January 22 Sermon: How We Worship
We find ourselves on the second commandment today. Imagine that the number two comes after number one. I'm no math wizard, but even I got that one sorted out. But we're here at the second commandment, and you might be thinking, this commandment doesn't seem that much different than the first. Well, you're not the first person to think that. In fact, if you look at the way some different Christian groups, some of our brothers and sisters in Christ, the way they actually number the commandments in the way that they sort out the commandments in the order or the way they number them, they actually group the first and the second commandment together. Instead of, You shall have no other gods before me, and you should not make for yourself an idol. Then the third command, you should not take the Lord's name in vain. They put one and two together, and everything after the, what we would call the first commandment, is instructions on the second commandment. Then they would have the third commandment, you should not take the name in vain.
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 44:21-28
This is a really cool passage to take a look at. We've seen all this language of exile and of judgment. Here we have a good reminder of what God is doing. What is amazing is we get to the end and God is doing an interesting thing, and we'll see what that is. But first, we need to remember this story that is told throughout scripture, this idea of God redeeming a people for himself, of him making a people for himself. It's all connected to his saving grace, to his redeeming power. We see here that Israel needs to remember and Jacob needs to remember. In other words, this all-encompassing, Hey, all the people who are my people, you need to remember something very important. I formed you. You're my servant. Hey, you're mine. I have made you my servant. I have bought you. And that's why this redemption language is so important here. This idea that they've been redeemed, that they've been bought. God has taken possession of them. He for lack of a better term, owns them because he has bought them. And so what was done to buy them? He's blotted out their transgressions like a cloud and their sins like a mist.
January 15 Sermon: Who We Worship
Let me tell you, I have been teaching the Ten Commandments a lot. I mean, I have taught it a lot. As I think about doing Youth ministry for 17 years, being here and then teaching Catechism class. I've taught them many times, and I don't know how long ago I came come up with this exercise that I do when I teach the Ten Commandments. But it wasn't this decade that I came up with, and it wasn't the previous one either. So, I've been doing it a while.
But what I do is I give the students a sheet and it's got ten lines on it, and they are to write out the Ten Commandments in order. Tell them if you can do it from memory, that's good. If not, go to Exodus 20, write them out, put them in order. Then when we get done with putting the commandments in order, what we do is I tell them, now what I want you to do is to put a number next to the commandment based upon how easy you think it is to keep. So, if it's the easiest one to keep, put a one by it.
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 44:9-20
This passage on idolatry, these eleven verses are straight fire, right? I mean, this is fantastic stuff. This is completely different. We're not completely different, but it's quite a bit different than a lot of what we have looked at in Isaiah. There has been some times where idolatry has been addressed, but most of the time we're looking at judgment and restoration. And here the foolishness of idolatry is on display. And you have to love the questions that are asked, Who fashions of God are cast an idol that is profitable for nothing. Why do you do this? Why is this what you are doing with your life? Why is this happening?
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 44:1-8
So, here we see two very good reminders, not only for the people of God who Isaiah was addressing, but very good reminders for us. We've seen this on regular occasions throughout the Book of Isaiah, but it's always something that is very good for you and I to hear, and that is that Israel is the chosen of God, that God chooses His people, and that there is no other. Now, part of that is interesting because really it shows the grace that God has, right? As we think about this, as we lean into what we're seeing, if there are not these regional deities, if there is no God but the God of Israel, then they are a particular people.
January 8 Sermon: God Spoke
In the midst of all of the other things that we have going on this morning, here we are starting off to look at the 10 Commandments. This is a perfect opportunity for us to be looking at the introduction to the 10 Commandments because we do have so much else going on. Now, the sermon is going to be a little bit shorter. Here's the deal. You got to promise not to be extra grumpy this afternoon because your nap was shorter. But we do have work to do. We do have to proclaim the word of God. We have to look at what holy scripture has to tell us here. Now, as we come to the Ten Commandments, we are going to be taking a look at what it is that these commands are. What is it that we have as an expectation in the commands of Holy scripture and in the commands of the Ten Commandments? Well, we have decided, or I have decided, that what we're going to be looking at today is this theme that God spoke.
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 43:1-28
As we come to Isaiah 43 today, what we find is not only a word that is good news, it talks about God being the savior of his people. But at the end, we do come to a word of judgment because the people have not listened to God. They have not followed His ways. They have not stayed with Him and His commands. But as we start out, we get this idea that God is the only one who can save His people. There are some really famous verses in here. There are some really beautiful passages. I'm the Lord who created you, O Jacob, I formed you. Then this phrase, Fear not for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. God lades hold of His people. He calls to them and He makes them His people. He holds on to them.
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 42:18-25
As we come to this section of Isaiah, what we're seeing here is the failure of Israel to see and hear. We see this pointed out for us in the heading that the ESV puts above verse 18, right? But we have this driven home with really powerful imagery from Isaiah. Hear you deaf and look you blind that you may see. He's calling to people who are incapable of doing things to do things.
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 42:10-17
As we come to verse 10 of chapter 42 here, we see a familiar phrase, Sing to the Lord a new song. Now, when you and I hear the idea of a new song, we instinctively probably think about an artist releasing a new song for us, whether that is coming out on CD or on the radio, or if you're more hip with the times being released on Spotify or Apple Music or something like that. But it's time for a song because the artist wanted to be creative or they needed some more money or it was just time to write a new song.
December 25 Sermon: Lowborn
We all like a good story with characters who are from humble origins, don't we? I think we're drawn to them because you and I can relate to those stories because I think we're probably all from humble origins. Anybody here of royal stock here? This is your chance to brag or have any of you born into high esteem? No, they're not.
We're drawn to these stories where people come up from the bottom, right? It's actually a really popular mechanism for stories. As I was thinking about different stories that have this I had two that came to mind to me right away. And you probably have some of your own. The first one that came to mind, and I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this is a movie called The Princess Diaries.
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 42:1-9
Another fantastic passage that's a break for us from all of the judgment language. Here we have something completely different. We see this on display here for us mostly in verse three. We see that this is a servant of God who is going to come. Ultimately, this is pointing forward to Jesus. It's telling us that He is going to come. He is going to be the salvation. He is going to be the one who builds up and sustains His people. We see, as I said in verse 3, how this is good news for people who have been under judgment because what is He going to do? A bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench.
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 41:21-29
As we have been moving through these stories in Isaiah of judgment and the story of God's salvation from that judgment, we've also seen a war between the true God and the gods of the nations. We saw this back when one of the Kings said, Hey, all the other people said their gods would protect them, but they didn't. The response was, Hey, God is sovereign. He is the one who has put you over these people for a time to judge them, but then he is going to come in judgment on you. We've had this war between God, the one true God, and the gods of the nations. This idea is continuing here in this End to Chapter 41.
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 41:1-20
As we've been reading the Book of Isaiah, the words of judgment have been going out abundantly, right? But now God is making it clear that He preserves His people, that He is there for His people, and that He is the one who rescues them. We see this very clearly in verses 8-10, But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen the offspring of Abraham, my friend. Despite all this judgment that has been happening, God is reminding them of the covenant and the fact that they are his friends, that he has been near to them, that He does this for their benefit, that He keeps them and he chastises them.
December 18 Sermon: Come with Singing
We live in a culture that's in a perpetual search for happiness. We're looking for this state where we are entertained all the time, aren't we? We see this in the things that we do, the things that we pursue. And this is really a symptom of the state of things in our culture, isn't it? We're always looking for the next big thing, the next state of happiness that we can have.
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 40:9-31
Once again, I told the truth. A lot of stuff there that you know, a lot of familiar passages and familiar language. I hope you are like me that as we have been slowly plotting our way through Isaiah, it hasn't been easy with all this language of judgment. But now we're really understanding where a lot of this is coming from, why it is being said, because we truly are understanding the context. Not only are we seeing this in the way that judgment is spoken of, but also the way in which people have set themselves up above God and set themselves in a position of authority even above Him.
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 40:1-8
As I said, very familiar texts here. As this starts out, you have a well known Advent text and also you maybe know it from Handel's Messiah. That's also a very well known part of that musical work. Also we have the verses from three and four, or that we designate three and four and verse five as well that are very, very common to be read around the time of Advent. And then we have the grass withers and the flower fades.
The Sufficiency of Christ
We live in a world that is obsessed with the next big thing. When I was young if you had shown me a lineup of people sleeping in the streets in an urban area, I would have assumed that the cause of this was homelessness. Now, you would have to wonder if perhaps it was a group of people waiting for the next big electronic device to be released. Many of us want to have the next iteration of a device so badly that extreme measures are taken to ensure the device is acquired. All of this obsession for the next big thing and chances are that the people waiting in line may in fact have a similar device with them that works just fine. It is easy for the newest version of our precious devices to convince us that what we have is not sufficient for what we need for it to do. Our thinking can be overcome with ways that we can afford the upgrade until we get that new electronic marvel.
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 39:1-8
So, chapter 39 has us seeing some interesting times in the life of Hezekiah. We just saw in the previous chapter that he was healed from these maladies, that he didn't have any children, but he was promised that he would because his life was going to be extended. But here we see that some envoys come from Babylon, and King Hezekiah is pretty excited about this. And the idea here is that they have a common enemy.
Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 38:1-22
As we progress through the Book of Isaiah, we come across an interesting story about Hezekiah. We find out that he is sick, very sick to the point of death. And the prophet comes to him and tells him that, Hey, get your house in order. You're going to die. You're not going to recover. Now, I've never had somebody tell me anything like this, but I think the last person I would want to inform me of that things would be a prophet, particularly one of the stature of Isaiah, right?
Considering the Heavens
For several years of my life, I lived in areas that had quite a bit of light pollution. While there, I always cherished the times where I would be at camp with students. It was then that I had the opportunity to spend five days where I had a much clearer view at the stars.