Sermons Christ Community Church: Daytona Beach, FL

A couple of years ago a professor at Boston University, Stephan Prothero, wrote a book titled American Jesus: How the Son of God became a National Icon. In the book he said, “Jesus has become as American as apple pie, and everyone has their own favorite recipe”. What he meant was that while Jesus is very popular in America, a lot of people like to cook up their own idea of who Jesus is to them and how they like to think about him. We're trying to rediscover the real Jesus. How do we do that? Well the best way is by going back to look at how Jesus is revealed to us in the Bible. It is interesting that many people who claim to think highly of Jesus aren't so sure about the Bible.

Who is Jesus really? Back in the earliest portions of the Bible God had promised whoever was willing to listen that one day He would visit this world to bring redemption. He foretold, through prophets, throughout the centuries, in the Hebrew Scriptures that he would send a Redeemer or Savior. Once he arrived even John the Baptist had doubts about whether or not Jesus was the one sent by God. He asked, "Are you the one or do we keep looking?". Have you ever had questions, if not doubts, surface because Jesus isn't really what you expected or he did not solve some problem like you wanted him to? The truth is, Jesus doesn't always meet our expectations or fix our problems like we think he should. But the ultimate question is actually, "Are you the one?", and the answer to that question is "Yes".

Psalm 46 has been called a battle hymn for believers in God. The issue of fear is in the forefront of Psalm 46. Fear is certainly one of the most primal emotions and it's been in the news a lot lately. There is no doubt some people are fearful about the economy but maybe your biggest fear is something else completely. We've had people this year discover a lump on their body and find out it's cancer and it's serious and they are in for a battle like nothing they have ever experienced before. There are a lot of things that can cause worry, anxiety or outright fear. But here's a Psalm that faces all the things that can go wrong and yet clearly says "We will not fear".

Helmut Thieleke in his book, How the World Began, suggests that before going to a play we ask some fundamental questions: Who is the Playwright? Who is the Chief Actor? What is the play about? But, he suggests, most people step out onto the stage of life without asking these fundamental questions. Psalm 8 tells us what our role on the stage of life is. Emil Brunner says: “The most powerful of all spiritual forces is man’s view of himself, the way in which he understands his nature and his destiny; indeed, it is the one force which determines all the others which influence human life.”

Many have wondered why the Christian faith has historically taken such a strong stand against abortion. Maybe you have wondered why so many Christians take it so seriously when there are other critical issues like the economy. Maybe you are a Christian and you have all the same questions. Well Psalm 139 has a lot to say about this. This Psalm takes you back to the time before you were born and tells you that God was personally, intimately and actively involved in your life, even then!

A minister once introduced a message on Psalm 51 by saying:

"Tonight we come to something which if you have it, even if your life completely blows up, it can be repaired. If you've got it, no matter how broken your life, no matter how severely broken, it can be made whole. But, I'm afraid to name it, because when you hear it, when I use the English word, I'm afraid a lot of you will say, ‘O, that. I already know about that.’” The word, the thing that he was talking about is repentance. That's what Psalm 51 is about: life renewal through radical repentance.

One Scholar who wrote about Psalm 63 said that what verse 8 shows us is that between David and God there exists a “reciprocal relationship of active love". Now isn't that an amazing thing!

A person just like you and me in a real relationship, a friendship with God? God is infinite and personal. He wants a real relationship with you and he offers you his friendship and faithful love.

The first thing we're told in Psalm 63 is that this is a psalm of David when he was in the desert of Judah. David was the most famous King of the Jewish people. He was a very human individual who went through all kinds of experiences and failures and struggles and came through them all. This is a song of faith that was written during a difficult time in David's life. The desert is a symbol of our hard times. It's a wasteland that offers very little to nurture or sustain life. But verse 7 says: Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. That's a pretty good theme verse for the year to come. The Psalm is saying there is a way to sing, to thrive, even in a wasteland.

C. S. Lewis once wrote about Psalm 19: "I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world". This Psalm is a poem about how God reveals himself. There are three movements to this work. The first is God revealing himself in the world. The second is God revealing himself through his Word. Thirdly, there is a personal reflection and confession in response to God's revelation.

Although it is quite appropriate at this time of year to think about the image of the sweet child in the manger, probably what we most need is to get our perception of Jesus out of the manger into the midst of our lives and into our hearts and into the real issues of our world which are pretty deep and real.