The good news of Christ
Holy Father in Heaven,
Your name is blessed among the nations.
Your salvation is reaching more and more people.
The angels of Satan weep and gnash their teeth.
Secure us in the safety of your fold.
Help us face the battle squarely.
Stiffen our spines by your Spirit of grace.
Keep all temptations at bay.
Give us growth from strength to strength.
In us be glorified forever.
In Christ we pray and offer thanks. Amen.
It’s common knowledge that it’s a bad idea to bother bear cubs. So fierce is the expected retribution that determined and fierce ‘soccer moms’ who seek advantages for their human kids are often called ‘mama grizzlies.’ Normally referring to Himself as male in scripture, God does refer to His love for us and how He feels when we sin in more feminine terms–as a bear robbed of her cubs.
I. Hosea 13:4-8. With His people falling into spiritual adultery, God has Hosea, in the 8th century BC, take a prostitute for a wife to illustrate how His people’s unfaithfulness hurts Him (Hosea 1:2-3). Then, in a series of comparisons, God shows His justice as a lion devouring them, His patience as a leopard lurking, and His love and hurt as a bear robbed of her cubs.
II. 2 Samuel 7:12-16. It is the unfaithful and who drag others away by their unfaithfulness who have robbed God of His cubs–us who strive to be His treasured possession. And like a true mama grizzly, He is angered and hurt by how we turn away from His commands. That’s how He loves us! David desired to build a temple for God, but God said it would be a son who would do this.
III. Romans 8:31-39. Fulfilled at first in Solomon, we see that this is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus whom He disciplined by the cross. God’s love was so fierce for His Son … and for us that He had Jesus bear our sins in the punishment that should have been ours. This love for His people today is so strong and fierce that nothing can separate us from it in Jesus Christ our Lord.
So, we must imagine that our sin has the same effect on God as it did so long ago, that when we are dragged away by it, He is a bear robbed of her cubs. How fitting that the closest thing on this earth to explaining how He feels towards us is a mother’s love. Happy Mother’s Day!
One hymn we sing brings prayer into a never-ceasing part of our daily lives by asking us four questions:
Ere you left your room this morning, Did you think to pray?
When you met with great temptation, Did you think to pray?
When your heart was filled with anger, Did you think to pray?
When sore trials came upon you, Did you think to pray?
I. Acts 1:1-26. Told to wait in their time of transition, God’s people prayed. For about ten days, Jesus’ followers waited for the Holy Spirit to come upon them, and in that time they decided to find a replacement for Judas. Rather than just picking someone whom everyone liked and might give their group a morale boost after Jesus had ascended, they prayed about it first, and prayer characterized Christians’ lives throughout Acts. So, we who are waiting for our coming transition to eternity when Jesus returns (Hebrews 9:27-28) ought to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
II. John 14:12-14. When God’s people don’t inquire of Him, bad things happen (Joshua 9:14-15). On the other hand, we have record of great encouragement and growth when they do (Acts 4:31). Jesus invites us to submit to Him in prayer, promising that He’ll do what is within God’s will and not our own (James 4:3-4), so that glory will go to the Father. It pleases God when we pray without ceasing for ourselves and others to be filled with the knowledge of His will and are saved (Colossians 1:9-10). But, we have to believe that God will work powerfully through our prayers for His purpose.
III. 1 Timothy 2:1-4. We have to believe that powerful things will happen when His people pray. When the Israelites sinned with the golden calf, Moses prayed, recognizing that their only distinction from other peoples in the world, was God’s presence working powerfully in them and through them (Exodus 33:15-17) and God did all that Moses had asked. We in the New Testament time are told to intercede on behalf of others in all situations and circumstances because God desires all people to be saved. So, are you praying that the saved may be strengthened and the lost led to Christ?
Jesus’ church today is a continuation of what we can read about twenty centuries ago. Since prayer was so much a powerful part of their daily lives, shouldn’t we pray without ceasing as well?
The person who waits until he’s in the midst of a struggle to turn to God is like the one who doesn’t repair his roof when the sun shines because it isn’t raining. The rain will come; crises hit our lives like storms. The question is: are you prepared spiritually to meet them (Psalm 1)?
I. 1 John 2:3-6. The righteous don’t go through this life like the wicked do. They don’t stand up with sinners nor sit with the scoffers. Rather their delight is in the law of the Lord. On this they meditate as they seek His commands (Psalm 119:10-16).
II. Galatians 5:18-24. Just as a willow tree drinks deeply from a nearby water source, so we must drink deeply from God’s Word. Just as the righteous and wicked are contrasted in Psalm 1, so they are here. But, like the deep-drinking willow, we can grow the fruits of the spirit. Those who don’t are like chaff that is gathered only to burn (Matthew 13:27-30).
III. Matthew 25:41-43. The wicked will not stand with the righteous in the Judgment, but often they don’t realize they are wicked. “When did we see you in need?” they ask, but they are guilty of not grasping the opportunities to do good that God has given them. Instead, the righteous seek first the kingdom and righteousness of the Rock of Ages (Matthew 6:31-33).
Psalm 1 serves as wisdom to guide godly people. It’s no wonder that Psalms is a favorite book of many. It gives comfort if you’ve made godly choices and warning if you’ve strayed.
Often the gospel is only viewed as Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, but while that is of first importance (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), our salvation could not be possible without the incarnation (the Word becoming flesh and making His dwelling with us) or the ascension. Several things are possible because Jesus is alive forevermore (Revelation 1:8) and seated at the right hand of the Father.
I. Luke 24:50-53. Because He ascended, we can have a change of address. What a beautiful picture it is of the alive Jesus being carried away to the Father. It’s very similar to the poor man in Luke 16:22. Both are fully conscious when they ascend, and Jesus tells us He’s going to prepare a place for us (John 14:2-4), something that is done for alive people. Furthermore, for those who are part of the first resurrection, the second death has no power over them (Revelation 20:6-15).
II. Acts 1:6-11. Because He ascended, our questions have good answers. No doubt we live in a time when Christian faith is under attack by scoffers (2 Peter 3:3-4), yet we can give an answer for where our Savior we claim is alive currently is and the work He is doing at the right hand of the Father. We can also say with certainty that Jesus will indeed return, not to bear sin (He’s already done that), but to bring to the Father those who are eagerly waiting for Him (Hebrews 9:26-28).
III. Hebrews 1:2-4. Because He ascended, we now have a heavenly advocate. Jesus told us that unless He went away we would not have certain advantages (John 16:7). As our High Priest in heaven (Hebrews 8:1-6), He can be a great help to us in our current lives because He was made like us in every way (Hebrews 2:14-18), but He can be a perfect intercessor for us at the Father’s side (Hebrews 7:22-26) as Satan is constantly accusing us before this very throne (Revelation 12:10).
We need Jesus every moment of our lives. Because He is ascended alive into heaven, our Savior is in a greater position to help us in every need that we have.
In this greatest of stories, a righteous God redeems sinful man. In its beginning, man is pitted against God, other men, and himself because of sin and faces an eternity separated from his Creator in hell. But in the suspense-filled climax, when it looks like Satan has won by putting our Savior on the cross and in the tomb, Jesus rises from the dead, so that we may too! What a resolution! It’s no wonder that “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” is one of our most beloved hymns:
Christ, the Lord, is ris’n today, Hallelujah! Sons of men and angels say, Hallelujah! Raise your joys and triumphs high, Hallelujah! Sing, ye heav’ns; thou earth, reply, Hallelujah!
I. John 19:38-30. As the second stanza states, love’s redeeming work was certainly done (1 John 4:9-10). Never having to face death again, it no longer had mastery over Jesus (Romans 6:9) and so not us either as we are ransomed from our futile ways (1 Peter 1:17-18):
Love’s redeeming work is done, Hallelujah! Fought the fight, the battle won, Hallelujah! Lo! Our sun’s eclipse is o’er, Hallelujah! Lo! He sets in blood no more, Hallelujah!
II. Matthew 27:63-66. Concern from the Jewish leaders that Jesus’ followers would steal the body and claim that He had risen from the dead prompted them to lie when Pilate eliminated all explanations for the empty tomb except that Jesus had actually risen (Romans 3:21-26):
Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Hallelujah! Christ hath burst the gates of hell, Hallelujah! Death in vain forbids His rise, Hallelujah! Christ hath opened paradise, Hallelujah!
III. Luke 24:5-7. The angel proclaims this fact as well. We should not look for the living among the dead anymore for Jesus is risen and will never again die (Revelation 1:17-18). Because He overcame death, so can we. Death can have no hold on us ever again (1 Corinthians 15:54-57):
Lives again our glorious King, Hallelujah! Where, O death, is now thy sting? Hallelujah! Once He died our souls to save, Hallelujah! Where’s thy vict’ry, boasting grave? Hallelujah!
And that is indeed good news! Having obeyed the gospel, are you living as if Jesus is risen or still in the tomb?
Our holy Father in Heaven
who gave us the new birth:
Praise to your name
for giving us your Spirit!
We thank you for eternal life
and for every blessing now.
In us is no good thing,
for sin destroyed our souls.
Create in us today, O God,
a new and wonderful work.
Bring many into your Kingdom;
make your glory known afar.
Draw us near, keep us strong
in Jesus Christ, our Lord
and only Savior. Amen.
We want the community to obey the gospel and come into the church, but we don’t want the church to compromise truth and become the culture. U.S. church attendance has fallen from over 70% around WWII to less than 47% today. This means that the aging baby boomers (ages 60s through early 80s), who have lived through very challenging societal changes in their decades of life, are the ones filling our pews. How can the church today hope to grow?
I. Acts 11:19-21. Antioch saw changes in the church. Exclusively Jewish in its traditions and knowledge until God opened the door to the gentiles, Jesus’ church was suddenly overwhelmed with believers who had obeyed the gospel but came from a denominational (pagan) and unchurched backgrounds. Today’s faithful don’t fear opening our buildings to our communities without reason. During the turbulent ’60s, divisive ’80s, and combative 2000s, the culture deviated from truth while the church held fast but became unrecognizable to each generation. Sadly, a church that no longer looks like the community it is in soon dies.
II. Acts 15:6-20. Leaders in Jerusalem told the Antioch church to extend the same grace to those from the outside coming in as God had already given to those who had been in the church. It was God’s church, not theirs, and He was restoring His fallen tent. Giving grace means WORK for us as we convert the fallen away, the denominationalists, and the unchurched, who are all products of the current culture we live in. The easier ways of growth closed off to us, the church must return to the method that worked when it last looked like its communities.
III. John 15:16-18. While doing the difficult work of going into our communities and making disciples, we “should not trouble” those escaping the corruption of the world by keeping them from returning to it. We can extend grace and love as Jesus loves without compromising truth. If we do this, His church will be forever changed, yes, but it will thrive into the future.
Before the tyrants of the world,
Before important people of power,
The nations’ poor tremble and shake,
But we, O God, your humble children,
Confess your kind and sovereign Reign.
The mighty fall and quickly vanish,
Kingdoms rise and plans are thwarted.
All your words come soon to pass.
Chaotic world! But you control
Its end and bring our final salvation.
We focus on the anguish Jesus endured from Gethsemane to Golgotha for us, and rightly so, but what must that somber Sabbath been like for His very confused and scared loved ones while “Low in the Grave He Lay” who didn’t know that soon He would rise (Luke 23:54-56)?
I. John 19:38-41. Expectations were dashed. He had just entered Jerusalem triumphantly, hailed by the crowd as the awaited Messiah in David’s line (Matthew 21:7-11). But now it was over. Death was so final. Just prepare some spices before dark and rest … because it is the Sabbath.
Low in the grave He lay–Jesus, my Savior! Waiting the coming day–Jesus my Lord!
II. Matthew 26:62-66. Enemies were vigilant. They had just watched Him enter Jerusalem triumphantly and heard Him hailed as the awaited Messiah in David’s line. Still they had managed to kill Him. Now, how to secure the tomb lest His followers steal His body and claim that He’s alive?
Vainly they watch His bed–Jesus, my Savior! Vainly they seal the dead–Jesus my Lord!
III. Luke 24:1-14. Excitement was building … but they didn’t know it! Gloom to the tomb characterized the women’s trip early on the first day of the week. Their only concern was who would move the stone for them as the soldiers weren’t likely to help. But then, what’s this? Where is He?
Death cannot keep his prey–Jesus, my Savior! He tore the bars away–Jesus my Lord!
He is risen! How can that be? The verses sung slowly and pianissimo (pp) give way to a chorus sung quickly and fortissimo (ff) as realization comes that Jesus has indeed overcome death.
Up from the grave He arose With a mighty triumph o’er His foes; He arose a Victor from the dark domain, And He lives forever with His saints to reign: He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!