JR.'s Sermons

What is the goal of faith? Is it safety? Is it a sense of control? Prestige and position? These were in Nicodemus’ mind when he sought out Jesus. But Jesus’ words to him are confounding: Jesus will become a snake, lifted up for the world to see. How does this image challenge our ideas of who God is and what God wants from us? How can Jesus-the-snake invite us to become more loving, more present in our world?

Does anyone these days feel like they have margin in their lives? Space in their schedules, in their finances? We tend to live at 100%, with no space to listen for God, no room to engage God’s calling on our lives. How can we make space for God to organize and orient our lives?

We're told to look for the devil in drugs, sex and rock n roll. But if we're to believe Jesus, religion can distract us from God. The only solution to satanic religion is to follow Jesus to the cross.

Living in the wilderness takes extra preparation. So too, if we're going to enter into the season of Lent, we need to prepare. God is going to do something powerful in our midst. Will we be ready for it? Will we be prepared?

Ash Wednesday begins Lent, a season of corporate prayer and fasting. But Jesus instructed us to do those things in private. So how can we do them together?

Most religions have a god who's confined to a mountain - high above the world with special people who can only access the gods on special days. But when God became human in Jesus, God left the mountain once and for all to live among us. This means that Jesus is with us everyday, everywhere we go!

Disagreement is tough - in the church as everywhere else in life. How do we engage people we disagree with - especially when we're so sure we're right? Paul tells the Corinthian church that "right" is the wrong framework. Unless we disagree on a foundation of love, we're headed for disaster. How do we pursue unity above all else?

Knowledge is power, and we can be tempted to hold ourselves above others when we have more understanding or experience. In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul takes a simple question about eating meat and turns it into a discussion of loving community.

What would you do if you learned the world was ending next week? Our answers to that question reveal our ‘happiness gap’ – how far we are from the life we really want. The Corinthian Christians asked Paul whether they should marry given the trials of their culture and the immanent return (they think!) of Jesus. Paul’s advice to them is to be content where they are. Rather than focusing on the greener grass over there, we should focus on what God is calling us to right where we are.

Our culture values personal freedom above all else. We’re not the first to do so – the Corinthians did too. But the Apostle Paul challenges personal freedom as the highest value, observing that when what matters most is my desires, I become a slave to those desires. Instead, Paul insists personal freedom must submit to the law of Love. We belong to each other.