Sermons

Welcome to Mercy Fellowship where we are Saved by Jesus Work, Changed by Jesus’ Grace, and Living on Jesus’s Mission. Today we begin a new series walking the through the book of Esther called UNSEEN GOD: Hidden Hope Found in the Book of Esther. Thank you for joining us! When do we need hope? Is it when everything is going well in our lives or in the world, where the present seems pleasant and a clear vision of a flourishing future is in sight? Is it when we are led by strong and tender leaders whose virtue, caring character, and defense of justice is plainly visible to all? It is when we have a secure sense of self and we know we are valued and respected in our context even when we bring our full selves to the table? Or...

Good Morning! Welcome to Mercy Fellowship where we are Saved by Jesus’ Work, Changed by Jesus’ Grace, and Living on Jesus’ Mission. Mercy Fellowship exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ who love God and love people. Today we are continuing our summer series Parables: Small Stories, Big Ideas, Great Jesus. We are beginning to gear up for back to school, whatever that is going to look like. So how are you? I ask because if we’re honest we feeling weak, worn out, discouraged, and maybe a bit empty. When we are weak deeply desire something or someone powerful to lead and protect. When we are feeling small we want to be part of something big, when we’re joyless we want something glorious, when we are empty we want to be filled. We are drawn to power and value. That more than ok. It’s acknowledging how weak and dependent we are. We need to hear some good teaching to give us hope. More than simply a good teacher, Jesus ministry on earth had an intense focus on teaching people about the character and nature of God, His kingdom, His values, and how we are to live in response to who God is. While Jesus intended meaning with each of these stores, parables is specific, the response to them varies depending on the condition of the heart of those who hear them. For those who follow Jesus the parables lead to greater understanding, for those indifferent or opposed to Jesus they cause greater confusion. Today we have five parables showing the kingdom’s power, the kingdom’s value, and what life looks like for those who understand the kingdom. Four times we will see Jesus say the “Kingdom of Heaven is like…” each instance is used to correct to easy misconceptions about the Kingdom of Heaven. It is exponentially more powerful than it appears and more valuable than you think. So let us let Jesus be our teacher and our treasure.

What are you hoping for? What are you looking forward to or eagerly anticipating? Right now, from an earthly standpoint, there doesn’t seem to me much and what available is slow either being cancelled or being replaced with decidedly “less than alternatives.” We are getting more and more disconnected and despondent. We need to be driven by a vision of a future that is hopeful and just plain better than now. There is a sifting and an unsettling going on that is leaving us disoriented. While there is much to grieve, and might be more, not all disruption is bad. 2,000 years ago there was “law and order” a “civil society” that left many hopeless in the face of the power of Caesars, governors, and systems. Fear and frustration ran high. Enter Jesus. He preaches, teaches, heals, and feeds. Comes to Jerusalem. Jesus then made his first order of business aggressively coming into the temple cleaning out the temple of corrupt dealers and restoring it to a house of prayer and healing. Jesus returned to the temple to teach and is confronted by the Chief Priest and elders of the temple about the nature of the authority. Jesus responds with challenging them on the nature of John the Baptist’s ministry. “Make a call, is John a prophet from God or is he a crazy person?” They gave an answer with best chance of keeping authority AND did not require them to submit to or recognize Jesus (who John held as the Son of God). Jesus continues teaching the leaders and the crowd with the parable of the wicked tenants of a vineyard and the gracious king reminding them where all authority rests and where all honor is due. In a world obsessed with power it is Jesus who is charge. If you continually reject the will of the king failing to recognize the authority of the King’s Son (Jesus) the vineyard/kingdom will be given to those who love the king. Jesus is going to give clarity and hope for many.

Today, we continue in the short series on the Parables of Jesus and we will be in Luke 11 and what is commonly known as the Parable of the Persistent Neighbor. The questions of “What is a parable?” and “Why did Jesus use parables to teach” have been discussed before. Briefly though, Jesus told simple, earthly stories, stories rooted in earthly events that anyone could understand, on that level. But he told them to illustrate truths about God’s coming kingdom, a kingdom that in most part God’s chosen people had rejected. To those who had not rejected the Father and His Son, the meaning of the story was discernable as told, or later through his patient explaining. For the rest, the meaning was lost or its truth perverted. Their eyes could not see. Their ears could not hear. Their hardened hearts could not yield.

In the beginning of this chapter, Jesus enters into Jerusalem on a Donkey and is celebrated as He rides in as people line the streets and lay their cloaks they would wear down on the road and palm branches they would have cut, they laid on the road as well. And they did this as a sign of submission to Jesus being King. We celebrate this in our church calendar as Palm Sunday. The issue with this though, is that they thought that Jesus Kingship, would be to overthrow the Roman government, and when He doesn’t act like they want, they will later chant for Him to be crucified. But as the narrative goes, they are celebrating Jesus entry into Jerusalem, and an issue arises. They’re excited thinking that He will overthrow the Roman government, but instead of doing that, Jesus first move is to go to the temple, and overthrow tables of the money changers who are cheating and swindling others for their own selfish gain. And as Jesus Kingship/authority is established, it is established but not in the way that people want it to be. So let me say this. Jesus is King now and forever, and that is good news!

We are all trying to convert other people to how we see things. Masks, Race, Candidates, Economics, Policing, education, economics, the virtues of the musical Hamilton. We get incredibly frustrated when we simply explain our point of view, drop some ‘facts’ or science and data, our that they can’t see what we see. If we could just be clearer, or louder, or more persuasive maybe then they would change their mind. So we post more online, keep texting, send people books (or links) to read… and it never works. We all assume that we have the perspective that needs to be adopted. We rarely consider that we might be the one who is lost, misunderstands… or wait for it…. Might even be wrong. What if WE need to be the ones who are converted, illuminated, taught, for our own flourishing and joy and to fruitful bless others. Today we’re going to look at a familiar teaching of Jesus that seems simple but has some big ideas. Let’s go.

Well meaning Christians can miss the point easily here. Peter had been with Jesus a while and was starting to understand that Jesus was about forgiveness when he suggested that we forgive 7 times. 7 times was generous. In those days religious people said 3 times was plenty. I mean let’s think about it in our lives. Let’s say someone sins agains you... like steals something from you. According the passage above, you go to that person and say “Hey, you stole that from me.” They say, please forgive me... and you forgive. Then they steal something else from you... Peter’s question is valid. How many times do you forgive? Maybe it’s not stealing. Maybe someone lied to you. Maybe someone gossiped about you. If we all forgave people 7 times we would probably be considered the most merciful people in he world. We give up on people too quickly. 3 strikes and you are out. What Jesus is getting at is that Peter is missing the point all together. It isn’t about how many times. It isn’t about making a list. It’s about the heart. We want rules so we can follow Jesus with our mind, but not our heart. Quick caveat... if someone is stealing from you, don’t give them a key to your house. We can forgive and still have wise boundaries. Let’s say someone has an abusive husband and he occasionally gets mad and hits her or threatens her. 1. The husband needs to be confronted with their sin 2. Boundaries need to be put in place. Including separation, etc. 3. Forgiveness is still on the table.

We are in . These chapters are an extended period of teaching Jesus gives his disciples which falls into the category of Eschatology (Study of the End Times). Jesus is about to go to the cross and He wants his disciples and us to know what our lives should like and be defined by between now and when he returns. When Jesus came first is was for salvation, mercy, humility, when He returns it will be for justice, restoration, and glory. We will be accountable to King Jesus for our lives. This is true for all, those who currently have no concern for Jesus, and those who profess to know and follow him. Just before this section is the parable of the bridesmaids, invited to the wedding, desired the wedding, professed to be ready for the wedding; but there was division between those who had short-term zeal, but foolishly didn’t respond with action and those who were prepared for a long obedience. The wise entered the feast while the foolish were left out, because the Lord of the feast said “Truly, I do not know you.” The focus for disciples of Jesus is to remain vigilant during this in-between period between Jesus ascension and His return. This week the parable shifts from vigilance to diligence, as the church’s call to “keep watch” goes deeper to include “keep working.”

Because many of us may have the idea that a parable is nothing more than a story with some moral truths being portrayed, which would be wrong. We know this to be wrong, because that is not the gospel message. Jesus didn’t leave all His glory in heaven and come to earth, and live a perfect sinless life obeying the law of God, of which you and I have broken repeatedly and deserve damnation for, go to the cross in our place and on the third day rising from the grave defeating Satan, sin and death and now rules over all of creation as king of kings and lord of lords; He didn’t do all of this to make us moral, to make bad people good but rather He came to make dead people live. So we don’t believe that parables are just stories with moral truths attached to them.

What does” Fellowship” mean? Greek is Koinonia - Rich word. It refers to a participation and communion with God and His people sharing, contributing for a common purpose. A "Fellowship" is a group of people brought together for a purpose. In the New Testament God's people, the church, were defined and described as a partnership for the Gospel because of the Gospel. A fellowship is more like a team to play on than a club to join. In Acts 2 we see “fellowship” identifies the idealized state of unity and purpose that should exist within the church. Created by God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Everyone was invited to experience this community and encouraged to actively participate rather than passively consume. True Fellowship exists when it is from and for God. Fellowship runs deeper than our superficial differences. God created Fellowship binds us together with those whom we have nothing in common but Christ deeper than those with whom we have everything in common but Christ. Matt Nickel - “My prayer for our church is that we would be rich in mercy and devoted to fellowship” Today as we close this series out, we are going to simply attempt to answer the questions “who are we?” and “Why do we exist?” both individually and collectively as a church.