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Challenging Promises
Sunday, November 17, 2019. Rev. Dr. Scott Ramsey, preaching.Scripture Readings: Isaiah 65:17-25; Luke 21:5-19
To access the Bulletin, click on SAVE PDF to download or open in new window.
SERMON TEXT
Jesus and the early church had a
funny way of recruiting and motivating his followers. A lot of the time – I don’t know if this has
happened to you – but when someone is trying to recruit you for a job, they
will emphasize the good parts about the job, the perks of the job, the
upside. “Oh, man. You’re gonna love it. The people you’ll be working with are great,
the projects are exciting, the work’s not that hard, it won’t take too much of
your time, just a little bit, but the rewards are enormous.” The general tactic of this approach is to
make the task seem as appealing as possible, almost tantalizing in its
attractiveness.
Jesus and the early church had a slightly different approach. Here in Luke 21, where he is talking with his followers – some of whom had been with him for a while, but others of whom may have been fairly new to following him – he tells them, “There’s going to be some bad stuff. Wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famines, plagues. But before that stuff happens, they’re going to arrest you, persecute you, hand you over to the authorities; you’re going to be brought before kings and rulers. You’ll be betrayed by your close loved ones. Some of you will be put to death. You’re going to be hated by all because of me.”
Doesn’t that sound great? All right! Who’s in? Where do we sign up?
The promises of God come to us; they are challenging, and they are energizing.
Jesus is very clear with his followers that he has not come to make their lives comfortable, and that the Christian faith is not about staying safe. It is not about becoming the most popular kid in school. It is not about having everything go your way. Jesus is very clear with them about what will happen to them as a result of their giving their lives to him. Very clear. You can accuse Jesus of many things, but you cannot accuse him of sugarcoating the hard edges of life.
Life is hard for all of us. All of us go through hard times. People are facing financial stress and living in poverty. We face relationship challenges. Our health situation can suddenly become fragile. We live in a world that is undergoing enormous conflicts and changes. Institutions and organizations and denominations are wrestling with their purpose as well as finances. And it may very well be the case that our commitment to following Jesus will lead us to take stands on issues or to reach out to rejected people that will not make us popular.
What is striking about our story from Luke today is that Jesus does not teach us to feel sorry about ourselves, or to see these hard times as problems. He does not minimize their difficulty, but he teaches us that they are also very real opportunities. “You will be persecuted, arrested, handed over. This will give you an opportunity to testify.” The difficult things in our lives are opportunities for us to practice our faith. The hard times that we go through are moments when our faith can show itself. Easy times do not force us to draw on our faith and our trust in God. The hard times in our lives do.
The promises of God come to us; they are challenging, and they are energizing.
Our other text, Isaiah 65, is a promise in the voice of God of what God is up to in our world, and good Lord, is it a vision to give your life to. “I am about to rebuild the city,” says the Lord. What’s it going to be like? (1) The city is going to be a place of abundant well-being and health. Verse 20 tells us that there will be no more infant mortality and that those who are old will live with vitality. (2) It will be a place of good jobs and good work. Verses 21-23 tell us that no longer will people be working in the fields or on construction projects for hard-driving task-masters. They’ll get to live in their
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By Lewinsville Presbyterian Church
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Sunday, November 17, 2019. Rev. Dr. Scott Ramsey, preaching.Scripture Readings: Isaiah 65:17-25; Luke 21:5-19
To access the Bulletin, click on SAVE PDF to download or open in new window.
SERMON TEXT
Jesus and the early church had a
funny way of recruiting and motivating his followers. A lot of the time – I don’t know if this has
happened to you – but when someone is trying to recruit you for a job, they
will emphasize the good parts about the job, the perks of the job, the
upside. “Oh, man. You’re gonna love it. The people you’ll be working with are great,
the projects are exciting, the work’s not that hard, it won’t take too much of
your time, just a little bit, but the rewards are enormous.” The general tactic of this approach is to
make the task seem as appealing as possible, almost tantalizing in its
attractiveness.
Jesus and the early church had a slightly different approach. Here in Luke 21, where he is talking with his followers – some of whom had been with him for a while, but others of whom may have been fairly new to following him – he tells them, “There’s going to be some bad stuff. Wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famines, plagues. But before that stuff happens, they’re going to arrest you, persecute you, hand you over to the authorities; you’re going to be brought before kings and rulers. You’ll be betrayed by your close loved ones. Some of you will be put to death. You’re going to be hated by all because of me.”
Doesn’t that sound great? All right! Who’s in? Where do we sign up?
The promises of God come to us; they are challenging, and they are energizing.
Jesus is very clear with his followers that he has not come to make their lives comfortable, and that the Christian faith is not about staying safe. It is not about becoming the most popular kid in school. It is not about having everything go your way. Jesus is very clear with them about what will happen to them as a result of their giving their lives to him. Very clear. You can accuse Jesus of many things, but you cannot accuse him of sugarcoating the hard edges of life.
Life is hard for all of us. All of us go through hard times. People are facing financial stress and living in poverty. We face relationship challenges. Our health situation can suddenly become fragile. We live in a world that is undergoing enormous conflicts and changes. Institutions and organizations and denominations are wrestling with their purpose as well as finances. And it may very well be the case that our commitment to following Jesus will lead us to take stands on issues or to reach out to rejected people that will not make us popular.
What is striking about our story from Luke today is that Jesus does not teach us to feel sorry about ourselves, or to see these hard times as problems. He does not minimize their difficulty, but he teaches us that they are also very real opportunities. “You will be persecuted, arrested, handed over. This will give you an opportunity to testify.” The difficult things in our lives are opportunities for us to practice our faith. The hard times that we go through are moments when our faith can show itself. Easy times do not force us to draw on our faith and our trust in God. The hard times in our lives do.
The promises of God come to us; they are challenging, and they are energizing.
Our other text, Isaiah 65, is a promise in the voice of God of what God is up to in our world, and good Lord, is it a vision to give your life to. “I am about to rebuild the city,” says the Lord. What’s it going to be like? (1) The city is going to be a place of abundant well-being and health. Verse 20 tells us that there will be no more infant mortality and that those who are old will live with vitality. (2) It will be a place of good jobs and good work. Verses 21-23 tell us that no longer will people be working in the fields or on construction projects for hard-driving task-masters. They’ll get to live in their