Hoover Church of Christ Sermons

When we suffer, we’re tempted to question God’s presence and sovereignty, even more so when the suffering is directly tied to our following Christ.

Where is God? Does he know? Does he care? Why isn’t he doing anything?

Peter’s response–as it so often is for him and other biblical writers–is to go to Jesus, specifically to his death, resurrection, and exaltation.

There’s a significant interpretive difficulty in this passage, and we’ll spend a little time with it Sunday, but even if we don’t understand the particulars of Peter’s statement here, we can understand these truths:

Peter’s point is this: sometimes it might look and feel like evil is winning; we can imagine how the Christians during the dark days of the Roman Empire found themselves doubting their future. But because of what Jesus did for us, we know that all evil will ultimately be defeated. In fact, Jesus has already proclaimed victory over all demonic powers and now reigns as King.

As Christians, we trust in that fact, even when the world makes it difficult for us. We anticipate with great hope the day when the Lord’s reign will be realized throughout the world.

The theme for 2021 is “RENEW,” and we’ve been exploring some aspect of that theme on the first Sunday morning of each month. Tomorrow we’ll focus on Paul’s words to the young church planter, Titus, who was in a difficult environment on the island of Crete.

Paul uses a quite powerful word in verse 5 when he writes that salvation comes about by the “washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” The Greek word behind “regeneration” quite literally points to a re-genesis, a “new beginning.”

Here’s what I plan to emphasize tomorrow: Salvation isn’t a self-improvement plan, nor is it joining a church or just trying to live a better life. It’s an absolutely new way of viewing everything. It’s impossible to overstate how radically Paul viewed salvation. It’s not just smoothing out some rough edges, addressing a couple bad habits, engaging in some self-disciplined acts of moral improvement. It is literally the power of the new creation being realized in the lives of people who submit to Christ.

Notice the first part of the chapter: before this power overwhelmed us, we were characterized by quarreling, foolishness, disobedience, lust, malice, envy, and hate. “But when” are two of the most powerful words in the Bible . . . “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared . . .”

Everything changed once and for all. He saved us, and life has never been the same.

Our theme for 2021 is RENEW, and on the first Sunday of each month, I plan to address a different aspect of renewal. This Sunday we’ll focus our attention on a famous psalm of David.

The background of Psalm 51 is his sin with Bathsheba and his being convicted of his sin by Nathan the prophet. [To appreciate the context and to get a feel for David’s remorse, you might read the whole psalm.]

David is devastated by what he’s done, and he desperately wants God’s forgiveness. Beyond the cognitive aspect of forgiveness (i.e., the mental awareness of his being forgiven), David wants to feel forgiven. He wants to “hear joy and gladness.”

Beyond that, though, he recognizes that his brokenness led to his sin. He knows it wasn’t just a momentary lapse of good judgment or a “weak moment.” He knows that something is messed up inside him, so he asks God to give him a “clean heart” and a “right spirit.”

Notice the repetition of spirit in these verses: “renew a right spirit within me . . . take not your Holy Spirit from me . . . uphold me with a willing spirit” (vv. 10, 11, 12).

David knows he needs renewal . . . specifically he needs his spirit to be renewed.

I suspect that’s a prayer that many of us should probably pray. “Father, give me a new spirit, one transformed and controlled by your Spirit . . . one that is overwhelmed by your beauty so that I no longer fall prey to the temporary but ultimately unsatisfying experience of sin.”

Mark begins his gospel by making it clear who the subject of his narrative is: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). Near the end he includes this confession–from the mouth of a calloused, pagan centurion: “And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!'” (15:39).

And in all the chapters in between, he’s concerned about this one question: Who is Jesus?

More specifically, who is Jesus to you?

Tomorrow we’ll trace this theme through Mark and focus on the famous story of Jesus’ confronting his apostles with that very question: “But who do you say that I am?” (8:29).

In these troubling times, it’s more important than ever for Christians in our culture to know who Jesus is. Is he merely a good man? Is he just an incredible teacher? Is he the inventor of a new religion?

Or is he more?

How we answer those questions changes everything about the way we view life . . . how we navigate turbulent moments, the attitudes we display when we face uncertainty, where we put our trust and hope.

Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus to you?