Guerrilla Christianity

Sermon #603

I saw a meme on Facebook this week that put forth the notion that religion is defined by what we hate.  Yet if we learn anything from John's first epistle, it is that the central theme of Christianity is love, and not just any kind of love, but agape love.  The word "agape" means a higher form of love, a godly love, a transcendent love that is sacrificial and puts others before us.  And so Jesus commands us to love God, to love one another, to love our neighbor, even to love our enemies.  But do we see that in the world?  Is the aforementioned meme that far off from what is portrayed in the media concerning Christianity?  If we are to truly be followers of Christ we need to let our love be on full display both by what we do and by what we say - in other words, in our deeds and in the truth.

Recorded at Hudson UMC on April 21, 2024

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S.D.G.

Sermon #602

It's often been said that we are all children of God, every one of us in humanity's fold.  But this simply isn't true.  John's gospel tells us that to those who receive Jesus, who believe on his name, God gave the right to become sons and daughters.  So how can we know if we are truly regenerated, reborn into the family of God, adopted as sons and daughters of God?  It is through our association with God's attributes, especially his righteousness.  Apart from Christ we cannot practice righteousness, but only practice sin.  But once we are adopted, we practice righteousness, though we may still fall to sin.  We wonder if we have lost our salvation because we dip our toes into the pool of unrighteousness, but God's word assures us that it's those who practice lawlessness as a general rule that are lost.

1 John 2:28-3:10

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on April 14, 2024

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S.D.G.

Sermon #443

The Greek word "agape" describes a higher form of love.  It is a love that is completely selfless and giving, expecting nothing in return, and it is the kind of love that God shows to us in Jesus Christ.  Since agape is a Godly form of love, it stands to reason that the world at large does not and cannot conceptualize this kind of love.  Homer used the word only ten times in his writings; Euripides only thrice.  Yet the word "agape" appears in the New Testament 320 times, and 27 times it appears in this short passage from John's letter.  It seems important to the apostles and to Jesus, and so agape ought to be important to contemporary followers of Christ as well.

1 John 4:7-21

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on May 2, 2021 (Originally published May 17, 2021)

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S.D.G.

Sermon #442

Those who experienced the resurrection first-hand (the apostles, and the many eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection as reported by Paul) had a certain boldness to their evangelism.  After all, they had seen the resurrected Jesus in the flesh.  We who have received their eyewitness accounts can also experience this boldness when it comes to conviction of sin.  While the Spirit within us convicts us of sin when we give into temptation, God's Spirit never condemns us - that condemnation was poured out on Jesus at the cross in our place.  So we have boldness before God because our hearts do not condemn us.  This is what John teaches us in his letter today.

1 John 3:16-24

Recorded at Hudson UMC on April 25, 2021 (Originally published on May 4, 2021)

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S.D.G.

April 21, 2024

First Lesson: Acts 4:5-12

Psalter: Psalm 23

Epistle Lesson: 1 John 3:16-24

Gospel Lesson: John 10:11-18

Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

S.D.G.

Sermon #439

As Christians we have a temptation to say that we ought not to mourn in times of sadness.  Yet there is much biblical evidence that mourning is a proper response to sad events, such as the death of a loved one.  The disciples, who heard Jesus' teaching about his own death and resurrection, still mourned when he was killed on the cross.  But their mourning was turned to joy when they encountered the risen Christ.  What we see in today's teaching from Easter Sunday 2021 is that Christ turns our mourning to joy when he speaks our name.

John 20:1-18

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on April 4, 2021 (Originally published on April 8, 2021)

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S.D.G.

Sermon #601

We're beginning a new series for the season of Easter based in the first general epistle of John.  The purpose of John's letter was to dispute the twin heresies of Docetism and Gnosticism that was rising in the First Century church.  Using statements that contrast dark and light, righteousness and sin, John systematically presents a case that shows that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all (1:5).  He also addresses the Gnostic assertion that some secret knowledge is required for salvation, saying that all that is necessary is repentance and faith.  He assures his readers that when we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all iniquity (1:8).  All this is made manifest in the work and person of Jesus Christ, the personification of God's love to the world.  And the word that we use to describe this perfect love is the Greek word Agape.  This will be the focus of our series and it is the message that we receive this day.

1 John 1:1-2:2

Recorded at Hudson UMC on April 7, 2024

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S.D.G.