Who would make this up?

The Bible I mean. The love story of God and his people. Of their rescue and his glory. Of the Way, who is Jesus Christ.

Who would make up a faith where God is bigger than we are? Where he has done everything and has left nothing left for us to do - except to believe and accept this free gift. Humanity and its false religions preach a message of righteousness through works and human effort. Man is important and must play a role in his salvation; he needs to prove himself and self-actualize. He must do certain things or follow particular rules in order to get closer to God and to become righteous.

But the Christian faith is antithetical to all this foolish thinking. It admits the truth of humanity's sin and its having fallen short of the glory of God. The rightful place of honor and praise and thanksgiving is alone given to Jesus, the God-Man, who has set us free and become our only hope for true righteousness in the sight of God the Father.

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. - Galatians 3:10-14

Matt Chandler Sermons on Hebrews

http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/sermons?kw=hebrews&type=sermons&match=any

Testimony of this man Paul

The work of the true gospel leads to a testimony of transforming grace that God continues to work in us.

"I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.

Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles — only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.

Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me." - Galatians 1:11-24

PJT began as an initiative of the Presbyterian Hunger Program. It began informally when a handful of Presbyterians visiting Peru through the Hunger Program's Joining Hands Network began bringing handcrafts made by their new colleagues back to the United States for sale in churches and among friends. Very quickly, thanks to the work of committed volunteers, that tiny partnership blossomed into a growing non-profit organization with a national outreach that sells a wide variety of Fair Trade products and creates educational materials about the importance of Fair Trade. http://partnersforjusttrade.org/ht/d/sp/i/179/pid/179

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ - Matthew 25:37-39

I like how the righteous are also the humble. Just as God does not keep a record of wrongs done against him, his people do not keep a record of rights (or deeds) done for him. they simply live out this beautiful relationship with him in innocent humility. i luv it.

Setting the stage to restore Peter

Relistened to this incredible message from the Underground today after Core Sunday service & picnic. It gives me hope for the kind of confrontations we must have with each other for the sake of healthy community and authentic love for our Father in heaven. At the same time, it reminds me of the terrible pain and hurt that still remains with me after our own community's failure with this, beginning the very day this message was given. The cold house meeting with a room full of vague "elephants," the second meeting later that night at the Lake House where God's words were fulfilled, the mediation of Stacy at last Sunday's meeting. Of the three, I felt that the last had the most progress, but I am certain that communal problems are far from resolved. They have no hope of lasting resolution, the kind that Jesus offered that day to Peter, when all members are not equally laid bare or repentant. There must also be the warm embrace of the Father come after the pain and discipline. There should be both a calling out and an offer of forgiveness and grace. I know this is possible because our Savior did this, he knew his people would need a picture, a story, of real reconciliation to turn to. They would need Him to show them what it looks like to challenge a breaker of trust, but also love them well through the hard but necessary confrontation. I am still waiting for a grace to come that is not just between me and the Father but among a community that says they are after his heart. I know that Jesus is faithful and dwells with those who cry out to him in the lowly, broken places of their soul. Where we long for his presence and hunger for his love, he hastens to come with power and comfort. I am not overwhelmed by feelings of hurt, pain, depression, sadness, anger or bitterness (though I do feel these things at times) because I know who this God I worship is. I know that he is my Father who has revealed my faults to me in such a way that they will not crush me or shame me, but challenge and discipline me as a daughter. I know that members of my community and extended community are sinners just like me who do not always get or understand the ways of Jesus or put them into practice as he would have them do. But I know the love they have for him and the dedication of their lives to pursue him above all things. That is enough for me to continue. To begin to trust again and open myself up. My prayer is for the Spirit to really make himself known in fullness and power among us as a group of women submitted to the will of the Father. Before we try to force this concept of "community" upon each other, I know that it is Jesus who must be our Rock and enduring foundation. Peter in this tough passage made the mistake of already returning to old loud-mouth ways by asking Jesus, "Lord, what about him [John]?" when Christ told Peter to "Follow me!" Rather than looking outwardly at another's relationship with Jesus, we must turn inwardly to our own. Despite how others act, think, behave or speak, we are responsible for our own walk with him and must take ownership of our own failings if there will ever be hope for unity among a community of believers. With the help of our Lord, we can become the humble servants he has called us to be. We can live in fellowship with Him and with each other. The Enemy's plan to divide and destroy will not prevail because our God has overcome evil and made a way for us to live freely and peacefully with Him. I am not prone to hopefulness and optimism, but Jesus is teaching me to fight the cynicism and pessimism that usually dominates my mind and heart. We do have a real and lasting hope, a reason to see things differently and hold on with faith that things will get better. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just when darkness seemed to have overtaken the world with its final word, two days later everything changed. Life, light and love triumphed and forever crushed the duplicitous and demonic silence. Christ rose and the heavens rejoiced. Glory shone and a new era began where sinners could in fact receive the gift of eternal life. There is hope and the possibility for change, and that is enough for me. Jesus is trustworthy and deserves my whole heart. He said he will never forsake us and that he will make us all new creations. I trust him at his word and look on with renewed hope as he faithfully does his work in each of us.

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. - John 12:23-33


John 19 - The Crucifixion of Jesus

What would the world look like if Jesus had not come? When was the last (or even first) time that we took a historical inventory of all the incredible and world-altering events that originated from the life, and in particular death, of Jesus Christ? What was birthed from this decisive day when love triumphed and grace prevailed? The teachings of Christ did not get buried in the tomb. His revolutionary ideas that are altogether holy and righteous and beautiful did not get forgotten or put aside. No, his followers clung to their crucified God and faithfully carried out his will through the power and gift of the Holy Spirit.

If you have ever felt the sting of racial, economic, or gender inequality and longed for a movement to arise against such injustices, then you have been touched by the message of Jesus and movement of God's people who adhere to these words in Galatians 3, "So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

Do not be mistaken. This idea of equality for all was unheard of in ancient times. Women were subjugated to men, ethnicities were discriminated against without shame or remorse, the poor and indebted were oppressed and mistreated. There was no concept of equal standing in these categories, nor was there any noticeable desire to demonstrate the equal value that every individual shared with one another. It was, in a word, inconceivable. But the God of the Bible spoke truth and made it known to the world through his Son. What we take for granted so much today and write off as a given moral standard would never have entered human history without the person of Jesus interjecting himself into our deplorable situation and challenging the worldviews that lead only to death and rebellion against God.

Jesus also gave us the possibility of hope and faith, rather than fate and cyclic existence, through his willing sacrifice on the cross and subsequent resurrection into unimaginable glory. Rather than living a fatalistic life, where no matter what you did or tried to change fate would ultimately decide, Christ defied that utter foolishness and gave people a message that was truly good news. With hope, came even the possibility to do science, to try to understand the world and make sense of it through our mind, logic, rationale and intellect. Before Jesus, before hope, who would have cared to attempt the previously unknowable? There was nothing to hold on to or rely upon. But now so much has been created, invented, explored, discovered that we are tempted to believe it was always the inquisitive human spirit that pioneered such things. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is the Spirit of Hope that gives humans the drive to push forward and persevere when failure seems imminent.

Think of things like a calendar or a watch. It was monks who changed the way we keep track of days, with the incarnation and manifestation of Jesus as the central reference point rather than Rome. Time itself points to the defining role of Christ in history. We live in the year 2011 A.D. meaning 2,011 years after our Lord was born. The concept of 24 hour days arose because monks wanted to keep track of when it was time to pray.

The notions of helping widows and orphans, providing for the poor and needy, taking care of the sick and showing compassion to the weak - these are realities that only Jesus, and later his disciples, had a heart for. Cultures in the ancient world essentially viewed children as garbage and did not hesitate to throw them out. Literally. If a person was ill, they too were disposed of for fear of contaminating others. There would be no orphanages or hospitals if the followers of Jesus were erased from the history books. Neither would there be education, for no other religion, philosophy, ideology or creed ever posited human beings to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind."

What stood out to me even more is how our current American political theory can find its roots in Jesus' own statements. He said such things as, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." In John 18, he admits to being a king but says, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." We fancy the separation of church and state as being something relatively new, when in fact Jesus' own words imply this prescribed reality. It was not God's design to have a theocratic form of government, like the present-day Islamic countries embrace.

He also introduced the unthinkable command, "Love your enemies." How else could this make sense aside from the story of Jesus - a love story, wrought with pain, suffering and a crowning crucifixion, but which is encapsulated in grace, mercy and forgiveness for those he set out to win over, his (God's) enemies. He has shown us how to truly live and how to treat one another, whether we be family, friends, fellow citizens, foreigners, strangers, or hardened enemies.

Jesus in the flesh spoke to all of these elements of human existence. He inspired monks to place great value on knowledge and preservation of writings for future generations to learn and understand. He inspired them to create notation and ways of expressing music in worship to their amazing God who is so worthy of praise through song. From the seed of this dying Jesus, he brought forth a world full of millions upon millions of more seeds - those who would come to believe in his name and put their faith in him. They are his hands and feet on this earth. They are his ambassadors and spokesmen - for human dignity, for human rights, for ethics, for education, for nonviolence, for truth, for mercy, for healing. For all that is right, good, true, beautiful & just. None of these would be possible apart from the loving, sacrificial, humble, servant king, Jesus Christ.

I am speechless before this amazing God who entered human history to die for us, to be that first seed to fall and die so that we may be born from his sacrifice. Let us too, a single seed, die to ourselves so that more seeds may be produced for his name. Our God is so worthy!