iDoubt: Questions about Faith- Is Baptism mandatory for Salvation or is it simply a public declaration

So we are on our third week and our third question in our iDoubt: Questions about Faith series. We have covered the questions: “What does it mean to be a disciple?” and “What is Salvation and Can you lose it?” Today we tackle the question, “Is Baptism mandatory for salvation or is it simply a public declaration?” We’ll find out that again this question is strongly tied into our discussion about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, to follow him with your life and not just a mental ascent to a series of propositional truth phrases. That is why we began our series seeking to wrestle to the ground the concept of being a disciple of Jesus, and then seeking to answer the questions based on the dialogue and discussion around discipleship.

So the question for today again is “Is Baptism mandatory for salvation or simply a public declaration?” Now it might seem like this is a simple question to answer from our thoughts and from Scripture but let’s dive deeper into it, and we’ll see it isn’t as simple as it seems. There are various Scriptures that talk about baptism and its’ relationship with salvation. Let’s read two and see what we might learn and how we answer this question about salvation and baptism. And we’ll see that on the surface it might look like these two different Scriptures actually differ in their understanding of the relationship between salvation and baptism.

Let’s look at Acts 10:44-48 first then we’ll turn to 1 Peter 3:21.

Acts 10:44-48 is part of the encounter of Cornelius, the Roman Centurion and Peter. Earlier in the chapter we see that Cornelius has a vision and in the vision God tells him to send people to Joppa to have Peter come and visit him. He sends 3 people to find Peter. Almost at the same time Peter has a vision where a sheet comes down from heaven filled with unclean animals (representing the Gentile population) and God tells Peter to get up and eat. Peter turns him down, and God tells him to not label anything God calls as clean, unclean. The three men get to the house, call for Peter, tell him the story, and Peter goes back with them realizing that God was telling him the gentiles weren’t unclean. Peter preaches the gospel to all who gather including Cornelius and verse 44-48 pick up the rest of the story and their response to Peter’s preaching, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles.  For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said,  “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”  So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.”

So let’s break down what happens in order. Peter preaches the gospel, the Holy Spirit comes upon his hearers, they receive salvation, Peter says “no one can stand in the way of these gentiles being baptized.” And then they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. It didn’t say that they got baptized and then received the Holy Spirit and salvation. Salvation came when each one of these Gentiles responded to Peter’s message with believing faith in their hearts, so that they were saved while they listened. Once they had received faith, baptism then was a recognition of the salvation that they had already received. Not one of the circumcised could object to Peter’s statement and decision to baptize these gentiles because as he put it, “they have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” They realized that the Jewish believers and the Gentile believer’s were now on the same footing, there was no division anymore between Jew and Gentile. And so then these Gentile believers, after hearing the message of the Gospel, receiving the Holy Sprit, were then baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

But what exactly is Baptism anyway and what does it mean? Baptism can be described as a symbol and a pledge. It is a symbol, or an external sign of an inward change or an external sign of an interior faith. And it is a pledge to all who witness it to continue to die to self, and raise to new life in Christ. Most Anabaptists believe that baptism is an initiation into “membership” in the church and also see it as a boundary marker for the church community “over and against the world.” Baptism is not a means to salvation but a sign of it. The early anabaptist (or sometimes called The Radical reformers) believed there were was what they called a 3 Fold Baptism. The first fold was the baptism of the Spirit. This meant when the Spirit came upon people, they confessed their sin, they gave their lives to Jesus, and they began to walk in obedience to Jesus. The second fold was the baptism in water. One of the early Anabaptist said this about baptism in water, “Baptism in water in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit ... is nothing other than a public confession and testimony of internal faith and commitment.” And the last fold was Baptism of blood. Now when we hear this we immediately think martyrdom, and many early Anabaptists were indeed killed party because of their belief in believer’s baptism. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that. It means that even after baptism and seeking to be obedient to Jesus, followers of Jesus would still face the constant struggle of the flesh and of this world. The Killing of the old man (or women) so to speak was the third, panful and continual baptism.

And so when we break it down baptism is about obedience and discipleship. We seek, as followers of Jesus, to live and walk like he walked. Jesus was baptized so we should as well. But the waters of baptism are not salvific or regenerative. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t important or not necessary. Plenty of places in the New Testament salvation and baptism are intertwined. Many places when the gospel was preached and received the texts say the people “believed and were baptized.” Always in that order. And when the jailer in Acts 16 asks what he could do to be saved, Paul and Silas answered him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus.” The jailer and his family did so, and then they were baptized. Also the story in Acts 8 where Philip shares the gospel of Jesus with the Ethiopian Eunuch, the Eunuch pulls the chariot over near some water, and asks Philip basically, “what can stop me from being baptized” and we see Philip and the Eunuch getting out of the chariot, going into the water, and Philip baptizing the Eunuch.

So from the whole of Scripture it looks like an open and shut case regarding our question, “Is Baptism mandatory for salvation or is it simply a public declaration?” It seems like everywhere we turn salvation and baptism are linked, in that people come to believe in the Lord Jesus, are saved and then are baptized. It seems pretty clear that salvation happens first, and then people in accordance with following Jesus are baptized as believers. That baptism is not a means of salvation but a sign of it. But is it possible then to be a follower of Jesus, be a disciple, and not be baptized as a believer? I believe it is possible. It is possible to be saved without being baptized. But another question that I have is if Jesus was baptized, and we are to follow his example, his lead, and have our lives emulate his life, shouldn’t we follow his example of being baptized and then be baptized ourselves as believers?

But let’s take a look at another Scripture that on the surface might seem that it contradicts the idea that baptism itself isn’t salvific. Let’s look at 1 Peter 3:21 which says, “and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” From a quick first reading it looks like Peter is saying that baptism saves. But let’s take a deeper look at what he is saying to see if that is indeed what he is saying. In this text (3:20) Peter is making the connection between Noah and the ark and baptism. He is saying that Noah’s building of the ark to rescue his family points forward to baptism. Noah’s ark involved people begin rescued through the great flood and is a fairly obvious picture of baptism. And so the flood is an antitype of baptism. The flood and Noah's ark symbolizes baptism and baptism symbolizes salvation. Just as the water of the flood washed away sin and wickedness and brought a new world with a fresh start before God, the waters of baptism does the same thing, providing a passage from the old to the new. From death to life.

So baptism washes away sin and wickedness just like the flood, but Peter is careful here to point out that it isn’t the actual water of baptism that saves us but the spiritual reality behind the immersion in water. In fact, it is quite evident at the end of the passage what saves us. It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 3:21 shows us that the water of baptism symbolizes a spiritual cleansing through the power of the Holy Spirit gained through Christ’s victory over death. Baptism then places us alongside the Messiah in his victory over death, sin, evil and hell by his resurrection. Baptism means that we die and then we raise to new life with the Messiah.

So I believe it is pretty clear from the whole of Scripture that salvation and baptism are linked together. That Scripture calls us to be saved and to show that salvation, that inner faith outwardly through the sacrament of baptism. But this doesn’t mean that baptism is in anyway salvific or brings salvation. Only belief in Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection brings that salvation. But at the same time, salvation is worked out in fear and trembling, and every day when we get up. And I believe part of that working out of our salvation, is being a disciple, and seeking to follow Jesus, his life, and his example. And I truly believe then that as a disciple of Jesus, if we want to follow him that that will eventually lead us into the waters of baptism. Do I believe baptism is mandatory for salvation? No, they are as I said two different parts but are linked together in Scripture. I would encourage anyone who has either not been baptized before (at all) or who was baptized as an infant before coming to faith in Jesus for yourself, to pray and seek God and see if he might be calling you to seal your commitment to him in the waters of baptism. To symbolize your inner faith externally by being baptized. To go down into the waters, dying to yourself and your old flesh, and rising out of the water into new life with Jesus. I would be more than happy to sit down with anyone, answer questions, and have a dialogue about baptism.

So let’s unpack this question a little bit further together. What are your questions about this question, the Scriptures and/or the message? What are your thoughts about the connection between salvation and baptism? How does this play out in our missional engagement in the wider world? What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

1. What thoughts, comments, questions, insights, etc.. do you have about the question, the Scriptures and/or the message?

2. What are your thoughts about the connection between salvation and baptism? How does play out in our missional engagement with the wider world?

3. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

iDoubt Week 2: What is Salvation and Can you lose it?

Today we tackle our second question in our series iDoubt: Questions about Faith. As I mentioned last week, this series came from 7 questions that people here at Veritas submitted. Also as I mentioned last week there will be times during this series in which we might disagree during our time of exploration and discussion. We might come at the question from different places and end up in different places, and I believe that is okay. Let’s agree today that in the midst of disagreement that we’ll stay in the tension, stay in the relationships, and agree to disagree. Too often in the church when we disagree with each other, there goes the relationship. So let’s buck that trend, and actually stay in relationship, even if you disagree with someone.

Today our second question also ties into our discussion from last week. Last week the question was “What does it mean to be a disciple.” We talked about the fact that a disciple is one who apprentices themselves to Jesus. We stand at his shoulder watching and learning from him, and then seeking to live his life in and through ours. He calls us to be disciples by taking up our cross, denying ourselves and following him. Not an easy thing to do.

Today the question is “What is salvation and can you lose it.” Many of us in our lives have probably experienced a time when someone we had spent time with, maybe discipled, been in youth group or church with, decided to walk away from Jesus. And we are left with questions like, “Were they really Christians to begin with?” “Are they still saved because they made a profession of faith at some point in their life.” “have they lost their salvation?” And so we thought we’d explore this question because, I believed, we probably have all been there and have known people who used to follow Jesus.

But actually when this question was submitted it just referred to losing your salvation. But salvation is one of those words in which we think we know what it means but a lot of time we don’t really. So I thought I would explore what salvation is, and then we can go from there to answer the question about whether you can lose it or not. Because I believe how you define salvation will lead to seeing whether or not you could lose your salvation. And as we’ll see in a bit, I truly believe our discussion about discipleship ties neatly into how we view salvation and our question that we’ll explore today.

I believe that if you mention the word salvation to any western Christian and you’ll probably hear the answer that it means going to heaven when you die. But is that what salvation truly is biblically speaking? I think if we believe salvation is a one time contractual agreement that we enter with God. (ie…when I say yes to making Jesus my Savior- not necessarily my Lord- then he is obligated to let me into heaven when I die. But I don’t necessarily have to be a disciple and actually follow him) than we think of salvation in terms of an end destination. And when we think in those terms, then questions like can I lose my salvation take on a bigger role in our life. But if salvation is something other than just about going to heaven when we die, we can see the question about losing salvation as actually less important than before. (Not that it isn’t important). We start to see how salvation and being a disciple are wrapped up together. It is like two parts of the same coin. Jesus rescues us from sin, death, evil and hell and also rescues us for life and life to the fullest (John 10:10) (that’s his part) and then our response needs to be to accept his rescue, but then live it out on a daily basis (and that is our part). Taking up our cross and following him. NT Wright says this about salvation, “the work of salvation, in it’s fullest sense, is 1. about whole human beings, not merely souls. 2. about the present, not simply the future and 3. about what God does through us, not merely what God does in and for us.” We need to realize this idea that we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. That we have been saved 2,000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross to set the world right (including our relationship with God, others, and the world) as well as when we said yes to following him. That we are being saved each day as we take up our cross, follow him and live a life of a disciple of Jesus Christ. And that one day if we continue walking in him, that we’ll be rescued fully, but not just ourselves but the entire cosmos will be saved and put right, the way that it has always meant to be.

Looking at salvation then as connected to discipleship, we begin to realize the importance of the everyday decision of taking up your cross, as some translations say, daily. You see, most anabaptist never thought of salvation in terms of a transactional guarantee of passage to heaven, but more concerned with the following of Jesus. The discipleship that he calls us to. Salvation then is something we attain by remaining on a path of obedience to Christ. Not that we can save ourselves, only God does that. But, it is like the Scripture that says, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling”, Jesus calls us to work it out.

Now you probably know by my discussion of salvation how I answer the question about whether we can lose our salvation. But let’s know look at a Scripture and see how it might help us unpack this question even further. Hebrews 6:4-6 says this, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,  who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”

The first thing we need to know about this passage is related to it’s wider context within the book of Hebrews. One of the reasons for writing the book of Hebrews was a call for the church to be faithful and to persevere till the end. You see the book of Hebrews was primarily written to Jewish Christians who were familiar with the Old Testament and were being tempted to revert back to Judaism or at the very least Judaize the gospel (add Jewish rules and regulations to the practice of the gospel). And so we see this call for the church to persevere to the end throughout the entire book.

Another thing we need to be aware of in the book of Hebrews is that it is filled with what is called warning passages. There are 5 warnings passages, of which the text that we read is part of 1. The 5 warning passages are 2:1-4, 3:4-4:13, 5:11-6:12, 10:19-39, and 12:1-29. Each warning passage follows the same pattern. First the subjects or audience are in danger of committing a sin. Secondly, the sin that leads to. Third, there is a exhortation to not fall into sin, which then if not followed, leads to 4. consequences of that sin.

There are 4 views of this particular warning passage. Or put another way there are 4 views of who the intended audience is for the warning. The four views are the hypothetical view, the false believer view, the true believer view, and the covenant community view. The first view is that this warning is real but the sin (the falling away) has neither been committed nor can be committed since, according to this view, true believers can’t fall away. It is a way to jar people back into perseverance. The false believer view is that the audience of these warnings are not true believers and that those who could commit that sin couldn’t be true believers. The covenant community view is that individual Christians aren’t in mind of the author, that the warnings are directed to Christian communities, and they are being warned about the rejection of God as a community. The last view, which I personally hold to is the true believer view. This view is that the audience of the warning passages are true believers in every observable sense, can commit the sin of following away, and can lose their salvation. Hence the call and warning to persevere to the end in their faith.

Now with that background in mind we can see that this warning follows the same pattern. The subjects in Hebrews 6:4-6 appear to be believers. We read verse 4-5 which lays out the case that the people the author is talking about were believers. Verses 4-5 read, “it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,  who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age” We see that these individuals, I believe, had experienced the grace of God. They received the Holy Spirit (how can you share something you don’t have?) And they had been enlightened. I truly believe they were saved. Even the author of the Hebrews, I believe, treats these people as true believers. Obviously, only God truly knows this but by every observable method, these people were Christians.

Secondly the sin in this warning passage is the sin of apostasy, which is the abandonment or renunciation of following Jesus. This is understood, in this passage and other places, as the deliberate and public refusal to submit to God and his will for people in Jesus Christ. We read this in verse 6 in relation to falling away and being brought back. We also have to see that this falling away is in relation to rejecting Jesus. As long as people are in the act of rejecting Jesus they can not feasibly turn back to him. That is why at the beginning of this text, the author uses the word impossible. Not that it is impossible for someone who was walking away to return to faith. But that according to Scot McKnight, “The contention that “impossible to repent” means only an inability to return to a former state of intimate fellowship with God is rendered at most unlikely by our synthetic approach.  If one examines the list above, especially the threatening dangers found at 10:26-31, one is pressed to agree what the author is not dealing here with the impossibility of reclaiming a recalcitrant sinner (who will nevertheless be saved in the end) but with eternal damnation because that person has apostasized from a former commitment to God’s salvation in Christ.”

When we break it all down, this text is honestly not really about losing your salvation or even the question can one lose their salvation. What this text is really calling each of us to is to continued maturity in our discipleship. To not get comfortable with where we are and get stagnant. But to continue moving forward and growing deeper in our journey with Jesus. The author of this book puts it this way, “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity.” What we see also before the text that we looked at is the author’s call for the church to move beyond the milk and grow deeper in Jesus. In Hebrews 5:11-14 we read, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.  In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

My prayer in relation to this question of whether you can lose your salvation is that we would see salvation as being connected to Jesus in discipleship and that discipleship is an everyday, day in and day out, get out of bed, and make a decision to follow Jesus. Salvation isn’t just a one time decision. It is an every day decision to follow Jesus. And that when we encounter someone who once walked with Jesus, we will continue to walk with them, loving them, serving them, and praying that they would return and begin to walk with Jesus again. We wouldn’t either say, “Well they were saved before and you can’t lose it so they are good.” or “You can lose your salvation and they have lost it for good.” The good news in the second situation is that the journey is not done and there is time to help disciple people back into the Kingdom.

How is this passage speaking to you? How do you read it? How have you encountered this question before and how have you handled it with others who have “walked away”? How are you growing in your faith each and every day? What spiritual disciplines are helping you work out your salvation with fear and trembling? And how are you discipling people who seem to be going away from Jesus? Those are some of the questions we’ll unpack together.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, etc.. do you have about the question, the Scripture and/or the message? How do you read this text?

2. Have you experienced this question in a personal way? Share a story that connects to the question? How have you or how are you continuing to disciple this person?

3. How are you growing in your faith each and every day? How are you working out your salvation with fear and trembling?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

iDoubt Week 1: What does it mean to be a disciple?

Today we begin a 7 week series called iDoubt: Questions about Faith. We will spend 7 weeks answering and dialoguing around questions that you have submitted that you have about faith, God, the Bible, following Jesus, and a bunch of other themes and topics. I’m excited to begin to explore these questions together and dialogue around them. But I also wanted to say something right from the start. During this series and in the topics of discussion, we might come to a place where we disagree with each other. You might disagree with where I come out in relation to one of the questions and I want you to know that that is okay. And that when we begin to dialogue let’s keep the dialogue open, loving, and respectful. It is okay to disagree, but we need to do it in love and grace. And I also want to say, let’s stay in the tension and in relationship. All too often when the church disagrees we feel this need that we need to split and not be in relationship. So let’s fight against this tendency, stay in relationship, love each other, even in midst of the tension. With that being said, I don’t think this week we’ll have much to disagree with each other about.

This week’s iDoubt: Questions about Faith question is “What does it mean to be a disciple?” I chose this question to explore first because I believe this question lies at the center of everything. I believe this question is the crux of the matter. I believe if we get the answer to this question wrong, than everything falls apart. And if we are honest with ourselves, the modern American church has in fact gotten this wrong. Dallas Willard in his book The Great Omission says this, “The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.” And so according to Willard, people truly believe that it is possible to be a Christian but not be a disciple. That we can have Jesus as our savior, so that we can go to heaven when we die, but we don’t have to have him as Lord impacting how we live our life in the world until we die. This is not the gospel. This is not possible. You can’t be a Christian without being a disciple. But what does it actually mean to be a disciple?

First, before we jump into the Scripture for the morning, I think it might be a good idea to look at the word disciple and what the word actually means. This isn’t a term that we use in our world a lot unless we are talking about it in religious circles. But disciples were very common in the 1st Century Jewish world. The term "disciple" is derived from the Koine Greek word mathetes, which means a pupil (of a teacher) or an apprentice (to a master craftsman). I like the idea of an apprentice. In the trade world we have master plumbers (builders, etc..) who have apprentices who learn everything they can about the trade by basically staying on the hip of their “master”, and then doing the same thing that their “master” did. A disciple is no different in religious terms. In following Jesus we learn how to live the Kingdom life by watching how Jesus lived, and then seek to emulate his life in our own life. What he did, we are then called to do.

So if we were to then ask Jesus to answer this question for us what would he say? “So Jesus what is a disciple?” In Mark 8:34-38 we read words that Jesus speaks that, I believe pretty clearly defines for us what He believes a disciple of Jesus is. Mark 8:34-38 says, “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.  What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?  If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

According to Jesus, to be a disciple means simply (it is simple to understand and incredibly difficult to live out) to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him. That’s all. Jesus is saying that to be his follower you must die. That you won’t truly live until you walk down death row with Jesus. You can’t live a resurrected life in the way of the Kingdom without dying first.

When Jesus mentions the cross, all his listeners knew exactly what he was referencing. Everyone knew that the cross was an instrument of death. The cross was a way to execute people. His listeners walked by crosses everyday where those who got out of line were placed. Where “criminals” hung dying in front of everyone to see. And so the cross, the Roman cross, was an instrument of torture, of death, of execution.

The problem that we have now is that the cross has been sanitized. We have beautiful crosses that adorn our church buildings. We have gold crosses that are put around our necks. They are shiny, beautiful, and unlike the real thing. The cross was the ultimate instrument of death in Jesus’ day and his hearers knew that if they were to follow after Him, that it would lead to their own cross. Maybe not an actual cross and an actual death (though many who did follow him were put to death, some even on a cross) but a death to self, their own desires, and what they wanted.

What would restore the horror and true meaning behind these words in context for us? What if the text said something like “denying yourself, sit down in the electric chair, and follow me”? How does that come off? Jesus doesn’t promise us an easy life for those of us who have chosen to follow him. Jesus says that if we want to follow him, we must seek to do what he did, and that means death. It means the cross (or the electric chair if you like that picture better)

But what does it mean to take up your cross. Well Jesus said to deny yourself. So denying yourself equals taking up the cross. Denying yourself means to live as an others centered person. Jesus was the only person to do this perfectly, but we are to follow in his footsteps. So if a disciple is called to deny themselves and take up their cross, then a disciple of Jesus by definition is an other centered person. A disciple of Jesus puts other people before themselves. A disciple of Jesus puts other people’s needs before their own. I think all too often we have made being a disciple about things we do, like we pray, read the Bible and go to church. And also about things we don’t do; we don’t swear, drink, chew, or hang out with those who do. When in reality the life of a disciple is a lot about love of God and love of others. After all didn’t Jesus say, “They will know we are disciples by our love”?

So if we, as a group of people who are seeking to follow Him, don’t put others before ourselves. If we don’t live out the truth of this statement made by former Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, “the church is the only organization that exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not its members.” If we care more about our comfort in here, and our ease in here, and our safety in here, than taking risks, being on mission, and loving people out there. Then I would say we aren’t disciples. We aren’t truly following Jesus, who we claim to love and serve, if we aren’t living life together on mission, and following his footsteps. We haven’t denied ourselves, taken up our cross and followed him.

Taking up your cross also means letting go of yourself and making God the center and focus of you life and in turn living each day for him. You are no longer your own. You have been bought with a price, the price of Jesus death on the cross. Now because you have been bought, live like the one who purchased you for himself. Living like the one who purchased you for himself means loving others, even our enemies. In fact, I would even say that loving his enemies was central to who Jesus was. So loving your enemies needs to be a huge part of being a disciple of Jesus.

And that point, when you’re no longer willing to carry your cross (whatever that point may be…may be it relates to loving your enemy, may be it relates to holding a grudge and wanting the other person to get their just deserts, maybe it relates to holding onto unforgiveness, bitterness, etc..), is the point at which you are no longer following Jesus. Where in your life do you struggle at carrying the cross? Where do you need Jesus help in picking up that cross and continuing to follow him? Jesus calls us to live a cruciform life, shaped by the cross into the shape of the cross. So a huge part of what it means to be a disciple is about living a cross like existence.

This whole text in Mark is kind of like the book “Alice through the looking glass” by Lewis Carroll. The idea being in the book, that if you want to go towards a place, in that world you actually need to go “away from it” to get there. Jesus calls us to a “looking glass” like existence he calls the Kingdom of God. He says that if we want to live, we have to die. If we want to save our lives, we must lose them. If we want to be great in the world, we have to be a servant. To be a disciple is to live out the upside down Kingdom of God in our world today. NT Wright has this to say about denying yourself, taking up your cross, following Jesus, and the upside down Kingdom that Jesus calls us to, “Jesus’s call to follow him, to discover in the present time the habits of life which point forward to the coming kingdom and already, in a measure, share in its life, only makes sense when it is couched in the terms made famous by Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Come and die”. Jesus didn’t say, as do some modern evangelists, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” Nor did he say, “I accept you as you are, so you can now happily do whatever comes naturally.” He said, “If you want to become my followers, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me” (Mark 8.34). He spoke of losing one’s life in order to gain it, as opposed to clinging to it and so losing it He spoke of this in direct relation to himself and his own forthcoming humiliation and death, followed by resurrection and exaltation. Exactly in line with the Beatitudes, he was describing, and inviting his followers to enter, an upside-down world, an inside-out world, a world where all the things people normally assume about human flourishing, including human virtue, are set aside and a new order is established.”

So what does it mean to be a disciple? What does a disciple of Jesus look like in America in the 21st century? In one way it looks exactly the same as it did 2000 years ago. It means apprenticing yourself in the ways of our Master Jesus. It means standing on his hip watching how he lived his life. (We stand on his hip watching the master through classic spiritual disciplines like Bible Reading, Memorization, Prayer, Solitude, etc..) And then it means putting into practice the things that he did, in our life. It means loving like he did, and loving the people he did. It means serving like he did. It means living like he did. It means getting on your knees to wash the feet of people. It means loving your enemy when you would rather hate them. It means turning the other cheek when you want to react violently. It means blessing and not cursing. Wishing the best and not hoping the worst about people. And it means climbing up and putting yourself on the cross time and time and time again. To be a disciple of Jesus means dying to yourself in order to live for him.

So let’s talk more about what it means to be a disciple? What other questions come up in your mind? Where do we need to flush this question out more? In what area of your life do you find it harder (harder than normal…dying to yourself is hard as it is) to die and live for him? What might God be saying to each and every one of us today about being a disciple of Jesus?

1. What thoughts, questions, comments, insights, etc.. do you have about the question (what does it mean to be a disciple), the Scripture and/or the message?

2. If someone asked you the same question (what does it mean to be a disciple) what would you say? To what Scriptures would you point them? Would you use Mark 8: 34-38?

3. In what area of your life do you find it hard to die to yourself and live for him? (Not like that it is easy in any area). Where do you need work as a disciple?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

January 2015 Prayer Calendar

Below you will find a link to our January 2015 Prayer Calendar. It is a way to be unified in our prayers in relation to Veritas. So download a copy, print it out, and then put it somewhere where you'll see it and pray for Veritas each day in January. Help us kick of 2015 unified in prayer. January 2015 Prayer Calendar

Peace by Esther Shi Eun Lee

(This blog is written by an F&M Student who is part of our Veritas community and when I saw it I knew it needed to be shared.) What an elusive word. What a powerful--but elusive--word.

Even now as I'm trying to describe it words escape me. There was a time when I thought I knew what peace meant. There was a time when I glided blissfully through life in my rediscovered faith, with the deepest, most intimate knowledge of peace that "surpasses all understanding."

Confession: I don't feel that anymore.

I think I used to operate under the implicit assumption that being a Christian would allow me to cruise through the pain and suffering of life as if I were above them. Like, the Spirit of God would shield me from that or something, desensitize me and dose me with unlimited peace and joy instead. I thought I'd be able to forgive easily because I wouldn't feel pain and anger as deeply. I thought I'd be able to come to terms with my past because it wouldn't matter as much anymore. I thought my faith in God's promises would be so strong that it would not discourage me when I saw the world so, so far away from that hope.

Turns out that's not the case at all.

They say he is the Prince of Peace. And yet sometimes I wonder how much of that peace he actually experienced for himself, even. How could he, knowing full well the depth and breadth of the brokenness of every human being and the world, still walk in that? The two seem incompatible for a heart that has experienced only one or the other at a time.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Today, as I flounder in my own spiritual, relational, and emotional brokenness and continue to feel burdened and exhausted by the hatred, fear, and violence of the world, I'm starting to think that engaging in peace-making is just as much a part of experiencing the Lord being at hand as actually seeing that reality. Engaging in peace-making confronts you with the reality that there is so little peace, and so much left to be desired of this world. And yeah, I guess I could try to ignore all of this in my pursuit of feeling the blissful calm I used to feel.

But maybe what God really calls his people to do is to seek Him while practicing peace, not seeking him just to feel "peace".

I want to believe so strongly that the peace promised by my God is something larger than selfish naivete. I want to hope for a peace that means something beyond quarantined, desensitized psychological well-being.

I am ever restless. But maybe that's not a sign of disobedience or spiritual immaturity that I guilt-tripped myself into believing.

Maybe restlessness is the actual way to true peace.

Waiting Week 4: Waiting for Love

Today is the fourth and final Sunday in Advent. Advent, a 4 week period of time in the Christian calendar, which starts the liturgical year, where we wait, ponder, and prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. The four traditional themes that are explored during Advent are Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.

We have explored Hope, Peace, and Joy over the last three weeks and today we’ll be wrapping up Advent by exploring and unpacking Waiting for Love. We’ll do that by finally getting to the New Testament We’ll be looking at the birth narrative of Jesus found in Luke 2:1-7, one that I believe many of us probably have heard many times before, and some may even have memorized. Let’s see what Luke 2:1-7 has to say to us about waiting for love.

Luke 2:1-7 says, “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.  (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.”

Upon first reading we get this sentimental feeling that comes over us. We dream up this safe and sanitized version of the story where the setting is this iddlic and peaceful place. Where there is no blood from the birth, no crying from the baby, no crap from the animals, the hay is hypoallergenic, and everything is just beautiful and serene. But when we dig a little deeper into this story, do some historical research, we begin to see that this story is about as subversive and countercultural as you can get. You see Luke’s story digs underneath this typical story of everyday empire and undermines it with the news of a different kind of “empire” and a different kind of “emperor”. This, when you get right down to it, is a story about two kingdoms coming into direct conflict. The Kingdom of God which is a Kingdom of love, and the Kingdom of this world, which is a Kingdom of violence, hate, and death. This confrontation between two Kingdoms start with the very first verses of Luke 2 which sounds more like historical detail than a conflict.

The first two verse in Luke 2 states, “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.  (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)” Now this doesn’t seem very important, just a way of grounding the story of Jesus birth in history, by adding names, details, and information, but when we look at who issues the decree, what a census did at the time, and other details we continue to see the Kingdoms come into conflict.

Let’s look at Caesar Augustus first. You see Augustus was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. He became the sole ruler of the Roman world after a bloody civil war in which he over powered his other rivals. In fact, the last rival to be destroyed was a man name Mark Anthony. It was Caesar Augustus who turned the Roman republic into an empire, with himself at the head. He was the one to bring the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome into existence. He proclaimed that he had brought justice and peace to the whole world, declared his adopted father to be god, and therefore, by being the son of Julius Caesar, that he was the son of god. He was also called savior, Lord, and many other messianic terms and he was worshipped as a deity as well.

And so this ruler, this emperor, this so called son of god, savior and lord calls for a census to be taken of the entire Roman world. Now you and I have taken part in a census before. The government sends you a form to fill out about your family, etc.. and you fill it out and return it to them, no big deal. But in that day and time a census was a big deal because it required a lot from each person. Mary and Joseph were required to go back to Joseph’s hometown in order to register for the census. Census’s in that day and time raised sharp and dangerous questions. Dangerous questions like who runs the world, how is it being run, who profits from it, who gets crushed, when it is all going to change, and what should we do about it? Every time a census was decreed there were riots that came with it and people got killed. Because, like in our day, census’s were taken for tax purposes. And so you had to get up, go to your homeland, register, all for the privilege of giving money to those who were oppressing you.

So here we have Mary and Joseph traveling to their hometown of Bethlehem which is the birth place of King David. And so we see from this fact of his place of birth, and also from his lineage found in Matthew 1, that Jesus was in a human royal blood line, a Kingly family line. And again we see the conflict between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of this world, by nature of who is true ruler and King in the world.

You will notice that this conflict has theological and political ramifications. Too often we just read this Christmas story, and it makes us feel good. After all who doesn’t love a good story with a baby in it? Or we just read the story as only affecting another realm, the heavenly realm, and that this story didn’t and doesn’t have any real ramifications in this world of war, brokenness, hatred, violence, love, beauty, pain, joy, and sorrow. But this story does have theological and political and “real world” ramifications. Theologically we see that Jesus is somehow identified with God in a unique way. Politically we mentioned earlier that there was already a son of god, savior and Lord on the earth, in the form of Caesar Augustus. And now here is this little baby, born in a manger, in an out of the way town, who is the true ruler of the world, and then by definition Caesar is not, and certainly not the powers of the world today. The birth narrative of Jesus points to this explosive truth that the baby in the manger is already being spoken of as the true King of the world. Is it any wonder than that the powers of the empire and the Kingdom of this world wanted him dead from his birth all the way until his death by the weapon of execution of the empire, a Roman cross.

We read the rest of the story (not all the details mind you) in Luke 2:3-7 which tells about Mary and Joseph’s journey to their hometown of Bethlehem to register, and their experience of giving birth to Jesus, in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. This boy born to a teenage mother, through the power of the Holy Spirit, was what the people of God were waiting for, from the moment of their Abrahamic covenant back in Genesis 12:1-3 (and as an aside Jesus is the full fulfillment of that covenant as he is the one who blesses the world the most and the fullest). They were waiting for the savior, the redeemer, the deliverer, the messiah. They were waiting for love to come in its fullness. They just never expected their hopes, their dreams, their waiting, their longings to be fulfilled by this child. They were hoping and longing for a messiah who would fight fire with fire, who would establish a kingdom with them in charge, an empire exactly like the Roman empire just with the people of Israel in charge, and dishing out the violence to anyone who got out of hand and out of line. But that is not what happened. No, Jesus, the baby born in the manger in Bethlehem, grew up not to establish an empire like all other worldly empires, but to establish the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom not established and maintained by violence, hate, and oppression but a Kingdom established by love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and dying to yourself. A Kingdom that didn’t use violence in order to bring about shalom. But a Kingdom that submitted itself to violence in order to bring about true shalom. A Kingdom that is all about love. Isn’t that what much of the New Testament talks about? What are the two greatest commands? Love God and Love others. What is God according to 1 John? God is love.

When God initiates this rescue mission, this redemption of the world, this Kingdom movement, by sending his only son it was always a matter of love. His love for a creation that had gone astray and continues to go astray. A creation that chooses it’s own way. People, like you and I who choose hate, violence, death, selfishness, and brokenness over love, servanthood, selflessness, life, and peace. But that is exactly why Jesus came, to show us a different way, a different way that is still possible. Jesus came to show us a different Kingdom and a different King. One that is about love, justice and mercy. The greatest Christmas gift ever was the baby born on that first Christmas to show us a Kingdom way of love. A Kingdom way that shows us that we are loved as his creation and that he then calls us to live another way, another reality, a Kingdom of God reality by loving others including our neighbors, our friends, and yes, even our enemies.

So what happened that fateful night all of those years ago a half a world away? What happened when a teenager girl, who was pregnant, came to Bethlehem with her husband, who wasn’t the father of the child? What was so special about this story, this baby born in Bethlehem that we continue to read, talk, dream, prepare and wait all of these years later? What happened on that first Christmas night? It was the night in which love came down and touched earth, in the form of the Christ Child.

Over a hundred years ago, a writer penned the words that bear this fact out, that love came down and planted itself on earth in the form of Jesus. Christina Rossetti wrote the poem that would come to be known as Love Came Down at Christmas. And I want to read this poem, as a means to end my part of the message, because I believe this is what we have all been waiting for. Love.

Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love Divine, Love was born at Christmas, Star and Angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead, Love Incarnate, Love Divine, Worship we our Jesus, But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token, Love shall be yours and love be mine, Love to God and all men,

Love for plea and gift and sign.

So let’s talk about what it means to wait for love. That Jesus embodied love and what it means that he calls us to embody the Kingdom of love in the world. Let’s talk about what it means to you to know that Jesus came to show us his Father’s love for us, and how he came to show us another way to live, a way of life defined by love of God and love of others.

1. What questions, thoughts, comments, insights come to mind when you read the text and/or listened to the message?

2. What does it mane to you that God showed his love to us through sending Jesus? How can you love God this week?

3. What does it look like to love others this week for you? Who might God be calling you to love with the love of the Christ child?

Waiting for Joy: Waiting Week 3

Today we celebrate the third Sunday of Advent. As we have mentioned each week, Advent is a 4 week time in the Christian calendar that comes right before Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year. And Advent means coming. During these 4 weeks in the Christian calendar we spend time slowing down and focusing on the 1st and 2nd Advent (coming) of Jesus. Looking two thousand years in the past to the first Christmas and looking forward into the future (however long that may be) to the second coming of Jesus to make all things complete, all things right, to bring shalom (the way that things should be).

The first week of Advent we looked at waiting for hope. In the Christian calendar the first week of Advent is the week in Advent to center on the second coming of Jesus. We looked at Isaiah 9:1-7 especially verse 2 and talked about the hope that the people of God, the Israelites had in being delivered out of the hand of the Assyrian empire. That longing, that hope, in a messiah and deliverer, that the Israelites had, is also the hope and longing that we have in Jesus second coming. And the crying out for Jesus to come and make all things right. To redeem the brokenness of our lives and of the world, and return the world to the way that it should be.

Last week we took the same text from Isaiah 9:1-7 and focused on verse 6-7 and talked about waiting for peace. We focused on the fact that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and his coming (both the first and second) are rooted in Shalom, the way things should be. We talked about Jesus coming in the midst of the Pax Romana (the Peace of Rome) which was a “peace established by violence” to set up the Pax Christi (the peace of Christ) by submitting himself to violence, and instead of shedding others blood, he let his blood be shed so that the world would begin the process of shalom, and being made right.

Today the traditional 3rd week of advent is centered around the word Joy. So today we are going to be talking about waiting for joy. We will be looking at Joy through the lens of Isaiah the prophet and the dream/prophecy that he wrote about in Isaiah 65:17-25 about the new heaven and new earth and how Jesus will come and bring us joy, and set all things to right.

Isaiah 65:17-25 says, “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered,nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them,or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them.  Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.”

So obviously Isaiah is looking into the future and writing about the second advent of Jesus when all will be made well (as the song we song just a few minutes ago made reference to). Because thee things that he has written of, haven’t been fully realized yet. With the first coming of Jesus these things became a now and not yet reality. And will come to their fullness and completion when Jesus returns. But someone once said you should start as you mean to finish and that is exactly what Jesus did the first time he stepped foot on his creation, and that is also what he is calling us to, to live out the Kingdom reality right here and right now, even when it isn’t fully realized, and won’t be fully realized until Christ comes back. But let’s take a deeper look into this text to see what we can see about waiting for joy.

The first thing we see in this passage is God, through Isaiah, making a promise for the future. One that for those who are seeking to follow Jesus, and those who are distressed about the brokenness, sin, corruption, death, destruction, etc.. about the world in which we live in, should bring us much longing and joy. God makes this statement, “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind” Isaiah is saying that the Lord will remake and redeem all of creation. This is the ultimate answer to the broken world in which we live, God, through Jesus life, death, and resurrection remaking, renewing, and restoring all of his creation, and not, like so many contemporary evangelicals believe, abandoning his creation. You see to understand the longing of these words. To understand what Isaiah, and the people of God, the Israelites are longing for and hoping for in relation to the world being made right, you need to know what was taking place when Isaiah was writing these words. His message was directed to the Jewish people who would return to the land of Judah after the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of Jerusalem. After the returned from this exile they were faced with destruction of their homeland, of their temple, of their homes, of everything they had ever known. And so a new heaven and a new earth sounded amazing to a group of people displaced from home and then returned to find their homes ripped apart. God tells them also not to remember their former troubles, places like Egypt and Babylonian.

Isaiah continues and tells them that they to be glad and rejoice because of what God is creating. He is the one that will create the new heavens and the new earth. He is the one who will set things in this broken world right. Jesus is the one who died and rose again and began the process of recreation with started with him, will work its way to us, and will eventually work its way throughout all of creation, so that everything in this world will be made right. As people of God, the Israelites, and now the church, we have our part and roles to play in being about the Kingdom and making things right. But we don’t bring the Kingdom. We don’t ultimately set things right. He does. After all that is really what Christmas is really all about. Jesus stepping into humanity to begin the process of setting everything to right. And that is something that we can rejoice and be joyful about in this advent season. We can be joyful that the world will be set right one day and that we can have a part to play in helping to set it right.

Isaiah continues and says that God will create “Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people” I wonder if this is another way of stating the Abrahamic Covenant found in Genesis 12:1-3 which states, “The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” The people of God are to be a joy to people in the world. We as followers of Jesus, are called in Genesis 12 to be a blessing, and when we live out this calling, this vocation we will be a joy in the wider world and to the wider world. We are to live in such a way that brings blessing and joy to others in their lives and in the community. What are you and I doing in our work places, schools, neighbors, etc.. to bring about blessing & joy, in this season but all the year round?

Notice something else about joy. That we don’t just bring others blessing and joy when we live out the kingdom. No, there is also another joy that Isaiah mentions. Isaiah states that God rejoices over us. Have you ever thought about that before? That God actually rejoices over you? All too often we think God is disappointed in us, mad at us, or somehow that we need to do more, or be better in order for God to delight and rejoice in us. But that isn’t the case. We bring God joy. The other week during one of the readings in the advent devotional I came across Zephaniah 3:17 which says, “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” If this Scripture text is true, which I believe it is, then God takes great delight and joy in you. He rejoices over you with singing. Maybe you are going through a rough time right now. Maybe this advent season has been pretty rough and you don’t have nay joy in life right now. That is okay. But know this, he has joy in you. He delights in you. He loves you fully and completely and your life brings him joy and that he delights in you.

And speaking about joy. The rest of this passage is all about it. Isaiah is describing a place and a life where joy will be perpetually experienced, both inwardly and outwardly. When creation gets set right by Jesus people will live a long and full life. When creation gets set right by Jesus people will get true fulfillment and meaning from work, building and planting. When creation gets set right by Jesus former enemies will lie down together and not kill each other. When creation gets set right by Jesus Shalom will be the result. Isaiah is highlighting in this get the joy of the holy city as a place without crying or distress, a place of covenant blessing and renewal, and a place of harmony within the whole created order.

If what we celebrate at Advent, the birth of Jesus, the coming of Jesus, means anything it means a transformed cosmos. That everything that Isaiah describes in Isaiah 66:17-25 will come to fruition because of the birth of the Christ child over 2,000 years ago. Jesus came into this world to begin this process of a transformed cosmos and to truly bring joy to the world. But as I mentioned before we are living in the now but not yet reality of the Kingdom of God. And this helps us realize that we must wait patiently for the completion of new creation but while we wait we can also work towards bringing new creation into the present. To bring joy into the present. Imagine if what you read in Isaiah 66 began to unfold, even just a little bit, in our present. What would the world look like if a child didn’t die from disease or from violence? What would the world look like if everyone had access to basic medical care, food, and clean water? What would the world look like if everyone earned a livable wage? It would look like Isaiah 66. And since we know the end of the story, shouldn’t it change how we live in the present? Knowing that Isaiah 66 will come to fruition should lead us to begin the process of seeing it come to pass. To realize that we are blessed and that God rejoices in us and that we are blessed and rejoiced over so that we could bless others and bring joy to others.

But what does it mean to be rejoiced over by God? What does it look like to have joy in your life despite current circumstances? What does it look like to be an agent of joy in the world? Those are the questions that we’ll work on unpacking together in our discussion time.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, applications, etc… do you have regarding the Scripture text and/or the message?

2. What thoughts, and/or feelings come to mind when you hear that God rejoices over you? Where do you need the joy of the Lord in your life today?

3. What does it look like to be an agent of joy in the world? To whom is God calling you to bring a bit of joy to their life in this advent season?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Waiting for Peace: Advent Week 2

Last week we entered the season in the Christian year called Advent. A four week period of time where we wait. Wait for the advent of Jesus. Both the first advent, as we long and wait for the coming of the Christ Child. And also long and wait for the second coming of Jesus, to set the world right. To put it back the way that it was originally created to be. In fact the word advent actually means coming. And so my prayer for each of us is that we would wait, and prepare ourselves to receive him. That is one reason that we created the Advent devotional and sent it out so that you could use it as a resource to prepare yourself for the advent of Jesus. (if you need a copy feel free to talk with me and I can send you a copy)

Last week, the first week of Advent, we talked about waiting for hope. We talked about waiting for hope from the lens of the Israelites who lived 700 years before Jesus and their longing for hope and deliverance from the hand of foreign oppressive empires. And how they were delivered by Hezekiah but that was only temporary. The deeper fulfillment of the longing for hope that they had for deliverance, freedom, and salvation was to come in the person, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And we talked about how the first Sunday in Advent was the time where we talked about longing for hope of the second coming of Jesus to set the world right. About how we look around and all we see is broken and how we long for the world to be made right, the way that it is supposed to be.

Today, as we celebrate the second Sunday of Advent, we talk about waiting for peace. And to do that we will look at the same text that we looked at last week, Isaiah 9:1-7.

Isaiah 9:1-7 says, “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan— The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”

Last week we focused especially on verse 2 and today we will focus especially on verses 6-7 (as well as a little on verse 5).

So as I said before, Isaiah is writing this 700 years before the coming of Jesus, and there are thoughts that he was referring to Hezekiah and his kingship and his trust in Yahweh to deliver them from the hand of the Assyrian empire. But that there is also a truer and deeper fulfillment of this text in the person, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Verse 6 says “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given”. In this verse Isaiah is using the Hebrew literary tool of repetition to emphasize a point. What point is he making by using repetition? The point that this messiah, this anointed one, this deliverer of the people of Israel, God’s people, this victorious one would be a man. A man, but more than a man. Jesus came all those years later, fulfilling these words. John 1:14 in the Message puts it this way, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” Jesus is Immanuel. God with us. Remember a few weeks ago during our last series that we talked about the fact that God is for us, he is with us, he was one of us, and that he then comes to live in us? Verse 6 gets at those first three points from our last series. That Jesus came for us. That he was with us. And that he became one of us. Jesus was sent or given from the Father to live among his creation. To live another reality in the midst of this broken reality. To live the Kingdom of God in the midst of the Kingdom of this world.

This man. This messiah would also be King and according to the second half of verse 6, have the government on his shoulders. Now what in the world does that mean? When we look around at the governments that have come and gone, the empires that have sprung up and then died off, we don’t tend to see Jesus undergirding them, holding them up on his shoulders. And when we look at the brokenness, sin, violence and war, it all too often seems like if Jesus truly is King, and has the government on his shoulders, than something is wrong. You see while this is true that Jesus is King, and that the Kingdom of God is a reality, both his Kingdom and his Kingship is a now and not yet reality. Jesus, says it himself, that the Kingdom of God is here, when he walked this earth. And that he is definitely ruling and reigning over his Kingdom even now. But both the Kingdom and his Kingship won’t come fully until he returns. His life, death, and resurrection began the fulfillment of his Kingdom and Kingship and his return will complete it. And so we wait. We wait for his Kingdom to come, and his will to be done. But we don’t just sit on our hands and wait. It is more of an active waiting. Actively waiting for his coming. His advent.

Isaiah continues and begins to describe what this anointed one, this man, this Messiah would be like. Not his names but aspects of his character. In the second half of verse 6 this Messiah, this redeemer, this deliverer is called, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” These attributes, the aspects of his character point directly to the divine nature of Jesus. The first part of verse 6 spelled out his humanity and the last half of verse 6 spells out his divinity. It’s this last characteristic that I want to unpack a little, Prince of Peace. This phrase Prince of Peace might be better understood as ruler in charge of peace. And as we talked about earlier this fall the word peace here is the word Shalom. Shalom means peace but not just in an absence of conflict or war, but more in terms of wholeness, rightness, joy, or as I love to put it, “the way things should be.” Jesus was/is to be that Prince of Peace, a different kind of ruler for a different kind of world, and a different kind of kingdom. A Kingdom of Shalom. A Kingdom of Peace. And a shalom not derived by violence.

You see the first advent of Jesus was in the midst of what was known as the Pax Romana or the Peace of Rome. A peace that was derived by violence, death, and threats of both. And a peace derived by violence and secured by death is not peace. Is not shalom. When Jesus came his life, his death, his resurrection directly contradicted the Pax Romana and he established the Pax Christi, the peace of Christ in which shalom was established not by the Messiah picking up a sword, and using violence to bring about peace, but to subject himself to the violence of the empire, to die on the violent tool used to keep the Pax Romana, a roman cross. He didn’t shed others blood for peace. He allowed his blood to be shed by his enemies so that true Shalom would happen. His dream for Shalom is also spelled out in verse 5, “Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.” And this was good news then, and it is good news now. N.T. Wright says, “Good news for a people, like so many today, who find themselves caught up in wars they neither started nor wanted.”

Isaiah wraps up this part of this messianic prophecy by saying that his peace and his kingdom will never end. That it will go on and on. And that eventually his peace and his kingdom will come in all of its fullness. That this messiah will come and set the world right and shalom will rule throughout the world. That it will be the way that it should be.

But we live in between the advents. Between the trees as one video puts it. Between the time that Jesus came to start the process of Shalom and the time that Shalom will come in its fullness. All you have to do is look at the news to see that Shalom isn’t fully here. In fact, more times than not we might actually be tempted to say “is there shalom anywhere right now?” Things are not the way they should be. Violence, racism, injustice, war, death, destruction, and suffering are all too common in our world. It seems like Jesus isn’t ruling and reigning and that Christmas time is just a nice story and an escape from reality. But Christmas isn’t just a nice story or an escape from reality. NT Wright says this about Christmas, “Christmas isn’t about an escape from the real world of politics and economics, of empires and taxes and bloodthirsty wars. It is about God addressing these problems at last from within, coming into our world- his world.”

Waiting for peace. Waiting for His Shalom to come in fullness. Waiting for Jesus to set it the world to right, the way that it should be. But as I mentioned before this waiting for peace doesn’t mean that we fold our hands, sit on the couch and wait for him to bring shalom. No, it is an active waiting. An active shalom making. Exactly what it says in Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” It seems like anytime people bring up the subject of working for shalom in the world, people will say it will never happen until Christ comes back. As that is an excuse to mean that we shouldn’t even attempt to do anything about the violence, war, hatred, and death that we humans inflict upon one another. They are right that Shalom won’t come in it’s fullness until Christ comes back, establishes his rule and reign here on earth, and sets everything right. But he calls us right now, right in the midst of the brokenness, in the midst of violence, in the midst of hate, pain, and war, to live Shalom right now and right here.

My questions for us this advent season, while we wait and long and hope, while we look to the coming of the Christ child are these:

Where do you need the Shalom of the Christ child in your life? Where do you need the Prince of Peace to step into your life and begin the process of setting it right?

2. How can you and I engage in active shalom making in the midst of waiting during this advent season? To whom and to where are you called to work for Shalom in this world? What can you do during advent to bring the Shalom of God to bear in this world?

Those are some of the questions that we’ll wrestle with together during our discussion time together.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, etc.. does this Scripture text and/or the message bring to your mind?

2 Where do you need the Shalom of the Christ child in your life? Where do you need the Prince of Peace to step into your life and begin the process of setting it right?

3. How can you and I engage in active shalom making in the midst of waiting during this advent season? To whom and to where are you called to work for Shalom in this world? What can you do during advent to bring the Shalom of God to bear in this world?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Waiting for Hope

Today begins a 4 week period of time on the Christian calendar called Advent. Advent comes from the Latin word adventus; it means coming. Advent is about three comings – the birth of Jesus, the incarnation, and the second coming. Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year and is the time when the Church (universal) reenters the story of the coming of King Jesus our Messiah. Not only do we talk about coming, we also talk and experience waiting and preparation. In the Christian church it is a time of waiting and longing for the coming of the Christ child. It is also a time of preparing for the second coming of Jesus. The traditional 4 weeks in Advent are normally about Hope Peace, Joy and Love. And so many churches throughout the world during the next 4 weeks will be preparing themselves spiritually for Christmas.

We will be spending the next four weeks waiting. Waiting and preparing our lives, our selves, and our community for the advent of Jesus, both the first and second advent. We will be talking about the traditional themes of advent, that of waiting for hope, waiting for peace, waiting for joy, and waiting for love.

So today we are talking about waiting for hope. Tradition has it that on this the first Sunday of Advent in the Christian calendar we look ahead to the second coming of Christ. And so we will be spending our time today talking about waiting for hope. We will look at this idea of waiting for hope by looking at a text that was written on the other side, before Jesus coming, and with that text see the waiting for hope that was taking place then, as they waited for the first coming. And we’ll connect it to our world today when we long, wait and hope for Jesus to come the second time and set everything right.

Now our world is in desperate need of hope. In desperate need of being set right. All you had to do this week is to turn on the news and read about all the things that are broken in the world. For instance, everything around what is happening in Ferguson, MO. Now no matter what side or no side you are on in the matter, we can say that our world is broken. What is happening in Ferguson is a result of sin. A world broken by racism, violence, fear, hatred, injustice and division. It seems like we have lost hope so the return of hope is so badly needed. You see no politician, no public figure, no one, no matter how much hope they promise will ever be able to bring true hope to fulfillment. Will never be able to set things to right. We need the hope that only Jesus can bring. We need Jesus to set things right. We long and we wait and we hope for the second coming of Jesus just as the Israelites waited, longed and hoped for the coming of the Messiah to save them, redeem them, free them from the hands of oppressors, and to set them to right.

Let’s turn to a passage of Scripture that we’ll be looking at both today and next week that was written 700 years before the coming of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 9:1-7. Isaiah 9:1-7 says, “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”

So we are going to focus today mostly on verse 2 and next week focus mostly on verse 6-7. But let’s do some historical unpacking to see what is happening here that Isaiah is talking about so that we can understand truly what the longing and hoping of the people of Israel is all about.

What we read in Isaiah 9 was taking place around 734 BC. And so Ahaz the King of Judah was under attack by an alliance of Israel and Syria. Ahaz was considering enlisting the help of the Ayssyrians. While this would neutralize the threats of his Northern neighbors, it would also require entering into an alliance with the “evil empire” of the day. What should Ahaz do? Isaiah urged Ahaz to stand firm in faith, trust in God and refuse coalitions with other countries. Thus reassuring the King that God would prove all the protection required and that the birth of a child would serve as a sign of this. But is that what happened in the end? No, Ahaz didn’t listen to Isaiah and did enter into an alliance with the Assyrians who did conquer both the northern territories and Syria. But then the Assyrian army kept on coming south and began to attack Judah and Jerusalem.

And so Isaiah, speaking the words that God gave him, tells Ahaz this, “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan” Isaiah is telling the people of God that the gloom will be no more for those who are in distress. He is referring to the gloom that carries over from Isaiah 8:19-22 which says, “When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.  Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.” Isaiah in chapters 7-9 is warning Judah about the coming invasion from Assyria. And this invasion of the Assyrians would be terrible for the Jewish people especially for the northern regions. That when they look around all they see if distress, darkness, and gloom and have no hope. You see they were first to be overrun in the Assyrian invasion, the first to suffer, and would be the first to see the light of the Messiah. In fact, fast forward 700 years to Matthew 4:13-16 and we find these words, “Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—  to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

So the Northern Kingdom overrun by the Assyrian empire cried out for deliverance and Isaiah said, that the people who live in darkness would see a great light and that those who lived in the shadow of death would see light dawning. That all wasn’t lost. That hope was on the horizon. In Isaiah 9:2 we see the word “walking” in the phrase “the people walking in darkness” and it means to live and denotes a thick darkness that brooded over the country- sot that they lived or walked among it. That all they could currently see was darkness and loss. So they cried out for deliverance, for hope. You see, even in this text, there is a cry for hope, for deliverance, for God to intervene in their condition, and to set it right. This text, especially verse 2 and 6-7 are anticipating the coming of the anointed one, a messiah. You see God’s people were abused by power hungry Kings, led astray by self-centered prophets, and lulled into apathy by half-hearted religious leaders, there arose among some for God to raise up a new King who could show them how to be God’s people. They yearned for the return of God’s dynamic presence in their midst. A deliverer who would come and free them from the hand of the oppressive regimes and empires.

The question that this immediately brings to my mind relates to who Isaiah was writing about. Was this great light that Isaiah was writing about just about a prophecy about the coming of Jesus? Did Isaiah understand that he was writing something that wouldn’t come true for 700 more years? Or was there another closer reality? Was this about the Messiah Jesus only or could there be dual fulfillment? The immediate connection seems to require us to understand it of deliverance from the calamities that were impending over the nation then. They would be afflicted by the Assyrian empire, but they would be delivered. Now Isaiah may have reaffirmed that there was an immediate deliverance of the nation from impending calamities, but there is also a fullness and richness of the language that seems to be only applicable in reference to Jesus. And Matthew usage of this passage confirms that fact. That yes there was a deliverer that was going to come and free the people from the hands of the Assyrian empire, but that one was to come that would deliver us from the hands of the true evil empire of sin, death, evil and hell.

The next question that I wrestle with then would be, yes we know the primary and most important deliverer who brings true and lasting hope, that of Jesus. But who would be the deliverer for the people of God who lived under the thumb of the Assyrian empire? Many scholars believe that historically the deliverer, the light that Isaiah is referring to is more than likely Hezekiah. Hezekiah, who ruled after Ahaz, was one of the very few royal heroes of Kings, who receives rare praise from the book’s deuteronomistic editors: “He [Hezekiah] did what was right in the sight of the Lord just as his ancestor David had done” (2 Kings 18:3). Hezekiah’s reign is described in 2 Kings 18-20. He receives even higher praise in the Chronicler’s parallel version (see 2 Chronicles 29-32), where he is depicted as both a new David and a new Solomon.

Significantly, Hezekiah’s reign also plays an important role in Isaiah (Isaiah 1-39). Contrary to his father Ahaz who trusted in foreign assistance from the Assyrians rather than Yhwh (see Isaiah 7:10-17), Hezekiah is the paragon of faith and faithfulness. When Sennacherib’s armies threatened Jerusalem, Hezekiah trusted in Yhwh’s faithfulness and his power to save the city from Assyrian aggression (Isaiah 37). Hezekiah’s greatness, then, is not in his ability to bear the load of authority or to create an era of “peace” with his own hands. Rather, his greatness lies in his willingness to trust in God who can bring about these things, on earth as it is in heaven, and even we might add in a place as contentious as Jerusalem.

And what then is the result of this light that will come to those living and walking in darkness, in the midst of a shadow that seemingly will never end. Where hope is at a loss? What happens when the light (or in this case Hezekiah) comes? Look at verses 3-5 which says, “You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.”

So Hezekiah came and brought hope to the people, but it didn’t last. It was only temporary because he died, the people went into captivity in Babylon, and the cycle continued. That is until Jesus came. Jesus is the true and deeper fulfillment of this text. He is the one that we can trust to bring hope in it’s fullness, when he comes again. When he comes again, hope will break forth. The world will be set right again. And our world, while currently living in the shadow of death, darkness, decay, and defeat will be remade. Jesus brings hope. You see Christmas and Advent is all about the coming of the world’s true King, the one who stops wars, who forgives debts, who establishes true justice and judgment on the earth and who brings true hope.

So two final thoughts on this idea of hope and how Jesus is the one who brings true hope. First, maybe you need some hope today. Maybe looking at the pain in the world, pain in your life, pain in the life of friend’s has taken away hope in your life. Hope that it will ever get better. Know that Jesus can give you hope if you seek after him and ask him to, and continue to ask. Secondly, who do you know that needs hope? As a embodiment of Jesus in the world, as a vessel of the Kingdom, Jesus calls us to embody and live lives of hope. You can be a vessel of hope to people that God sends you to.

So where do you need hope in your life? Where are you waiting for hope in your life? Who is God calling you to share hope with in the world? Who is waiting for hope that God may be calling you to live and embody hope in front of them? Those are some of the questions that we’ll wrestle together with.

1. What thoughts, questions, comments, insights, etc.. does the Scripture and/or the message bring to your mind?

2. Where do you need hope in your life right now? Where are you waiting for hope?

3. Who is God calling you to share hope with in the world? Who is waiting for hope that God may be calling you to live and embody hope in front of them?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Advent Devotional

Advent booklet Advent is a time of waiting. A time of waiting and drawing closer to Jesus. So we thought we would help you draw closer to Christ and wait by putting this Advent devotional together. So download a copy, and use it each day during advent and wait upon Him.

Veritas Service Sunday. Cutting party for Binding Love Scarves

Here are some pictures from our Veritas Service Sunday yesterday. We partnered with Binding Love Scarves and helped cut recycled clothing so they can be made into scarves and sold and the proceeds go to help fight Human Trafficking. A great way to serve and be a blessing.

For, With, One of, In Week 4: In

So today we come to the conclusion of our 4 week series For, With, One of, In. In the incarnation of Jesus, we see the way that God and Jesus interact with all of humanity. First of all, God is for us. Secondly, God is with us. Thirdly, Jesus became one of us. And lastly when we receive him, Jesus comes to live in us. When we follow this model of incarnational living we become for people, we are with people, we become one of them, so that Jesus then comes to live in them. And so we have spent a great deal amount of time talking during this series of what it means to live an incarnational life.

The first week we talked about the fact that God is actually for us. All too often we have a mistaken view that God the Father is just waiting for us to screw up so that he can crush us. That he is for us as long as we don’t screw up or get out of line. Then when we do, watch out. The Father’s anger comes raining down. But if we are to believe John 3:16-17 (especially verse 17) then we have to believe that Jesus is absolutely for us. And then when we realize that, and seek to live a life that is informed and shaped by God being for us, we become for people. Just ask the regular person on the street if they believe the church and Christians are for people or against them, and we all know what they will say. That Christians are against them. In fact, it is true that we are known more for what we are against than what we are for. How do we change that? We realize that God is for us (and for all people) and then we become for people.

Then we spent time talking about God being with us. Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus. What we celebrate at Christmas. That God the Father isn’t just some deity in the sky who is distant and unapproachable. He showed the Israelites that he was with them on their journey from Egypt to the Promised land through the presence of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And that God took them through the desert. We talked about the fact that God meets us in the wilderness as well. And that he is with us and calls us then to be with people.

Last week we talked about God being one of us in the person of Jesus. How he came to earth, taking on flesh and blood and moving into the neighborhood. And that Jesus truly understands what it means to be human. He became one of us and calls us who follow him to incarnate and become one of the people, networks, and neighborhoods that we are a part of. That we are already one of.

This week we finish our series For, With, One of, In by looking at In and to do that we’ll use one verse from the Apostle Paul’s letter to Galatian church. So let’s look at Galatians 2:20 and see what it might say about God living in and through us. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

To truly understand this one verse in chapter 2 of Galatians we need to take a look at what the Apostle Paul was writing about in this letter. Paul is writing to the Galatian church regarding their position before God, what set them in right relationship with God. The Galatian church had Judaizers come and teach them that they not only needed to follow Jesus, but that they also had to abide by certain Old Testament rites, especially circumcision. You see Judaizers were Jewish Christians who believed, among other things, that a number of practices from the Old Testament were still binding in the New Testament church. And Paul here in this letter to the church at Galatia is stating that it is by grace through faith alone that people are justified and it is by faith alone that they are to live out their new life in the freedom of the Holy Spirit. It is not the law, and the Old Testament rituals that set us right with God and redeems us. It isn’t whether we are Jewish or Greek, our heritage that puts us in right relationship with God. It is Christ, Christ crucified and Christ alone that redeems, reconciles, sets us right, and by which forgiveness comes. That is what Paul is trying to get across to the followers of Jesus in the Galatian church.

What Paul is getting at in verse 20 is that he realized that on the cross a great exchange happened. He gave Jesus his old try to be right before God by the law life and it was crucified on the cross. Then Jesus gave Paul his life to live. Christ came to live in him. So Paul’s life wasn’t his anymore. It belonged to Jesus. Paul didn’t own his own life, that life was dead, he was simply stewarding or managing the new life that Jesus gave him by his death on the cross. Martin Luther puts it this way, “Faith connects you so intimately with Christ that He and you become as if you were one person. As such you may boldly say ‘I am now one with Christ. Therefore, Christ’s righteousness, victory, and life are mine.’ On the other hand Christ may say ‘I am that big sinner. His sin and death are one because he is joined to me and I to him.”

So we who are in Jesus, our old self was crucified with Jesus, and our new self is bound with Jesus. Our old identity is dead, and our new identity is in Jesus. Whatever you were before Jesus, you are no longer that. We are the Messiah’s people with his life now at work in us. If we are ‘in” the crucified Jesus that means that our previous identities are irrelevant. They are to be forgotten. And if we have a new identity, one drawn from the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and if our new identity is because Jesus now lives in us, we have a different life. Our old life, lived under the law (think about why this letter was written- the OT ceremonial laws that the Judaizers wanted the Galatian believers to follow) is now dead. Now we are alive to Jesus Christ and he is alive in us.

And so if Jesus resides in us, if he comes to live within us, that means our life is no longer ours. It is his. And that life, the life of Jesus, lived through our lives need to be cruciform. What is the cruciform life? It means a cross shaped life. Our life is shaped by the cross into the shape of the cross. The cross, representing the life, death, and resurrected life of Jesus is the soul and life shaping core of the disciple’s existence. What Jesus did while walking on this earth is what he wants to do in and through us out in the world. How he lived his life while on earth is how he is calling us to live, since he has taken up residence within us. Taking up his home with those of us who have received him into our life.

So maybe the first thing that I need to ask is have you been crucified with Christ, and have you allowed Jesus to take up residence within you? To give your life for his life? To take up your cross and follow him? To begin living a cruciform life, a life shaped by the cross into the shape of the cross? If not, that is the first thing that you need to do before looking at anything else or hearing anything else that I say. Because you can’t seek to live out this For, With, One of, In reality out in the world, in your neighborhood, networks, and friends unless the reality is that you have received Jesus in your life. Have you traded places with him? Come to a place where your old life is dead, on the cross with him. And that your new life is Jesus living in and through you? If not, I pray that today you would give your life to him, and become a steward of the new life in Jesus that he will give back to you. (This is a beautiful picture of what we do when we baptize someone. Like the other week when Luis got baptized. He went into the water. His old life dying on the cross with Jesus. He came out of the water with Jesus’ new life within him).

And so when we do that, when our life is crucified with Jesus, we receive the new life through Jesus. The new life of Jesus living in and through us, we take on a new name. The name of Jesus. We become Christians, in the best and truest sense of the word, which means little Christs or little Jesus-es. (That is how the early followers of Jesus got their name because they looked like Jesus in the way that they lived his life in and through them).

And so as we have been walking through this incarnational journey, hopefully we have all begun to understand the implications of this journey. The implications of God being for us, with us, and one of us which then often times leads us to invite Jesus to be in us. And that changes everything. God passes the DNA of Jesus into our lives. Because we then possess the DNA of Jesus within us, we are empowered to live as Jesus lived while here on earth. And so when we then possess the DNA of Jesus within us, when our old life is crucified with Jesus, and our new life is cruciform, looking like the cross, then we, like God, must be for people, we must be with people, we must be one of people, so that the DNA of Jesus can be passed through our lives into the lives of others and Jesus will come and live in them as well.

So as we have been walking this incarnational journey together over the last 4 weeks who has God been laying on your heart? Who do you need to walk through this process with (not in a formal way or even an explicit way). But who needs to know (experience) that you are for them, that you are with them, that you are one of them with the hope and dream that the Jesus that lives within you can come and live within them? Who is God calling you to be on mission for? Who is God calling our community to be on mission for? Who is God calling us to be for? Who is God calling us to be with? Who is God calling us to be one of? So that the Jesus that lives, and breathes through our Veritas community, can come and live, and move and have his being in their lives?

And maybe that person is you. Maybe these four weeks have been for you. That you are the person that needs to first realize that God is for you. That he isn’t against you. That he is with you. That he meets you in the mess, the pain, the struggle, the wilderness, and the beauty as well. That he became one of us, took on flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. He understands everything that you go through and because he came as a human (all the while still being God) he can be the only one who can set us right with God. And because he is for you, with you, and one of you, he wants to come and live within you.

So let’s spend some time discussing, talking, and applying what it means that your old life is crucified with Jesus and that he is now living in and through you. Let’s talk about who God may be calling us to walk through this process of For, With, One of, In with. And let’s see what part of this series spoke to you the most and what you are sensing God’s call on your life is through the series.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, etc… does the Scripture and/or message raise in your mind?

2. Who is God calling you (and us as a community) be be For, With, One of so that Jesus comes to live within them? Who do you need to walk through this process with?

3. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

4. What stood out to you during our For, With, One of, In series? Which one of the 4 do you need to internalize and externalize?

For, With, One of, In Week 3: One of

Over the last 2 weeks we have been exploring our series For, With, One of, In. 2 weeks ago Matt kicked off our series by looking at John 3:16-17 and sharing with us the fact that God is for us (and for all people, not just followers of Jesus) and that because he is for people, that we should be for people as well.

Last week we talked about the idea that God is with us. That the ultimate reality of that fact is Emmanuel..God with us, in the form and life of Jesus. We talked about the Israelites leaving Egypt and going into the wilderness on their way to the promised land. On that journey the tangible presence of God was with them guiding, directing and being with them in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. We talked about God being with the Israelites in the wilderness and how he is with us in our times of wilderness. We also talked about the idea that if God is with us, and that we are vessels of the Holy Spirit and seeking to follow in the footsteps of our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer, then we need to be with people as well.

Today we are entering the 3rd of the 4 weeks and looking at One of. Next week we’ll round out our series by looking at In.

To dig into this idea of One of, we could go many places. Obviously the first and best place to start in relation to the fact that God was one of us is in relation to the incarnation of Jesus, that we celebrate at Christmas time. And while we won’t be using the Scripture narratives from Matthew and Luke regarding that first Christmas, we’ll be using 2 other Scriptures that shed light in what it means and what it meant for God to be one of us, in the person of Jesus.

First, let’s turn to Colossians 2:9 and see what the Apostle Paul says to the Colossian church regarding Jesus, the incarnation and the fact that God was one of us in Jesus. Colossians 2:9 says, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form”

To understand what Paul is getting at in this text we need to do a little historical research on why Paul was writing the letter to the church at Colossae in the first place. You see the Colossian church was being besieged with some beliefs about Jesus that weren’t correct and Paul was seeking to combat the erroneous beliefs that had infiltrated the Colossian church. Colossians 2:9 is a declaration of the full deity of Jesus. Paul is saying that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus and that Jesus couldn’t have been halfway God or a junior God. You see there were three prominent heretical views about Jesus that were making their rounds in the early church and these views needed to be combated with a strong message that Jesus was fully God and fully human at the same time, as hard is that for us to believe at times. 100% human. 100% God.

One of the false teachings among the Colossian Christians was something like an early form of Gnosticism, that would come later. This belief made a radical separation between the spiritual and the physical. That the spirit is 100% good and the physical is 100% evil. So Jesus, if he was 100% good couldn’t have been physically human. That is why Paul says, “fullness of Deity in bodily form.” That Jesus literally took on the bodily form of humanity and not in some strange mystical, spiritual sense.

Another false teaching of the day that some in Colossae may have held to was called Docetism, coming from the Greek word dokeĩn which means to seem. Docetism claims that Jesus wasn’t truly human, he only seemed human. That he didn’t have an actual human body, and that he only seemed to have a human body.

Lastly, the other false teaching was called Cerinthianism and it taught that “Jesus the man” was separate and distinct from “the Spirit of Christ.”

Hopefully knowing what teachings the early church was struggling through, we can see why Paul was strongly stating the fact that, unlike all the other teachings that we looked at, that “in Jesus all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” The Apostle Paul was saying that Jesus literally became human, he became one of us. But at the same time, even though he became one of us, a human, he still retained his deity. It wasn’t like he had to give up his divinity in order to take on his humanity. God became one of us in the person of Jesus. And that this Jesus who came from heaven to walk among people, was also fully divine.

The Apostle Paul talks a lot about the intersection of Jesus’ divinity and his humanity. It seems like, to me, that this was one of Paul’s central doctrine of his faith. That Jesus was truly God and truly man. As I said a lot of the book of Colossians deals with the supremacy and primacy of Jesus and his divine and human nature, but Paul also writes about this in other letters.

One of the letters where he tackles what happened when Jesus took on flesh and blood is found in Philippians. Let’s look at Philippians 2:5-11 and see what this might say to us about how God became one of us in the person of Jesus.

Philippians 2:5-11 says, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;  rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

In this text, which many theologians believe is a ancient hymn, Paul talks about the nature of Jesus’ humanity and his divinity. In verse 6 we read, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;” First, it is openly clear from this verse that Paul is not denying the fact that Jesus was in his very nature God. But at the same time Jesus did not cling to the privileges of deity. It wasn’t that Jesus was trying to achieve equality with God the Father, he already had it and he chose not to cling to it. This is a crucial statement because it is the reason that he became one of us. That he didn’t cling to the privileges of deity. He could have stayed with his Father, ruling and reigning from heaven, without ever putting one foot on the soil of his creation. He could have pronounced us redeemed, set right, forgiven, and whole all the while sitting at the right hand of the Father. But he didn’t. He chose not to use equality with God to his own advantage. No, he submitted himself to the will of the Father and took on the flesh and blood of his creation. Entered into our reality. Entered into the mess of humanity. Became one of us. Understanding everything we go through. Understanding the brokenness that we struggle with. If you ever ask the question “Does God understand what I’m going through” all we need to do is to look at Jesus and his incarnation, his becoming human to walk among his creation and experience everything that his creation experiences.

NT Wright has this to say about verses 6-7 and the fact that Jesus while becoming human didn’t stop being divine, “Let’s clear one misunderstanding out of the way in case it still confuses anybody. In verse 7 Paul says that Jesus ‘emptied himself’. People have sometimes thought that this means that Jesus, having been divine up to that point, somehow stopped being divine when he became human, and then went back to being divine again. This is, in fact, completely un-true to what Paul has in mind. The point of verse 6 is that Jesus was indeed already equal with God; somehow Paul is saying that Jesus already existed even before he became a human being (verse 7). But the decision to become human, and to go all the way along the road of obedience, obedience to the divine plan of salvation, yes, all the way was not a decision to stop being divine. It was a decision about what it really meant to be divine.”

Jesus, in all respects, was in appearance and likeness, a man. If you cut Jesus, he bled like any other human. It’s not like some of the artwork we see where it’s almost like if you cut him, light would come shining through because he just put on the outer form of humanity over his divinity. No, he was human through and through. You cut him, he bled. When he was tired, he slept. When he hurt for people, he cried. He was one of us. The song that we listened to at the beginning of our gathering was a question, “what if God was one of us?” And the answer has to be, he was one of us. Jesus was one of us. But at the same time, as hard as it is to fathom, Jesus was at the same time God. He was God in the flesh. God and Human all wrapped up together in the package of Jesus.

Now was does it mean to you and I that God was one of us in the person of Jesus? What does it mean to us as followers of Jesus in this time and in this place? Let me throw out some thoughts about what the incarnation means and how to apply it to our lives before we open it up for our discussion time.

First, as I mentioned above, Jesus entered into our reality. He entered into the mess of what it means to be truly human. He enters into our mess. He enters into our struggles, our pains, our darkness. He isn’t afraid to get dirty. He understands what it means to be human. To struggle, to be tempted as we are tempted (though he didn’t sin), to be in pain, to hurt. He can not only sympathize with you in your struggles, he can also empathize with you. He has been where you are. He meets us where we are because he was and is one of us.

Secondly, because God came in the flesh in the person of Jesus, when we become followers of Jesus, than he calls us to incarnate him into the world. To be one of. Who are you called to be one of? To incarnate the gospel of Jesus into the people of which you are already a part of? As followers of Jesus, he commissions us to love the people we are one of. Who is it for you? Who are you already one of? There are a few of you who are college students. Love the students you are already one of. Love and live like Jesus on the F&M, Millersville, and HACC campus. What about being one of those who live in your neighborhood? Love and be a blessing to the neighborhood that you are already a part of. Throw a party. Invite people to dinner. Get a bunch of your neighbors together and serve together. Serve someone in your neighborhood who could use some help.

What neighborhood or network of people are you already one of? As we have talked together over the last 3 weeks, does that network of people or neighborhood known that you are for them? Are you with them? Do you actually like them? Maybe some better questions would be things like: Would the people in my network or neighborhood say that I am for them? Would they say that I am with them? And would they consider me to be one of them?

Let’s talk about what the incarnation of Jesus into the world, taking on flesh and blood and moving into the neighborhood means personally for you and I. Let’s talk about what it means to be one of. Let’s ask the question about who we are one of and how we can be for, with, and one of. Let’s talk about the incarnation and how Jesus calls us to be incarnational.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, etc.. does these Scriptures and the message bring up in your mind?

2. What does it mean to you that God became one of us in Jesus? How does this impact you on a daily basis? How does it feel to know that God has entered into our mess and our reality?

3. Who are you already one of? How is God calling you to incarnate the love of Jesus in the networks that you are already one of? How can you love, serve and bless who you are already one of?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

For, With, One of, In Week 2: With

So today we continue our 4 week series called For, With, One of, In. In the incarnation of Jesus, we see the way that God and Jesus interact with all of humanity. First of all, God is for us. Secondly, God is with us. Thirdly, Jesus became one of us. And lastly when we receive him, Jesus comes to live in us. When we follow this model of incarnational living we become for people, we are with people, we become one of them, so that Jesus then comes to live in them.

Last week Matt did a great job of kicking off the series by looking at the fact that God is for people. He did a great job of unpacking John 3:16-17 especially verse 17 (which sits right beside probably one of the most well known scripture of all time, and verse 17 which isn’t even that well known). Verse 17 says it best regarding the fact that God is for us, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” And Matt helped us understand that if God is for people (and not just those of us who follow him, but for ALL people) than we need to be for people. We need to become a people more known for what we are for than what we are against. The Church in our world today is seen as being against people and not for people. Jesus, if he is our model for life, which he should be, was sent into the world to love people, not condemn people and to be for people. So if he is our model for life then we should be the most loving, least condemning people on the planet and we should be for people.

Today we are going to look at the second part of our series, the with part. Now when we talk about the fact that God is with us, we should immediately think of Emmanuel, which means God with us. Jesus, taking on flesh and blood, and moving into the neighborhood as the Message translates John 1:14. That is the ultimate picture of God with us. That is the quintessential example of God with us. But there are other examples, other accounts, within the Scriptures that speak of God with us. God entering into the world of humans, and engaging with us. Yes they aren’t as revolutionary, as important, as central to the idea of God with us, as Jesus, the incarnate one is. But they are still examples of God being with humanity, guiding, directing, leading, and engaging in relationship with his creation. One of these stories of God being with humanity is found in Exodus 13:17-22, in which the people of God, the Israelites are leaving slavery in Egypt and heading towards Canaan, the promised land.

Let’s look at Exodus 13:17-22 and see what it says about God being with us, and what it looks like then for us to be with people.

Exodus 13:17-22 says, “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.” After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.  By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.”

Now as I said this is the part of the story that is telling us what happened once Pharaoh let God’s people, the Israelites, leave slavery and Egypt. This is the account of the beginning of their 40 year journey in the wilderness. The first thing we read in verse 17-18 is God leading the people out from Egypt. Verse 17 and 18 says, “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.” Here we see God leading them in which way to go. He is with them and helping them make a crucial decision on what route to take from Egypt to the promised land. You see, just like today, when there isn’t just one way to get somewhere, there were possibly three various routes that people took throughout history. There are only two possibilities mentioned here. The first being the way of the Philistines, which would have been the shorter route, but the Israelites would have faced the most opposition. First they would have probably come across many Egyptian army outposts on their way out of Egypt, and then when they got out of Egypt they would have ran into Philistine armies. The second mentioned here, in which God led them, was into the wilderness. They went on the desert road towards the Red Sea. This was by far a longer trip, but it was probably just as dangerous in other ways.

But God led them to the desert road, and the wilderness, and he would be with them throughout their journey. When they had a decision to make, or needed wisdom or direction for the next steps, God was with them. They knew that, without a doubt, that God was with them. They knew this because they had something to look at. God was faithful to provide the Israelites with a visible manifestation of His presence, protection and guidance. We find what that visible manifestation of his presence was in verse 21-22 which says, “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” The pillar, we are told, was constantly with them and never left (or failed) them. God continually gave his people evidence of His presence with them. What is interesting about the Pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night is that the Persians and the Greeks used fire and smoke as signals in their marches and in a well known Papyrus, the Commander of an Egyptian expedition is called “A flame in the darkness at the head of his soldiers”. By this sign then of the pillar of cloud, basically what is being said is that the Lord himself is the leader or the head of the people of God, the Israelites. He was going before them and he was leading them. He was with them and he was never going to leave them nor forsake them. Deuteronomy 31 verse 6 sums up pretty well the Israelites journey out of Egypt, “ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

So no matter whether it was day or night, there was a tangible presence of God. Whether it was the pillar of cloud by day or pillar of fire by night, the Israelites knew that God was with them and was leading them. That God was protecting them. And with that protection came their allegiance to their King. Not a king in the fleshy, human sense (that would come later) but God as their King. With the presence of the cloud during the day and pillar of fire at night, the Israelite people knew that their King, God (Yahweh) wasn’t some distant ruler, who ruled from a far. Who demanded allegiance without being for his people and with his people. No. This King Yahweh was for his people. This King Yahweh was present with his people. And because he was for and with his people, they followed him and gave allegiance to him (in this part of the story at least)

I believe there are a few things that we can draw from this passage and apply to our lives today in the 21st century.

First, let’s take another look at the beginning of the text. Look at where God took them. He took them, not by the easiest, quickest route, but into the wilderness. That his presence, symbolized by the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, was with them in the wilderness and the desert. Now, I’m not saying that if you find yourself in a desert place, a wilderness place, a dark place that God led you there. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. Maybe you are in a place where God seems distant. Where you haven’t felt God in a long time. That you haven’t sensed his leading. And it might feel like when you pray that you are screaming to the sky and no one is listening. You need to know, that if that is you today, you aren’t alone. You aren’t alone in a number of ways. Many people, even people who are renown for their faith in Jesus have felt that way. There is a book/poem by mystic St. John of the Cross called Dark Night of the Soul. The main idea of the poem can be seen as the painful experience that people endure as they seek to grow in spiritual maturity and union with God. Also Mother Teresa, known for her deep love and service also struggled with not feeling God. In her journal she once wrote, “In the darkness . . . Lord, my God, who am I that you should forsake me?  The child of your love — and now become as the most hated one. The one — you have thrown away as unwanted — unloved. I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer . . . Where I try to raise my thoughts to heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul.  Love — the word — it brings nothing.  I am told God lives in me — and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul.”

Others have gone through the desert as well. So you aren’t alone in that. But you are also not alone. Even though it doesn’t feel like God is present with you in the wilderness, he is. If we believe this text, and others like it (especially in relation to Emmanuel..God with us) God enters into our wilderness, our suffering, our pain. Sure you might not feel him. And you most definitely won’t see a pillar of cloud by day or a pillar of fire by night. But that doesn’t escape the fact that God, through Jesus, has entered into our world, and is with us in a very real and profound way. Especially those who are suffering and going through wilderness experiences. So if that is you today, know that God is with you, walking with you through this experience, and that those of us who are followers of Jesus are also with you, and want to walk with you through your wilderness experience.

Secondly, when we look at the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire we see a tangible reality, that God was and is with people. He didn’t wait for people to come be with him. He didn’t sit in heaven and just wait for people to climb a ladder (so to speak) and be with him. And so this story of God coming down in a pillar of cloud and pillar of fire shows us that God is with us. But we see this best in Jesus. In Jesus we see that he came to be with us, that is what we celebrate at Christmas, Emmanuel, God with us. And so, logically, if we, who call ourselves Followers of Jesus, follow after Jesus in the way he lived his life, than we need to wrestle with the idea and fact that Jesus was with people, and that we then need to be with people. We don’t sit inside our “sanctified buildings” and wait for people to be with us. No. We take a cue from this text and from Jesus, and go out into the world to be with people. One great way that I can think of to be with people is to help out with Circles. God is calling us to go out and be with people. He might not lead us by a cloud and by fire, but he is leading us nevertheless. To get out of the bubble, and engage with people who are all around us. To love our neighbor. To learn their names if we don’t know them. To serve people. To bless them. To spend time over a dining room table eating with people. Let’s not only be for people, but let’s take another step on this incarnational journey and be with people.

So what does this look like for you? What does this look like for us? What does it mean to you that God is with us? Are you experiencing a time in your life where that reality needs to sink in to your life? How can you and I be with people? Let’s spend some time wrestling together with these questions and applying them to our individual and corporate lives.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, applications do you have regarding the Scripture and/or the message?

2. What does it mean to you that God is with us? How do you need this reality to sink into your life? Are you in a time where you need to know that God is with you?

3. How can you and I be with people? What does it look like for you to be with people? What does it look like for us as Veritas to be with people?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

For, With, One of, In Week 1: For

Start of new series For, With, One of, In

“The theme for the day is For and the idea that God/Jesus is For us and that because he is for us we can be for people.  This is especially played out in verse 17 which talks about Jesus not condemning the world and then if we follow him shouldn’t that be the way we engage with people, that we are really for them?  Yet, so often, Christians are perceived (and maybe rightly so) as against people.”

To start this new series, we will begin with a verse that I think I can say without any exaggeration is the best-known Bible verse of all. One that, if you grew up in the church, you probably learned as a little kid, one that you can probably quote without looking it up, one whose reference is sometimes found on big posters held up by fans at sporting events. We are looking at John 3:16-17 today. Let’s read: 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Verse 16 seems simple enough, right? It encapsulates Jesus’ earthly ministry & why it is important to us, His followers these 2000 or so years later. It is a beautiful summary of the humble, selfless act of the Son of God becoming a human, becoming one of us, & His atoning death on the cross, together with His resurrection, His work of conquering sin & death. Verse 16 is rightly very well-known.

But what about verse 17? Did you have that one memorized before we looked at it just now? And what does it mean that these two verses are one right after another, that Jesus spoke them in nearly the same breath? Let us look at the context in which these verses were spoken for some insight.

These verses are part of a late-night conversation between the Pharisee Nicodemus & Jesus.

Nicodemus was a member of Jewish society’s religious elite, the Pharisees. While we look at them now through the eyes of hindsight, they would have been educated, likely well-respected men who knew the Scriptures inside & out. For Nicodemus to be coming to Jesus, a carpenter’s son without nearly as much “formal religious training” as he himself likely had, showed some humility. And some embarrassment, too – he probably met with Jesus at night because he was ashamed to be seen “consorting with the enemy” – clearly the way that the Pharisees of Jesus’ day viewed Jesus - & asking Jesus questions. Nicodemus found himself in a position in which it likely wasn’t okay to have questions about faith.

Jesus seemed perfectly willing to spend time with ANYBODY – including a member of a group that he knew was plotting to kill Him - & tell Him about His plan for His Kingdom & the salvation that he offers.

As for John 3:16 itself, Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers remarks that “most young preachers have sermons upon it; older men learn that its meaning must be felt & thought rather than spoken. Still less can it be written; & this Note may not attempt to do more than indicate some lines of thought which may help to lead to others…While the words of the verse are quite familiar to most of us, they were uttered to Nicodemus for the first time”. The sacrificial system of the Old Testament was being fulfilled in the person of Jesus, & this would have likely rocked Nicodemus’ world. The Jews of Jesus’ time were figuring on a Messiah who would wipe out the Gentiles, a military Savior who would obliterate their political enemies. There is, after all, an abundance of talk about judgment for sin in the Old Testament, especially in the prophetic books like Ezekiel & Isaiah. But Jesus shows another plan at work – something that is also hinted at by those same prophets, Isaiah in particular. He paints the picture of a Father & his only Son - a picture that suggests the man of faith that the Jews looked up to most – Abraham. God provided a substitutionary sacrifice to take Isaac’s place on the altar then, & Jesus is saying here that God is providing Jesus Himself in place of the guilty parties – all of sinful man, every single person. He doesn’t draw a boundary & say that the salvation would be only for Israel, either, but the whole world. The one & only condition: “That whosoever believes on Him (Jesus)”. Any relationship needs to be two-sided, so Jesus included the fact that each individual person needs to choose to follow Him. Which leads us in to John 3:17.

In verse 17, Jesus seems to be directly taking on the notion of a vengeful Savior. He says, “ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Jesus is FOR us – He wants to see us saved, & He gives us the avenue for that – Himself. Earlier in the Gospels, in Luke 4:16-21, Jesus ties it all together beautifully. Let me read it: “16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,[j]
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus makes it clear that He is FOR us. He loves us, & God the Father loves us so much that He gave Jesus for us & raised Him from the dead, so that we can spend eternity in fellowship with Him. And also so we can follow Him in life, in building His Kingdom, & in being His hands & feet in the world as we know it.

Let me also make it clear, though that Jesus wants EVERYONE to be saved, to experience His love, to know Him truly. It is all too easy to fall into the trap that the Pharisees & the Jews were likely prone to – the idea that God was only for them. I feel that American Christianity has all too often come off as a judgemental club of easily-offended finger-waggers, breathing condemnation on those who don’t believe as they do. But Jesus is not only FOR us as Veritas, or as American Christians, or as members of the developed Western world. We can’t treat the truth that Jesus communicates in John 3:16-17 as something on which we have cornered the market. This salvation, this life, this relationship is available to all who want it, without restriction. That includes our loved ones, our enemies, total strangers, people on the other side of the world, homeless people, rich people, saints, criminals, you, & me. Simply put, Jesus is FOR us, FOR all people – let us live in the light of that truth.

1. What thoughts/comments/questions/pushback do you have about these verses of Scripture/this message?

2. Jesus is FOR us - what does that mean to you personally? To Veritas as a community? How might this change your perception of other people?