Sermon on Hebrews 12:1-3

Palm Sunday

Consider Christ Your King

1. Throw off sin

2. Run with perseverance

3. Fix your eyes

Text:  Hebrews 12:1-3

Intro

What a year it has been so far!  It’s only the end of March but we have been through so much.  The New Orleans Saints won their first Super Bowl.  The Winter Olympics were held in Vancouver.  The Michael Jackson movie commemorating his life was released.  The Oscars were two weeks ago and Sandra Bullock won her first Oscar.  Apple announced their new innovative product called the iPad.  And just this last week the “historic” health care bill was passed.

But 2010 hasn’t been all fun and games.  As high as the highs have been, there have been some incredible lows, too.  Just this last week the “historic” health care bill was passed.  The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl—and beat the Minnesota Vikings in the process!  The swine flu epidemic broke out and became even worse.  The Norwalk virus struck Flagler County and knocked out half the students.  Almost a quarter million people died in a devastating earthquake that struck Haiti.  Weighing the pluses and minuses, especially these viruses and the earthquake, it would seem as though things are only getting worse in this world.

2010 has been no different for our church family.  There have been plenty of milestones, celebrations, and parties for many of us.  Some of us have enjoyed special occasions or attended special events.  As a church we have watched our building fly up from the ground to a point of near completion.  Our church family and our Preschool continue to grow.  Finding chairs in church or mats for naptime at the Preschool has become harder and harder.  These are good things.

But 2010 hasn’t been all fun and games.  In fact, for many it hasn’t even been close.  Some have battled serious illnesses.  Some have had surgeries.  Some need to keep going to the doctor for ongoing problems.  Some have had family issues the likes of which you didn’t even think possible before.  Many worry about money and bills on an every day basis.  Many are struggling just to get by.  There have been tears, heartache, physical pain, and emotional pain.  Weighing all the pluses and minuses, it would seem as though things are only getting worse for us and for our lives in this world.

So what do we do?  What do we do when things are rough, life is tough, the family is in a huff, and you’ve just had enough?  We think about Christ.  We ponder Christ.  We open up the Bible to Hebrews 12:1-3 and we

Consider Christ Your King

Sermon on Luke 23:39-43

6th Wednesday in Lent

The Son of Man Came to Seek . . . A Thief

The Jewish historian Josephus called it “the most pitiable of deaths.”  The Roman orator Cicero said that it was “the worst extreme of torture inflicted on slaves.”  The Latin word the Romans used for it was crucifixus.  One English derivative from that Latin is the word excruciating.  Appropriately so.  The experience was every bit of excruciating.

First usually came a flogging for the condemned.  Flagellation often involved a multi-threaded whip that had little pieces of bone or metal on the tips so as to create extra pain and perhaps even rip full chunks of flesh off the body.  From the place of torture the condemned would then carry his 300 pound cross on his raw back to the place of execution.

But that was when the pain really began to start.  The criminal would be stretched out and the Roman soldiers would affix him to the cross.  Sometimes they were tied to the cross, most often they were nailed, as was Jesus.  It is possible that the spikes would be driven through the palms of the hands.  It has been proven that the flesh there could be able to support the weight.  Perhaps more likely was that the spikes were pounded through between the radial and ulna bones in the wrist.  The Greek word for hand means everything from forearm to the finger tip, so hand here could mean wrist.  This location would probably support the weight better.  Also, we do know that Jesus had no bones in his body broken which might also indicate nails driven through his wrists.

The death was meant to be a slow and agonizing one.  Previously it had been thought that often the criminal would die from asphyxiation, suffocating from hanging while being stretched out.  It appears though, that this would not usually be the case as it has been proven that the 90 degree arm angle would not necessarily asphyxiation.  More likely is that the person would die from one of three things—either dehydration, blood loss, or from shock.  Depending on how long those symptoms took to set in, the execution could last anywhere form hours to days.  And if you didn’t die then, they would break the legs to cause one of those three symptoms faster, as they did with the two criminals on the sides of Jesus.

Sermon on Philippians 3:8-11

5th Sunday in Lent

The Greatness of Knowing Christ

Text:  Philippians 3:8-11

Intro

Did you know?  Take yourself back in time.  Think back to when you were first able to have complex cognitive thoughts.  Perhaps you were in the 5^th or 6^th grade.  Baseball cards or Barbies, chewing gum, and hopscotch were still your favorite pastimes.  But at this time you first started dreaming.  You began dreaming about your perfect spouse and your ideal family.  You began thinking ahead about your ideal career and all the money you would make.  You fantasized about the wonderful life lying ahead.  Think way back to those days.  Did you know?  Way back then when dreams were fresh and life was fun, did you know?

Did you know that by this time in your life your heart would be broken this many times?  Did you know that you would have shed tears as many times as you have?  Did you know that you would end up in a family with so many problems?  Way back then did you know the number of times that you would receive devastating news?  Did you know this many people in your life would become sick or die?  Did you know that life would be so overbearing, that life would be so complicated, that life would be so filled with pain and suffering?

I’m sure all of us ran around at recess or in our neighborhoods with our friends growing up and we looked forward to the life ahead.  With a childlike innocence and exuberance, we couldn’t wait to grow up and to make the most of the happy lives that awaited us.  But now we are older.  Now we know better.  Now we have bags under our eyes and ulcers and gray hair (or no hair) and days without sleep and days without smiles.  Now we know what life is really like.  We have a knowledge of life that comes from real experience.  That knowledge gives us a certain power for living.

Sermon on Luke 23:27-31

5th Wednesday in Lent

Jesus Came to Seek . . . Weeping Women

Text:  Luke 23:27-31

The event is marked as the eighth of nine stations on a path called the Via Dolorosa.  In English the path is called The Way of Suffering or The Way of Grief.  This Via Dolorosa tracks the journey of Jesus from Pilate to Calvary.  Each station along the way identifies an event that took place, such as falling under the weight of the cross and having Simon from Cyrene carry the cross behind him.  This event is the eighth along that Via Dolorosa.

An incredibly exhausting and grueling Friday led to this point.  Before the sun even rose he was hauled away as a prisoner.  His closest comrades had all deserted him.  As the morning rooster crowed, even the most devout denied knowing him.  The religious leaders mocked and beat him for blasphemy.  The Roman soldiers had pummeled him with their fists and bashed his head with a rod.  His back had been shredded by scourge.  His face was soaked with spit.  His brow was bloodied from the thorny crown pressed into his skull.  So sapped of his strength, he crumbled under the weight of the cross he carried.

Now Golgotha loomed large before him.  In a matter of minutes he would be nailed to a cross and hoisted into the air.  But before carrying the guilt of the world, he speaks one last time on the ground.  He speaks at this eighth station along the Via Dolorosa.  He speaks to weeping women.

Sermon on Luke 15:1-3,11-32

4th Sunday in Lent

Lost and Found

Text:  Luke 15:1-3, 11B-32

There seems to be a fascination in our world with being lost.  Doing a quick perusal of movie titles quickly reveals this truth:  Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park: Lost World, Lost Treasure, Land of the Lost, Lost in Translation, The Lost Boys. That’s not the end of it.  One of the most popular TV shows of all time is currently in its sixth and final season.  This intriguing show (which you might find your pastor watching on Tuesday nights) is simply called Lost.  Whether it’s finding something lost, being directionally lost, or being lost in your life, we just love a good lost and found story.

We’re not the only people intrigued by a good “lost” story.  Jesus knew that, and so he used stories of things lost to drive home important points.  The opening verses of Luke 15 give us the setting:  “Now the tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were all gathering around to hear him.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’  The Jesus told them this parable.” The Jewish leaders couldn’t believe the kind of people that Jesus was teaching and associating with.  The sick, the poor, the needy; tax collectors, prostitutes, fisherman—they couldn’t believe that Jesus would even dare to look at such “sinners.”

So Jesus decided to teach them a lesson with a few parables—a few “lost” parables.  First Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep, about a shepherd who left his 99 to find the one lost.  Then he told the parable of the lost coin about a woman who turned her house upside down just to find one coin.  But then Jesus told a much longer parable, one that has become one of the most popular of all time.  It is the basis for songs, plays, musicals, and even a Veggie Tales movie.   Today we’ll explore this amazing story of

Lost and Found

Jesus immediately introduces us to the three main characters of the story.  “There was a man who had two sons.” The younger one apparently had enough of family life.  The status quo of being in a kind and loving family with an easy and comfortable life was no longer appealing.  He wanted to go and live it up.  So, “The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’” This was not the usual course of action.  Just as it would be unusual today for someone to cash in on their parents’ will before they die, so it was also unusual back then.  But the younger son, who was set to receive the smaller inheritance, wanted it all right away.  The father obliged.