Reflexion, A Spiritual Community

Before we explore what Jesus is saying in these verses,

There are three issues that need to be addressed
First:
- belonging to a church family can sometimes be devastating
• I’ve met people whose first real family was their church
◦ it became their lifeline, until one day it fractured
◦ an angry and hostile faction split the church
• those on sidelines were so disillusioned, and so hurt,
◦ they never vent...

Every Easter, until COVID, my dad would host a Sunrise Service
(First at the Pacific Amphitheater and later the Verizon Amphitheater)
And most every year he would tell the same story; this one about Mary Magdalene
  - you might expect people to say, “Oh no, not this story again,” 
    ~ but instead it was, “Oh! This is one of my favorite sermons”
    ~ about forty years ago, a Sunrise Service was held at San Cle...

John 12:1-8

INTRO: I know this is Palm Sunday and I read the wrong story

However, this is like an introduction to this big occasion, because 

  Jesus came to stay in the home of his friends the day before his grand entrance

   - by the time he reached Bethany, his ministry was winding down

    ~ when we read to the end of this chapter, 

         We come to the end of Jesus’ service to the crowds (in John’s Gospel)

    ~ they will hear not...

You may hear something today you haven’t heard before

So I’m going to try to make this as clear as possible
- we need to consider the larger context that surrounds and informs verses 12-14
• not only the context of this chapter, but in Jesus’ entire Sermon
- the first big idea is this:
• the key to interpreting these verses is love
• it may not look like it at first, so we jump to other verses to shed light on th...

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened Matthew 7:7-8

Intro: Before we explore what God has for us in these verses,

We need to address a misconception about what Jesus is promising
- reading these verses closely, something piqued my curiosity
• in verse 7 Jesus encour...

Judge not, that yo be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measured you use it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:1-2

Intro: Until recently, whenever I came to this chapter I felt lost

I was able to follow the continuity of Jesus’ Sermon this far,
- but I was not able to see how chapter 7 fit with what came before it
• I assumed that our Lord chose to add these random lessons as an ...

Did you know, many Christians avoid the Sermon On the Mount?

The problem is that they misread the Sermon
- they think Jesus demands a perfection that is beyond us
• what actually happens in the Sermon is that it empowers us
◦ we learn the way of sincerity, integrity, and mercy
• whatever else it might mean to be Christian,
◦ above all, it means to be a “good person”
◦ loving, caring, helping, serving
- I ...

Jesus is explaining and extending what he had said in verse 21
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”

In scripture, the heart can have several meanings
- here, it isn’t the physical organ that pumps blood through our bodies
• nor is it exclusively the seat of our feelings or emotions
• here the heart is the central hub of our entire inner life
◦ our perspectives, perceptions, and assumptions<...

We’re still in the Sermon On the Mount,

But I’m going to begin by reading a of couple verses from Psalm 139
- this is one of the very popular Psalms
• its beautiful and haunting poetry are easy for us to follow
◦ and at the same time, carries us from heights of the heavens
◦ and depths of the ocean, to the abyss of our own souls
• it begins:
“ O LORD, you have searched me and known me!”
◦ but then it ends...

This week I met with Harry Robinson – a few of you may know him

He is a man of God and a visionary, and for awhile we worked together
- he is also someone I love and respect
• during our long, rambling conversation, Harry said something that woke me up
• he said, “I’ve been finding beauty lately–everywhere”
- it seems I need to be awakened to beauty
• friends do this for me – though they don’t always know it
...

Jesus has given the world this incredible prayer

Recited every day and prayed in almost every language,
- it contains the essence of what everyone needs to say to God and ask of him
• and yet, when Jesus taught this prayer to his disciples,
◦ it was in a side comment he felt needed to be included
• up to this point, Jesus theme beginning in verse 1 was, "Don’t advertise your spiritual devotion and service to God...

The next point of Jesus’ sermon has to do with prayer

I don’t think you need me to teach you anything about prayer
- one year in Russia, an orphan tried to teach me the alphabet
• but she gave up on me – there was just one letter, I could not pronounce well enough to please her
◦ I couldn’t even hear the sound she was making when she said the letter
• prayer isn’t like that– prayer is the native language of every chi...

 Peter and Andrew were knee-deep in Lake Galilee. A school of fish swam near shore, so they threw a net into water, dragging out whatever it collected. Jesus, walking the shore that morning, stopped and called to them. When they turned and looked at him, he said, “Follow me.” It was as if they were waiting for that moment, because they dropped everything to go with him. As Matthew tells the story, it was not long after they got the...

Today we reach the end of this second part of the Sermon

But not until Jesus takes us all the way to end of the trail we’re on
- we've been following a theme that began with Jesus saying,
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. . . . For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the ...

There’s a fateful story in the Bible that begins like this:

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she ...

You know the directory in the mall, with the little star that reads, “You are here”?

Well, let's figure out where we are in Jesus' Sermon
- we’ve been through the Beatitudes
• we've made the transition from Jesus’ closing remarks to his declaration that he had not come
"to abolish the Law or the Prophets," 
• but to empower them so they do in our lives what they’re meant to do; 
◦ and t...

We need to know where we are in Jesus’ Sermon

Verses 17-20 are the heart of the Sermon (perhaps the heart of the entire Bible)
- these verses hold the key to interpreting the rest of Sermon
• unfortunately, many Christians read this passage, but don’t understand it
- speculations have resulted in some big errors:
• one, is that Jesus and St. Paul were not on the same page
◦ i.e., Jesus taught we’re made righteous...

Back in the days, when I was the pastor of a sizeable church,

We would celebrate Christmas with big productions. One year, when the stage was crowded with props and children, the music still ringing in our ears, I went to the microphone with my Bible in hand. As I began to speak, a girl six or seven years old, who had been sitting on a step right in front of me, stood up. She turned around, and with hands on her hips looked up at me...