For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:16)
The Church is supposed to be a signpost of hope to the world around us. As we enter the season of Advent, I want to end the year by reflecting on perhaps the most hopeful text in Scripture, John 3:16. And I want to focus on three words to see how they might speak to us and our current situation. First, the word “world” as in, “God so loved the world.” There are two significant things about it. One, “world” is the Greek word from which we get our word “cosmos.” This reminds us that the world God loves is more than just human beings. God cares for and delights in all His creation (Psalm 104:31). And so should we. Indeed, God created human beings to be stewards of the world God loves. Creation care is not just for environmentally conscious Christians, but it is God’s mandate for all of us who follow Jesus. Two, even when we understand “world” as being about human beings, it is a comprehensive word. The writer David Brooks has noted that our highly individualistic culture has led to an increasingly exclusive tribalism. Our world becomes defined, ever more narrowly, only by those who are part of our tribe. John 3:16 reminds us that God loves and cares about all the people on this planet and is at work creating an inclusive new human community: “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes.” (Revelation 7:9a). Second, the word, “gave” as in, “He gave His only Son.” In our generation, there’s considerable suspicion and cynicism about God. Even in Christian circles, we get the feeling that many are not entirely convinced about God’s goodness. This is not surprising. Human beings have always been tempted to doubt God’s generosity and goodness. That is at the root of the serpent’s argument in Genesis 3: “God is holding out on you; God really doesn’t want what’s best for you.” John 3:16 reminds us, as does the Advent season, that God gave the ultimate, most costly gift imaginable for our good. Abraham’s greatest test of faithfulness was his willingness to offer up his beloved son, Isaac. The story of Jesus reveals that God the Father demonstrates His own faithfulness by not only offering up but actually sacrificing “His only Son” for all our sake. No wonder the Apostle Paul writes, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31b-32). Finally, the word, “life” as in, “so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.” The temptation in the Genesis Garden reminds us that the fundamental question of human existence is whether we choose to trust in God’s goodness or not. If not, we choose a lie. If not, we choose an illusion. Since God alone is the source of all good, we cannot turn from God and expect to find something better. If we turn from the source of life, we are left with death. If we turn from the source of light, we find only darkness. If we turn from the source of love, we will know only fear. The most awesome aspect of human existence is that we have been given the freedom to make that choice. If we do trust in God’s goodness, supremely demonstrated in Jesus Christ, life as it was intended inevitably follows. As Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10). In that, Jesus echoes and fulfills what Moses said much earlier, “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). As Jesus’ followers, how can we be signposts of that life and hope in our generation? Thanksgiving Reflection (2 Corinthians 9:15) Many families have a common Thanksgiving tradition, maybe you have done this as well: you go around the table and each person shares one thing they’re thankful for. Like you, families are thankful for spouses and kids, for new jobs and for health; we’re thankful for new babies celebrating their first Thanksgiving, and we’re thankful for another year with an aging family member; we’re thankful for a country with freedoms, and we’re thankful for a church that feels like family.
I think it’s a good tradition. Yet, there’s always one person who can’t take anything seriously (including this) and, yes, there’s always another person who takes everything way too seriously. Regardless of how you feel about this tradition, there is something powerful about group gratitude. Not only do we learn a little bit more about the people we’re related to by blood and marriage, but it also has the power to shift the dynamic in the room. Everyone stops. Everyone listens. Everyone shares in the thankfulness of the other. The Apostle Paul wrote this: “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15). We have a lot to be thankful for this year, and it is good and right for us to thank God for spouses, kids, jobs, and health. But when Paul says, “We thank God for his indescribable gift!” he’s talking about something specific. Actually, Someone specific. He isn’t thanking God for things (though he could, as he did in other places in the New Testament); rather he is thanking God for Jesus. To say it another way, Paul is thanking God for God. The greatest gift God has ever given the world was His Son, Jesus Christ – who was (and is) God in the flesh. This is what Christmas is really about: the idea that God became a man (this is what theologians call “the incarnation”). As C.S. Lewis put it in Mere Christianity, “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” And although Paul knew nothing of our American holiday on the fourth Thursday of November, I think it’s right for us to talk about Christmas at Thanksgiving. Not because we are trying to rush past this holiday and get on to the next; but because our gratitude on this holiday is informed by the next one. This Thanksgiving, I encourage you to thank God for all the people and things you can think of. Be specific in your gratitude; articulate and enumerate all of the blessings in your life, because “Every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17a). I also encourage you this Thanksgiving to thank God for God. Don’t just thank Him for what He’s given you; thank Him for who He is. The purpose of all these earthly blessings is not that we become infatuated with the gifts as ends in themselves, but rather to draw our eyes up to the Giver. He was the One who gave His Son so that you and I could be rescued from sin and restored to a reconciled relationship with Him. God did all of this to reach us. We have so much to be thankful for. A happy and blessed Thanksgiving to you and yours! Matthew 5:1-12
Sometimes theological statements in the Gospels look a little different in the three “synoptic” Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Jesus’s teaching about the Kingdom is given through parables, prophecies and sayings which are different to help us better understand. “Synoptic,” by the way, comes from the Greek word “synopsis” (which we still use to mean “a plot summary”). It means “seeing something all together,” and we use it for these three Gospels which share many stories and have a similar organization. The blessings in Matthew 5 isn’t the only Gospel where they appear. The address of Jesus in Luke 6:17 and following is often called the “Sermon on the Plain” because Jesus is speaking to the crowd, especially His disciples, from a “level place.” Like many good preachers, Jesus seems to have reused His stories sometimes. Luke 6:20-26 resembles the beginning of the more famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-12), with the notable addition of all those “woes,” of course. The Beatitudes (as this set of blessings has come to be known from their Latin translation) are, as people used to say, “downers.” They are not for those moments in life when we already feel “#blessed,” as the hashtag on Instagram has it. #blessed on Instagram is for the days when everything goes well, we get a new car or a promotion, or go on vacation in Rome. The Beatitudes are for those who are hungry, sad, persecuted, defamed, and poor. And they come with a deep promise that Christ will be faithful to us in those moments and that we stand in the same heritage as the prophets and martyrs. Instead, it is to those who are #blessed in the Instagram sense that Jesus’s prophesied woes come. If we are comfortable, happy, rich, and thought well of, maybe we should instead be using the hashtag #cursed. I need to say that this passage of Scripture has been abused to tell people that they can never enjoy anything about their life and they are only following God if they do painful and difficult things. We are sometimes called to the difficult and the dark, but we are also called to exercise the gifts God has given us and encouraged to joy and take delight in the Lord. But Jesus is still making a crucial point here. What makes us #blessed or #cursed is not money, fame, and a good reputation. How Jesus defined the words “blessed” and “cursed” run counter to how the world uses these words. The fact is, as Christians, we are all blessed: with the love of God the Father, with the salvation brought to us through the sacrifice of Jesus, with the power of the Holy Spirit, with the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. By all means, if you get the promotion, give thanks to the Lord. But if you don’t, give thanks to the Lord as well. Ask for wisdom, discernment, and strength, not more stuff. And don’t for a minute think that because you didn’t get something you wanted, you’re not blessed. Nothing could be further from the truth. What makes us #blessed is the presence of the Lord And in that, Jesus preaches in this sermon, we should rejoice. 1 Peter 2:9-10
Have you ever played with Legos before? Lego is the company that created building block sets allowing children and adults to build models of cars, buildings, artwork, and anything else a person can imagine. Each building set comes with individual block pieces of different sizes and shapes. Putting those different pieces together forms the overall final project. As a church, we are like a Lego model with each individual being put together by God to form the community of Christ. Working together and utilizing our particular gifts within the context of this community do we fulfill God’s design for us. In 1 Peter 2:9-10, we can see four aspects of how God has called us to be as His church. First, we are a chosen people. God has not just chosen us as individuals, but collectively as his body, we have been chosen. We have not been put here by accident but rather FECC has been chosen by God for His purposes in our communities. This gives us a greater meaning for our purpose here. Second, we are a royal priesthood. As priests, we have access to God and can approach Him in his throne room. We do not have to work through a mediator as the Israelites had to do in the Old Testament, but because of Jesus, we can now directly speak to God and hear from Him. Also, we approach God together as His church. We are formed by God in our gathering together. Third, we are a holy nation. Being holy means to be set apart. In our daily lives, we set aside nicer clothes for special occasions such as weddings. In the same way, we as a holy nation have been set aside by God for His special purposes. We have a unique calling as His church to be a blessing to our community. Lastly, we are God’s special possession. Together, God has special favor for us. We belong to God and are precious to Him. Not just as individuals but everyone in FECC who has been put here by God’s design. What God has built and continues to build is something he values greatly. What a precious invitation we have to participate in this community we call FECC! To see what God is building, we must make ourselves available to be plugged into His church as individual Lego pieces are plugged into the overall project. May we move from seeing ourselves only as individuals saved by God to a grander picture of God’s work in the community of faith and our participation and contribution to it! |
Archives
April 2024
Categories |