.
But for many, the opening of their eyes will come too late. They will see “Glory”, they will understand eternity, they will try to sing the song, and will even proclaim that Jesus is Lord, but the time for choosing to follow Jesus will have passed. Jesus was obedient for us, but our obedience will always be in question.

Remember the three parts of the Great Commission? (Matthew 28:18-20) First, make disciples of all nations – bring others to Christ. Then baptize them in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – mark them as belonging to Christ. And finally, teach them to obey his commandments – this is our obedience to Christ.

Our obedience will never be perfect, but that doesn’t mean we should quit trying! Jesus knows our struggle; he knows our oppression; he knows our persecution; he knows our need of him. Why do you think he wept over Jerusalem as he journeyed down those steep slopes from the Mount of Olives, into the Kidron valley, and up through the Golden Gate - his gate of destiny? For his own benefit? Never! It would be the only possible recourse that God could take to satisfy our great need for salvation. Obedient to an overwhelming love for you and me, and a servant to the very nature of God – that is what would lead him through the Hosannas, and over the palm branches, and onto the cross.

“The Conflict of the Law”

Scripture: Romans 7:7-25

Life is full of conflict. We see it living in the news nearly every day. Divorce, murder, war, hatred, divisiveness, as well as the general and all too obvious death spiral of unity. Government seems to always function in conflict; business competition is often founded in conflict; conflict is even alive and well within the church! And the problem, as I see it, is two-fold: first, we sometimes make very little effort to fully understand the opposite point of view, and second, we always seem to believe that our way is the best way, regardless of whether it is right or wrong.
And when this “attitude of self-centeredness” enters the church, it can tear congregations apart. It’s true – it’s happened before and will happen again! We have a tendency to be self-centered, when we should be focused on being Christ-centered. We want faith to be easy and clean and straightforward, and when it isn’t, we try to force-fit it into our imperfect mold.

Pastor Jim Benedict wrote:
We want Jesus to be a certain way. We want God to solve our problems as we perceive them, in the way we think is best. We want Jesus to be the champion of our causes, whatever they may be. We want God to take our side in every conflict, from family squabbles to football games to international politics. And when things don't go our way, we are quick to conclude that God or Jesus has let us down.

But the Palm Sunday story should remind us that this is not how it works. Jesus will not simply step in to champion our causes any more than he would champion the cause of Jewish independence two thousand years ago. Jesus on a donkey's back was a sign and we ought to take heed.
Jesus is not interested in our agenda; Jesus has his own agenda.
--Jim Benedict, "Not what we had in mind," Union Bridge Church of the Brethren website, April 1, 2012. cob-net.org.

Palm Sunday is rapidly approaching, and so is the conclusion of our journey in Romans. You may have noticed that the focus these past 5 weeks has been about sin - what it does to us and what God has already done about it. And sin has brought a conflict into our lives – a three-way conflict that exists between the law of God, the standards of the world, and our faith in Jesus Christ.
In our shattered and hopeless and confused state, God created a new and simple covenant – a new relationship – for us, but we have not only ignored it, we have broken it. Our sin is all about death, and for some strange reason, humanity seems to prefer that outcome to the one of Life that Jesus offers. We think that our goodness is sufficient, that keeping a portion of the rules of civility will be enough, but Paul has been diligent in dispelling that myth. He writes that the law offers us no hope whatsoever. And the world stands back and chuckles at our uncertainty – which is it? Covenant or Law? Do we even have a clue?
Today, the apostle brings a different perspective to the law – that maybe it isn’t useless after all, and maybe it really does fit with faith.

Read Romans 7:7-12

How can we possibly understand the difference between right and wrong if we don’t have rules? The truth is that we can’t! But that doesn’t mean that we will like them, or even that we will follow them, because we see rules as necessary for others, and not so much for us. The problem with rules is that they need to have a universal application – whether they are family rules, governmental rules, or rules of faith. We want to believe that we are basically good, and that our goodness is adequate justification for all the bad things we do in life. But as Paul writes in verse 11, sin deceives us into thinking that it is perfectly “legal”, even as it draws us into a verdict of DEATH.
So, rules are important – not just for a few, but for all. Paul says that the law itself is good, because it sets the boundary between good and evil - it establishes the line that separates right from wrong, good from bad, life from death. Observance of the law doesn’t make us righteous, though, but it does set the standard for what a righteous life must look like. James 2:26 tells us that “As the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is also dead.” It’s all about being saved by grace, and living as though it really means something!

But Paul is also telling us that even though the law is “holy, righteous and good”, it only establishes the boundaries that delineate goodness versus evil in our life. And when we begin to see the law, we suddenly discover that, because of the law, we now have to see ourselves as sinful beings. But the law, though impotent in salvation, is not the source of our problem. It is merely the conduit that sin takes to flow into our lives.

Read Romans 7:13-20

This passage is bordering on being a tongue twister! In 6 verses, I counted 21 “do’s”, “doing”, and “does”! But let me try to boil the message down to a few words – “I know what I should and should not be doing, but my very nature seems to lead me to do just the opposite! And it is all due to the sin that is in me.”
When I was growing up, my buddy Wayne and I used to go fishing down at the Apalachin Creek. We never caught much, but I guess my folks figured that it was a good way to keep us both out of trouble. UNTIL, that is, the day came when they told me that the creek was OK, but that I should never go to the river to fish. The river had never entered my mind, as it was about a mile away, and even if we followed the creek, which would knock off some of the distance, it still wouldn’t be a very easy trip.
But you know exactly what happened next. The next fishing excursion that Wayne and I took found us making our way to the Susquehanna! We followed the creek so we wouldn’t be seen, and with the route that we had to take to get around bends and heavy brush, the trip took longer than usual, and when I was asked about the extra time that we were gone, I made up some excuse, and that seemed to suffice. I don’t know if Mom and Dad ever suspected where we had gone, but they never let on if they did. I think that this was our first and last trip to the river – the creek was good enough!

That is what Paul was saying. Life was good until he began to understand what the law was really requiring of him, and then sin laid hold of him, and it was all downhill from there. In verse 15, he writes that he doesn’t “understand what he does”, implying that his sin is inadvertent. If that is the case, then sin is certainly to blame. But in verse 20 he writes – “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” Now here, personally, I think Paul is copping out. If you do what you know is wrong, then fault has returned to you. “It’s not my fault – the devil made me do it!” We all laughed when Flip Wilson used that line, but when Paul says it, we all just nod our heads in agreement, and go on our merry way.
It may be true that it is sin that tempts us to do those things, but here is where “free will” comes in to play again. We have the will to say “no” to sin! We can no longer afford to simply blame our sinful ways on Satan – we have the opportunity to do what is right, even though we have a tendency to do the other. This is about the only time that you will ever hear me disagree with Paul, so mark this day well, and remember that we have the ability and obligation to “Just say no!” to sin. No, it isn’t easy, but do you think the Spirit will help us? You had better believe it!

Read Romans 7:21-25

And, in faith, guilt over our succumbing to the allure of sin will haunt us for the rest of our lives. But there is hope! Jesus is always there for us, whether we are in sin or in righteousness. He will be the one who reminds us of the errors of our ways, and he will be the one who rejoices when we make the right choice in him. God’s ways are always appealing, but the call of the “forbidden fruit” is very strong, too. We make a conscious choice to be a servant of the Most High God, even while our sinful nature is urging us to make concessions in our service.
It may be a comfort to know that the great apostle Paul struggled with sin in his day, just as we do in ours, but it is no excuse for us to let down our guard. Jesus gave up his life at Calvary so that we might be freed from the ravages of sin. But we also need to remember that he also spent 3 years of that life teaching us the better way to live. What will it be – a wretched life in sin, or a righteous life in Christ?

Just say no to sin, and not only will your righteous life will be fulfilled, but the conflict will evaporate, too.