December 19, 2024 • 27 mins
When Jesus came to save us, he didn't do so using the ways and methods we are used to. He was an unconventional, unexpected savior. Pastor Tim Lindeman helps us understand what this means for us and others in his sermon today.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I don't understand. That doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
What I believe, and that's what matters.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Good morning, and welcome to Peace to you from Peace
Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado. All of us live life
with expectations. That is true in regard to God too.
We expect God.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
To be and behave in a certain way, and we
are disappointed or even offended when He doesn't meet our expectations.
During Advent, the season leading up to Christmas, we are
called to believe, but God calls us to believe in
Him on his terms, not ours. To be sure, God
often comes to us and on the expected ways. The
(01:01):
good news is God's way is always what is best
for everyone. Today, Pastor Tim Lindaman talks about Jesus, our
unexpected kind of savior. Now here's Pastor Tim.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So, how many of you remember the gospel reading from
last week? I know it's a whole week ago, right,
and Pastor Guy chose to preach on the epistle reading
all right, wishing he hadn't. But let me tell you
about the gospel reading from last week. Here's about a
man by the name of John the Baptist. He's out
(01:38):
by the Jordan River and he's out there preaching a
message to the people. And this John is the one
that's moretold in the Old Testament. Behold, a man will
go before you and to prepare the way of the Lord.
And he will be out there saying, prepare the way
of the Lord, make straight his paths. Now. In my
(02:03):
mind's eye, I don't know this for a fat but
in my mind's eye, I think of John as being
a man, a man, a man among men, right. And
the reason I do that is because the Bible tells
us that he's wearing this camel skin cloak and he's
holding it together with this belt, this massive leather belt.
(02:26):
And I just imagine him out there out in the wilderness,
a man among men, a man's man, right, a man
who's a survivalist.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
He's not afraid to eat bugs for lunch.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
He's not afraid to dig into the beehive, ignoring all
the bees swarming around him, so that he could have
the food from the honey. I think of him as
a man's man, and his message is a tough one
to hear. We're talking about John the Baptist here, who's
(03:00):
brimstone saying repent, prepare the way of the Lord. We're
talking about a man of faith that when Jesus walked by,
he said, behold the lamb of God, who will save
the world from their sins. We're talking about John the
Baptist here, and he's not afraid to call out the
(03:22):
rich and the famous, that those that are the halves right,
the people that have, are ignoring those that aren't. He's
not afraid to call them out and tell them to
quit being selfish and to start helping other people out.
He's not afraid to call out the soldiers and tell
them to quit using their positions of authority to extort
(03:45):
money from people and line their own pockets. He's not
afraid to call out the religious leaders, calling them a
brute of vipers. We're talking about John here. That was
last week last week, when he not only called out
all those people, but he called out King Herod. King
(04:09):
Herod who had taken his brother's wife, who also happened
to be his own niece, divorcing his first wife. That
was John the Baptist.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
But that was last week.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
This week we see John in prison. Apparently King Herod
didn't like it that the Baptist was calling him out.
King Herod didn't like to be embarrassed in front of
the people, so he had John thrown into prison, and
there language he in prison, John the Baptist, waiting his execution,
(04:47):
sends his disciples to Jesus and said, are you the
one who is to come? Or shall we wait for another?
That's quite a question, isn't it, especially coming from someone
like John the Baptist, a man of conviction, a man
of faith. Right, he was waffling, waffling between belief and doubt,
(05:12):
between trusting and struggle. Things hadn't turned out quite the
way he had expected them to turn out. He hadn't
envisioned that things would go this way, and so he
sent his disciples asked a question, Are you really the Savior?
(05:32):
Or should we be looking for somebody else? Even today
we struggle with that sometimes, don't we. Our God is unexpected.
He doesn't do things exactly the way that we.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
Would expect him to do.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Things didn't come the way we expected him to come.
Are you the Savior? Or should we wait for another one?
Because John the Baptist, this is not the kind of
savior that he envisioned it. With his message out in
the wilderness repent, he was looking for a judge. His
(06:14):
language was like this. Even now, the axe is at
the root of the trees, and any tree that doesn't
produce fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
He was looking for somebody to exercise a justice on
this earth. That's why he was calling people out. That's
(06:35):
why he was telling people to repent and turn and
to prepare for the savior. He used the imagery of
a farmer who at the time of the harvest, takes
the side and he cuts down all of that. We
puts it on the threshing ford, has it stomped, and
then he's going to separate the grain from the chaff.
(06:55):
The grain he's going to gather to himself, but the chaff,
it goes into the unquench him a fire. He was
looking for justice, but things didn't happen the way he
expected him to happen. Meanwhile, while he's in prison, what's
Jesus doing? Between Luke Chapter three and Luke chapter seven,
(07:16):
Jesus is blessing the multitudes. A Roman soldier officer comes
to him on behalf of this servant, asking Jesus to
heal him, and Jesus heal him.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
A Roman.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
He's a raising a woman's a widow's son from the dead.
He's preaching a message like, blessed are the poor in spirit,
Blessed are those who mourn, Blessed are those who are
persecuted for My name, compassion and love and forgiveness. This
(07:52):
is not the message of a judge. John was struggling,
and certainly his disciples were too. And sometimes you and
I struggle with this Jesus too, don't we. Sometimes we've
met to struggle with our God because this isn't the
way it's supposed to be. We sing songs like joy
(08:14):
to the world. The Lord has come, Let earth receiver king.
What kind of king is laid in a major for
a bed. And talking about a savior, What kind of
savior allows himself to be taken captive, arrested, tried and convicted,
(08:39):
nailed to a cross, the cross of a criminal when
he didn't sin. What kind of savior is that? And
talking about a judge, What kind of judge looks down
from the cross knowing he's got the power to come
down off that cross and wipe everybody out, saying things
like Father, forgive them for they don't know what they
(08:59):
are doing. This is not what we expect.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And then we look around in our world and we
have that same kind of problem that John was encountering
in the old out in the wilderness. We have the
halves who are ignoring the needs of the have nots.
We have those in power and positions of prestige, using
their office and their authority and their positions of power
(09:29):
to take advantage of the people. We have people out
there that are are crooked and that hurt and suffering.
We see others hurting and suffering, and we wonder, even
when we're struggling ourselves, why why doesn't God do something
about that? This is not the kind of God and
(09:52):
Savior that we expect so many times. Right, He's an
unexpected kind of savior. So is this what Christmas is
all about? Is this really the savior? Or should we
be looking for another one? That's the question in our
(10:13):
reading today, and that's the question we're asking ourselves today.
But it's important that we also hear the answer. John asked,
and Jesus answered, But you didn't answer with a simple
yes or no. Right, he didn't even answer with words
(10:35):
at first, Because we're told that at that hour Jesus
started healing people, and the blind we're able to see,
and the lame we're able to walk, and the lepers
were cleansed, and the good News of God was preached
to the poor. These are all images of what's happening
in the Old Testament when the prophets were for telling
(10:57):
what the Messiah was going to be like that blind
would receive their side, and the lame would walk, and
the lepers cleansed, and the good news would be preached
to the poor. That's all outlined in Isaiah. And so
Jesus was telling John, I'm that Messiah, not by what
(11:18):
he said, by what he did. And then he told us,
I am that Messiah. And we struggle too sometimes, don't we.
We've got the advantage of having the Old Testament prophets
and the story of the Apostles as they told us
(11:41):
about Jesus and his saving work, his victory over sin
and death on the cross, victory over death as he
rose from the dead. We have all that to our advantage,
and we struggle.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
We struggle, don't we.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Because he's an unexpected kind of he does things in
a different way. What is it that we believe about
this savior. We believe that he was indeed the son
of God who also became son of man, that he
walked on this earth, never sinned, and yet he died
(12:20):
the death of a criminal on the cross. He died,
and yet he rose again. And yes, we believe that, yes,
one day he's coming back and he will be the
judge of the living and the dead. We just confessed
that not too long ago in the Apostles Creed. That's
what we believe. And yet sometimes we struggle because we
(12:43):
don't understand a number of years ago, I was privileged
to be able to minister to an elderly couple that
lived just a few blocks down the road here in
the small little house, beautiful.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Kept up and.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Well preserved. They were elderly, and so oftentimes I would
walk in and they were also in poor health, and
so I would find them sitting side by side in
their easy chairs, just sometimes not even saying anything, just enjoying.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Each other's company.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
And I would sit down and we would talk for
a little while. The wife's name was Alberta, and Alberta
and I would talk quite a lot because her husband,
Read was oftentimes able to unable to speak because he
had COPD and it was very difficult for him to
participate in the conversation. We would talk about family, and
(13:46):
we would talk about their memories growing up. They had
known each other from when they were children, growing up
on neighboring farms in eastern Colorado. We had all these
different talks. One day during the I was sharing with
them something about Jesus, and Read decided he would speak.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
It was a long, drawn out.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Little message that he gave because it was like he
could say a phrase and then it was punctuated by
three or four deep breasts, and then he would say
another phrase, and he said something like this. When I
was young, I grew up in the church, and as
(14:37):
I got older, I kept going to church and I
would go to Bible study, and I was faithful in
worship and I would help out where I could. But
I was always bothered because I just couldn't understand. And
(15:07):
I kept going to church and I kept going to
Bible study. And then one day I realized, it doesn't matter.
I don't understand, that doesn't matter, but I believe, and
(15:33):
that's what matters. I don't understand, but I believe, and
that's what matters. Advent is a time when we're called
to believe. But we're called to believe not on our terms,
(15:56):
but on God's terms. We're called to believe in this
Jesus as he is. We may not understand, but that
doesn't matter. What matters is that we believe and that
we know that he is our savior, because this Jesus
(16:22):
quite simply doesn't make sense sometimes to think that he
is the king of kings and the Lord of lords,
and yet he's laid in a manger, that he is
the son of God but also a son of man,
(16:44):
that he is sinless and yet died the death of
a criminal, That he died, and yet he rose from
the dead. He's an unexpected kind of savior. We may
not understand, but this Advent season we're called to believe,
(17:09):
to believe in God on his terms, not on ours.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
And so we pray.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Ocam will call me Manuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns,
and let lowly exile here until the Son of God appears.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Good morning, pastor Tim, Good morning. I love that message.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
You and I have talked about that in the past,
about the unexpected way that Jesus entered this world and
how he came to us, and you know, like we
were talking off the air, the Jews had been waiting
for a savior. They've been waiting for the Lamb of.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
God for thousands of years.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
And but then when he came, most of them didn't
believe because of the way he came. They were expecting
something completely different. And that's kind of what I gleaned
from your message yesterday, is that you know, he comes
to us in a lot of different, very unexpected ways,
and this was very unexpected for those people at the
(18:28):
time it was.
Speaker 6 (18:30):
And you know, when we look at the Old Testament,
we can understand that they.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
Should have known that he would be God.
Speaker 6 (18:38):
You know, in the Book of Daniel, he gets a
vision of God and Heaven and he sees one like
the son of Man, all right, and so God in
the form of man.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
They should have expected that.
Speaker 6 (18:52):
But you know what, you're the kind of Messiah that
they were looking for was a military hero of a
political hero, someone that was going to establish Israel as
a world power again, to usher in the Golden era
of Israel like they did back in the day of
King David. And so they were looking for someone from
(19:14):
the house and lineage of David who would put them
back on the map and provide them with what they wanted.
They wanted to make Israel great again. And the thing
is is that he didn't come for that purpose to
establish an earthly kingdom, rather a heavenly kingdom. And off
the air, you had asked me, you know, why did
(19:34):
they keep it a secret? You know he would make
a do a miracle, and then he would say, don't
tell anybody, Well, because he didn't want them to come
to him for that purpose.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
He was revealing to them.
Speaker 6 (19:47):
That he was truly God, and they could see that
he was truly man, and he wasn't the kind of
savior that they were expecting. He was in to usher
in a heavenly kingdom. And then you bring up the
whole idea of the lamb of God. Yes, you know
that's a sacrifice. A lamb was the sacrifice that they
(20:11):
would that they would be. The blood of the lamb
was what saved the people at the Passover. The blood
of Christ is what's.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Gonna save us.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
And so that wasn't what they were looking for either,
But that's what he came for.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Well, you know, I was thinking and also about coming
to us in unexpected ways. This time of year, it
seems that he comes to us unexpected ways. We've got
a sign out in front of our house. Jesus is
the reason for the season, you know. And I've had
people that just walking by and walking their dogs and
they say, hmm.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
I love that. That's perfect, you know, thank you for
putting that up. But you know, this time of year,
it's he very subtly.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
You know, we talk about in church about how he
came to us and he's in a manger and he's
just the little baby and that type of thing, but
how he shows himself to be God and man as
he grows, you know, and this time of year is
a time when we talk about love and kindness and
(21:12):
you know, getting along. Well, that's what he's all about, right,
That's what he's all about.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Right.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
We believe that Jesus is the son of God, Yes,
because he revealed that to us, and it fits the
Old Testament prophecies, the New Testament apostle writings. And the
thing is is that sentiment believe is so common in
our society today.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
We see the signs in the malls and in the stores,
and people put it up. The question is believe in? What?
Speaker 6 (21:48):
Is it just a nice sentiment that we believe? Is
it believing for believing sake? Or is it believing in
the good will of men? Is it believing in the
Christmas speak? It is it believing in Santa Claus?
Speaker 5 (22:02):
What? What are we believing in? As Christians? We believe
that we're called to believe.
Speaker 6 (22:09):
In Jesus, right to believe him, in him as our Messiah,
as our Savior, as the son of God and son of.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Man, and oh, go ahead, I'm sorry.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Okay, anyways, and sometimes it doesn't make sense to us.
We don't understand.
Speaker 6 (22:27):
We're just simply called to believe, and we're called to
believe on God's terms as he reveals himself, not by
our expectations. That's why he's that unexpected savior.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
Very good.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Well, you know, as far as how he came into
the world, we've talked about that a couple of times,
you know, in a major type, but in that.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Type of thing.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
But when I think about it, and when you read
the Bible and the accounts of what happened with the
star and the shepherds and the magi coming to see
him and all these things, it wasn't just a ordinary birth.
Speaker 5 (23:01):
You know.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
I mean there was a lot going on, and the
Angel appearing to Joseph, and the Angel appearing to marry,
and and all the things that were going on at
that time. Wow, this wasn't just an ordinary birth, you know.
But those that saw it, maybe they forgot it, or
they they were afraid and they didn't want to say anything.
(23:24):
I don't know, but to me, it's an unexpected way
for him to come to Earth in our minds. But
then again, it was pretty spectacular. When you think about
everything that was happening at that time in that stable
and what that meant to the.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Entire world, it's it's hard to fathom that.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
Yeah, it was unexpected on both ends of the spectrum.
First of all, it's so simple and so slowly to
be born in a stable where the cows and the
sheep were, and be laid in a feeding.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
Trough for animals.
Speaker 6 (24:06):
And yet it's so unexpected on the other end of
the spectacular that angels, a multitude of angels, would do that.
And I don't know that the shepherds and the mage
I forgot what they saw.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
No, I wouldn't think so.
Speaker 6 (24:21):
And I'm pretty sure we know that the shepherds went
and told everyone. We pretty sure the magi did. And
this child born in Bethlehem, laid in a manger, turned
the world upside down.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Oh gosh, we can't explain it, but we believe it.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
That's right. Well, thank you, Pastor Tim.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
I love those I love those messages and when you're
talking to us about that.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
But you know, because sometimes people are just kind of
scratching their head, well what about this?
Speaker 5 (24:51):
What about that?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
And you know, being here at church, listening to the sermons,
listening to the Bible studies and things like that, it
puts the puzzle together. You know, there's some pieces that
are still singing our minds, but we have a much
better understanding.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
And we hope people will join us here at Peace.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Lutheran Church at fifty seventh and Field and join us
for church or Bible study on Sundays. So God's blessings
on your week, Pastor Tim, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 7 (25:15):
Thank you, thank you for joining us for peace to
(26:03):
you at Peace Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado. If you
have no church home, we'd be delighted for you to
join us at five six seven to five Field Street
in Arvada, services are at eight and ten thirty am,
with Bible classes for all ages at nine fifteen am.
You can easily access our services online on our YouTube
(26:26):
channel Peacearbada at YouTube dot com, or wherever podcasts are found.
Coming this January, tune in to the new video podcast
at peacetou on YouTube dot com, or listen wherever podcasts
are found. Now from the entire broadcast team at Peace
Lutheran and Arvada, I'm Ruben Hollenbeck, and may the peace
(26:49):
of our Lord be with you now and always
Speaker 6 (27:00):
And
I don't understand. That doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
What I believe, and that's what matters.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Good morning, and welcome to Peace to you from Peace
Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado. All of us live life
with expectations. That is true in regard to God too.
We expect God.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
To be and behave in a certain way, and we
are disappointed or even offended when He doesn't meet our expectations.
During Advent, the season leading up to Christmas, we are
called to believe, but God calls us to believe in
Him on his terms, not ours. To be sure, God
often comes to us and on the expected ways. The
(01:01):
good news is God's way is always what is best
for everyone. Today, Pastor Tim Lindaman talks about Jesus, our
unexpected kind of savior. Now here's Pastor Tim.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So, how many of you remember the gospel reading from
last week? I know it's a whole week ago, right,
and Pastor Guy chose to preach on the epistle reading
all right, wishing he hadn't. But let me tell you
about the gospel reading from last week. Here's about a
man by the name of John the Baptist. He's out
(01:38):
by the Jordan River and he's out there preaching a
message to the people. And this John is the one
that's moretold in the Old Testament. Behold, a man will
go before you and to prepare the way of the Lord.
And he will be out there saying, prepare the way
of the Lord, make straight his paths. Now. In my
(02:03):
mind's eye, I don't know this for a fat but
in my mind's eye, I think of John as being
a man, a man, a man among men, right. And
the reason I do that is because the Bible tells
us that he's wearing this camel skin cloak and he's
holding it together with this belt, this massive leather belt.
(02:26):
And I just imagine him out there out in the wilderness,
a man among men, a man's man, right, a man
who's a survivalist.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
He's not afraid to eat bugs for lunch.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
He's not afraid to dig into the beehive, ignoring all
the bees swarming around him, so that he could have
the food from the honey. I think of him as
a man's man, and his message is a tough one
to hear. We're talking about John the Baptist here, who's
(03:00):
brimstone saying repent, prepare the way of the Lord. We're
talking about a man of faith that when Jesus walked by,
he said, behold the lamb of God, who will save
the world from their sins. We're talking about John the
Baptist here, and he's not afraid to call out the
(03:22):
rich and the famous, that those that are the halves right,
the people that have, are ignoring those that aren't. He's
not afraid to call them out and tell them to
quit being selfish and to start helping other people out.
He's not afraid to call out the soldiers and tell
them to quit using their positions of authority to extort
(03:45):
money from people and line their own pockets. He's not
afraid to call out the religious leaders, calling them a
brute of vipers. We're talking about John here. That was
last week last week, when he not only called out
all those people, but he called out King Herod. King
(04:09):
Herod who had taken his brother's wife, who also happened
to be his own niece, divorcing his first wife. That
was John the Baptist.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
But that was last week.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
This week we see John in prison. Apparently King Herod
didn't like it that the Baptist was calling him out.
King Herod didn't like to be embarrassed in front of
the people, so he had John thrown into prison, and
there language he in prison, John the Baptist, waiting his execution,
(04:47):
sends his disciples to Jesus and said, are you the
one who is to come? Or shall we wait for another?
That's quite a question, isn't it, especially coming from someone
like John the Baptist, a man of conviction, a man
of faith. Right, he was waffling, waffling between belief and doubt,
(05:12):
between trusting and struggle. Things hadn't turned out quite the
way he had expected them to turn out. He hadn't
envisioned that things would go this way, and so he
sent his disciples asked a question, Are you really the Savior?
(05:32):
Or should we be looking for somebody else? Even today
we struggle with that sometimes, don't we. Our God is unexpected.
He doesn't do things exactly the way that we.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
Would expect him to do.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Things didn't come the way we expected him to come.
Are you the Savior? Or should we wait for another one?
Because John the Baptist, this is not the kind of
savior that he envisioned it. With his message out in
the wilderness repent, he was looking for a judge. His
(06:14):
language was like this. Even now, the axe is at
the root of the trees, and any tree that doesn't
produce fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
He was looking for somebody to exercise a justice on
this earth. That's why he was calling people out. That's
(06:35):
why he was telling people to repent and turn and
to prepare for the savior. He used the imagery of
a farmer who at the time of the harvest, takes
the side and he cuts down all of that. We
puts it on the threshing ford, has it stomped, and
then he's going to separate the grain from the chaff.
(06:55):
The grain he's going to gather to himself, but the chaff,
it goes into the unquench him a fire. He was
looking for justice, but things didn't happen the way he
expected him to happen. Meanwhile, while he's in prison, what's
Jesus doing? Between Luke Chapter three and Luke chapter seven,
(07:16):
Jesus is blessing the multitudes. A Roman soldier officer comes
to him on behalf of this servant, asking Jesus to
heal him, and Jesus heal him.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
A Roman.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
He's a raising a woman's a widow's son from the dead.
He's preaching a message like, blessed are the poor in spirit,
Blessed are those who mourn, Blessed are those who are
persecuted for My name, compassion and love and forgiveness. This
(07:52):
is not the message of a judge. John was struggling,
and certainly his disciples were too. And sometimes you and
I struggle with this Jesus too, don't we. Sometimes we've
met to struggle with our God because this isn't the
way it's supposed to be. We sing songs like joy
(08:14):
to the world. The Lord has come, Let earth receiver king.
What kind of king is laid in a major for
a bed. And talking about a savior, What kind of
savior allows himself to be taken captive, arrested, tried and convicted,
(08:39):
nailed to a cross, the cross of a criminal when
he didn't sin. What kind of savior is that? And
talking about a judge, What kind of judge looks down
from the cross knowing he's got the power to come
down off that cross and wipe everybody out, saying things
like Father, forgive them for they don't know what they
(08:59):
are doing. This is not what we expect.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And then we look around in our world and we
have that same kind of problem that John was encountering
in the old out in the wilderness. We have the
halves who are ignoring the needs of the have nots.
We have those in power and positions of prestige, using
their office and their authority and their positions of power
(09:29):
to take advantage of the people. We have people out
there that are are crooked and that hurt and suffering.
We see others hurting and suffering, and we wonder, even
when we're struggling ourselves, why why doesn't God do something
about that? This is not the kind of God and
(09:52):
Savior that we expect so many times. Right, He's an
unexpected kind of savior. So is this what Christmas is
all about? Is this really the savior? Or should we
be looking for another one? That's the question in our
(10:13):
reading today, and that's the question we're asking ourselves today.
But it's important that we also hear the answer. John asked,
and Jesus answered, But you didn't answer with a simple
yes or no. Right, he didn't even answer with words
(10:35):
at first, Because we're told that at that hour Jesus
started healing people, and the blind we're able to see,
and the lame we're able to walk, and the lepers
were cleansed, and the good News of God was preached
to the poor. These are all images of what's happening
in the Old Testament when the prophets were for telling
(10:57):
what the Messiah was going to be like that blind
would receive their side, and the lame would walk, and
the lepers cleansed, and the good news would be preached
to the poor. That's all outlined in Isaiah. And so
Jesus was telling John, I'm that Messiah, not by what
(11:18):
he said, by what he did. And then he told us,
I am that Messiah. And we struggle too sometimes, don't we.
We've got the advantage of having the Old Testament prophets
and the story of the Apostles as they told us
(11:41):
about Jesus and his saving work, his victory over sin
and death on the cross, victory over death as he
rose from the dead. We have all that to our advantage,
and we struggle.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
We struggle, don't we.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Because he's an unexpected kind of he does things in
a different way. What is it that we believe about
this savior. We believe that he was indeed the son
of God who also became son of man, that he
walked on this earth, never sinned, and yet he died
(12:20):
the death of a criminal on the cross. He died,
and yet he rose again. And yes, we believe that, yes,
one day he's coming back and he will be the
judge of the living and the dead. We just confessed
that not too long ago in the Apostles Creed. That's
what we believe. And yet sometimes we struggle because we
(12:43):
don't understand a number of years ago, I was privileged
to be able to minister to an elderly couple that
lived just a few blocks down the road here in
the small little house, beautiful.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Kept up and.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Well preserved. They were elderly, and so oftentimes I would
walk in and they were also in poor health, and
so I would find them sitting side by side in
their easy chairs, just sometimes not even saying anything, just enjoying.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Each other's company.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
And I would sit down and we would talk for
a little while. The wife's name was Alberta, and Alberta
and I would talk quite a lot because her husband,
Read was oftentimes able to unable to speak because he
had COPD and it was very difficult for him to
participate in the conversation. We would talk about family, and
(13:46):
we would talk about their memories growing up. They had
known each other from when they were children, growing up
on neighboring farms in eastern Colorado. We had all these
different talks. One day during the I was sharing with
them something about Jesus, and Read decided he would speak.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
It was a long, drawn out.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Little message that he gave because it was like he
could say a phrase and then it was punctuated by
three or four deep breasts, and then he would say
another phrase, and he said something like this. When I
was young, I grew up in the church, and as
(14:37):
I got older, I kept going to church and I
would go to Bible study, and I was faithful in
worship and I would help out where I could. But
I was always bothered because I just couldn't understand. And
(15:07):
I kept going to church and I kept going to
Bible study. And then one day I realized, it doesn't matter.
I don't understand, that doesn't matter, but I believe, and
(15:33):
that's what matters. I don't understand, but I believe, and
that's what matters. Advent is a time when we're called
to believe. But we're called to believe not on our terms,
(15:56):
but on God's terms. We're called to believe in this
Jesus as he is. We may not understand, but that
doesn't matter. What matters is that we believe and that
we know that he is our savior, because this Jesus
(16:22):
quite simply doesn't make sense sometimes to think that he
is the king of kings and the Lord of lords,
and yet he's laid in a manger, that he is
the son of God but also a son of man,
(16:44):
that he is sinless and yet died the death of
a criminal, That he died, and yet he rose from
the dead. He's an unexpected kind of savior. We may
not understand, but this Advent season we're called to believe,
(17:09):
to believe in God on his terms, not on ours.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
And so we pray.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Ocam will call me Manuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns,
and let lowly exile here until the Son of God appears.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Good morning, pastor Tim, Good morning. I love that message.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
You and I have talked about that in the past,
about the unexpected way that Jesus entered this world and
how he came to us, and you know, like we
were talking off the air, the Jews had been waiting
for a savior. They've been waiting for the Lamb of.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
God for thousands of years.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
And but then when he came, most of them didn't
believe because of the way he came. They were expecting
something completely different. And that's kind of what I gleaned
from your message yesterday, is that you know, he comes
to us in a lot of different, very unexpected ways,
and this was very unexpected for those people at the
(18:28):
time it was.
Speaker 6 (18:30):
And you know, when we look at the Old Testament,
we can understand that they.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
Should have known that he would be God.
Speaker 6 (18:38):
You know, in the Book of Daniel, he gets a
vision of God and Heaven and he sees one like
the son of Man, all right, and so God in
the form of man.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
They should have expected that.
Speaker 6 (18:52):
But you know what, you're the kind of Messiah that
they were looking for was a military hero of a
political hero, someone that was going to establish Israel as
a world power again, to usher in the Golden era
of Israel like they did back in the day of
King David. And so they were looking for someone from
(19:14):
the house and lineage of David who would put them
back on the map and provide them with what they wanted.
They wanted to make Israel great again. And the thing
is is that he didn't come for that purpose to
establish an earthly kingdom, rather a heavenly kingdom. And off
the air, you had asked me, you know, why did
(19:34):
they keep it a secret? You know he would make
a do a miracle, and then he would say, don't
tell anybody, Well, because he didn't want them to come
to him for that purpose.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
He was revealing to them.
Speaker 6 (19:47):
That he was truly God, and they could see that
he was truly man, and he wasn't the kind of
savior that they were expecting. He was in to usher
in a heavenly kingdom. And then you bring up the
whole idea of the lamb of God. Yes, you know
that's a sacrifice. A lamb was the sacrifice that they
(20:11):
would that they would be. The blood of the lamb
was what saved the people at the Passover. The blood
of Christ is what's.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Gonna save us.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
And so that wasn't what they were looking for either,
But that's what he came for.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Well, you know, I was thinking and also about coming
to us in unexpected ways. This time of year, it
seems that he comes to us unexpected ways. We've got
a sign out in front of our house. Jesus is
the reason for the season, you know. And I've had
people that just walking by and walking their dogs and
they say, hmm.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
I love that. That's perfect, you know, thank you for
putting that up. But you know, this time of year,
it's he very subtly.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
You know, we talk about in church about how he
came to us and he's in a manger and he's
just the little baby and that type of thing, but
how he shows himself to be God and man as
he grows, you know, and this time of year is
a time when we talk about love and kindness and
(21:12):
you know, getting along. Well, that's what he's all about, right,
That's what he's all about.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Right.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
We believe that Jesus is the son of God, Yes,
because he revealed that to us, and it fits the
Old Testament prophecies, the New Testament apostle writings. And the
thing is is that sentiment believe is so common in
our society today.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
We see the signs in the malls and in the stores,
and people put it up. The question is believe in? What?
Speaker 6 (21:48):
Is it just a nice sentiment that we believe? Is
it believing for believing sake? Or is it believing in
the good will of men? Is it believing in the
Christmas speak? It is it believing in Santa Claus?
Speaker 5 (22:02):
What? What are we believing in? As Christians? We believe
that we're called to believe.
Speaker 6 (22:09):
In Jesus, right to believe him, in him as our Messiah,
as our Savior, as the son of God and son of.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Man, and oh, go ahead, I'm sorry.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Okay, anyways, and sometimes it doesn't make sense to us.
We don't understand.
Speaker 6 (22:27):
We're just simply called to believe, and we're called to
believe on God's terms as he reveals himself, not by
our expectations. That's why he's that unexpected savior.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
Very good.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Well, you know, as far as how he came into
the world, we've talked about that a couple of times,
you know, in a major type, but in that.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Type of thing.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
But when I think about it, and when you read
the Bible and the accounts of what happened with the
star and the shepherds and the magi coming to see
him and all these things, it wasn't just a ordinary birth.
Speaker 5 (23:01):
You know.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
I mean there was a lot going on, and the
Angel appearing to Joseph, and the Angel appearing to marry,
and and all the things that were going on at
that time. Wow, this wasn't just an ordinary birth, you know.
But those that saw it, maybe they forgot it, or
they they were afraid and they didn't want to say anything.
(23:24):
I don't know, but to me, it's an unexpected way
for him to come to Earth in our minds. But
then again, it was pretty spectacular. When you think about
everything that was happening at that time in that stable
and what that meant to the.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Entire world, it's it's hard to fathom that.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
Yeah, it was unexpected on both ends of the spectrum.
First of all, it's so simple and so slowly to
be born in a stable where the cows and the
sheep were, and be laid in a feeding.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
Trough for animals.
Speaker 6 (24:06):
And yet it's so unexpected on the other end of
the spectacular that angels, a multitude of angels, would do that.
And I don't know that the shepherds and the mage
I forgot what they saw.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
No, I wouldn't think so.
Speaker 6 (24:21):
And I'm pretty sure we know that the shepherds went
and told everyone. We pretty sure the magi did. And
this child born in Bethlehem, laid in a manger, turned
the world upside down.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Oh gosh, we can't explain it, but we believe it.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
That's right. Well, thank you, Pastor Tim.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
I love those I love those messages and when you're
talking to us about that.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
But you know, because sometimes people are just kind of
scratching their head, well what about this?
Speaker 5 (24:51):
What about that?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
And you know, being here at church, listening to the sermons,
listening to the Bible studies and things like that, it
puts the puzzle together. You know, there's some pieces that
are still singing our minds, but we have a much
better understanding.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
And we hope people will join us here at Peace.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Lutheran Church at fifty seventh and Field and join us
for church or Bible study on Sundays. So God's blessings
on your week, Pastor Tim, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 7 (25:15):
Thank you, thank you for joining us for peace to
(26:03):
you at Peace Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado. If you
have no church home, we'd be delighted for you to
join us at five six seven to five Field Street
in Arvada, services are at eight and ten thirty am,
with Bible classes for all ages at nine fifteen am.
You can easily access our services online on our YouTube
(26:26):
channel Peacearbada at YouTube dot com, or wherever podcasts are found.
Coming this January, tune in to the new video podcast
at peacetou on YouTube dot com, or listen wherever podcasts
are found. Now from the entire broadcast team at Peace
Lutheran and Arvada, I'm Ruben Hollenbeck, and may the peace
(26:49):
of our Lord be with you now and always
Speaker 6 (27:00):
And
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com