The FIVE Sermons

Maybe the reason we feel overworked and burned out isn’t simply because we’re doing too much, but because we’re ignoring God’s built in rhythm for regular, weekly rest.

A study done recently reported that Americans are spending a little over 5 hours a day on their smart phones. You heard that right: 5 hours per day. What’s crazy is that the average American gets under 7 hours a sleep a day. Think about that – we spend almost as much time on our phones during the day, staring at a screen, as we do asleep at night. While this is just one shocking statistic, we could go on and on how about how our schedules keep getting busier and busier and our lives feel more and more hectic. At one point or another, we’ve all wished for “one more day” or even just “one more hour during the day” but if we’ve learned anything so far, it’s that that extra hour or extra day would get swallowed up with busyness before we know it. Something has got to give. And yet, while we keep scratching our heads wondering how to change the pace at which we live, God has already structured the week in such a way that every single one of us could instantly experience a change of pace if we simply chose to live according to God’s rhythm rather than the rhythm of our world. God calls this change of pace Sabbath. Today we’ll be exploring what Sabbath means, why it matters, and what it might mean to allow the weekly rhythm of God to replace the idolatrous rhythm we’ve given ourselves over to. If you’re looking for a change of pace, God’s gift of Sabbath might be the solution your soul is craving.

Life may be messy, but the good news is that the mercy of God is new every single day.

Life is messy. We know the good we want to do and often fail to do it. We know the evil we want to avoid and often give into it. Sometimes it feels like we’re caught up in a vicious cycle that we can’t break. But to anyone who has ever felt this hopeless frustration there’s good news: the mercy of God is new every single day. The mercy, love, goodness, and kindness of God can do what we cannot. God has the power to interrupt this cycle every day because every day, His mercy is ready to face any and every one of our struggles. We don’t have to give up hope because we have a God who gave Himself up for us, and that changes everything.

While making changes is good, Jesus didn’t die and rise so we can make behavioral modifications. He conquered death so we could be changed from the inside out in ways far beyond we can accomplish in our own power.

In John 3, a secretive meeting between Jesus and a religious leader named Nicodemus is held. While Nicodemus seems to want to ease into the conversation, Jesus cuts straight to the heart of why they’re there, alone, at night: “If you want to be a part of God’s kingdom, you must be born again.” Rather than a list of dos and don’ts or a breakdown of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors, Jesus sets before him what seems impossible – be born again. But what’s impossible for us is absolutely possible for God and that’s the point. The newness we crave, this true newness we long for, can’t be achieved through effort alone – it is a gift of God. While many of us know this, we tend to live as if this isn’t the case, as if we just try harder, work longer, and put in more effort, then we’ll achieve what God only can give. So this week, as we kick off our Newness series, we simply want to remind ourselves that the newness we crave most can never be produced by human effort or ingenuity but is a gracious gift of God available to all through Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Timothy 3:16–17
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. (nlt)

Philippians 3:20–21
Our citizenship is in heaven…the Lord Jesus Christ…will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Matthew 13:43
The righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand! (nlt)

Luke 6:27–28
I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. (nlt)

Hope is contagious. It welcomes others in Christ into joy and freedom.

Isaiah 11 offers a beautiful but confusing picture of the hope we have in Christ. The first part of the chapter offers a picture of restoration and peace. The second half however is a bit less desirable. It speaks of violence and plundering and I’m doing so raises a question. How can the text speak of peace and hope and healing and simultaneously speak of violence and plundering? Maybe we need to hear the words once more and this time, listen to them through the life and ministry of the Christ child. As 2019 comes to close, let’s remember who who we are in Christ and who he has called to be for the glory of God and the sake of the world.

Luke 1:26-38

Even in our grief there is hope and where there is hope, there is cause for joy.

Everywhere you look in the Christmas story, you see people rejoicing. Elizabeth, Zechariah, Mary, shepherds and even an unborn John the Baptist get in on the celebrations. Why not right? Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s is on the way! And yet, as happy and joyful as the Christmas season can be, for many of us, rejoicing is the last thing we feel like doing. Maybe we lost a loved one this year. Maybe work or family has been tough. Maybe there have been health issues you or a loved one has faced or maybe you look at the state of our world and your heart just can’t get there – to joy. For some of us joy just feels impossible, maybe even wrong. But what if there’s more? What if there’s a joy that runs deeper than our worst days and more richly than even our best? What if this joy could be yours in abundance? Join us this morning as we unpack this gift of joy God offers us in Christ and may this joy lift you up and thrill your heart like never before.

Jesus came as a king, priest, prophet, and temple for real people and real life.

The genealogy at the beginning of Matthew is like an escape room. When you first look at it, it seems kind of underwhelming…but then you start looking under things and inside of things and behind things and all of the sudden, you find secrets and codes that unlock more secrets and codes…and you realize that there’s meaning and intention everywhere. That’s what we get in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. The way Matthew has structured it and the names he has included in it offer a preamble to Jesus’ coming as the true king, priest, prophet, and temple. In this Jesus, we find a hope strong enough to bear the brunt of reality…a hope wide enough to embrace the totality of human brokenness and beauty…a hope resilient enough to survive the real world…and a hope that’s come for you and for me. This is the kind of hope Christmas is all about.

The hope of God has the power to heal and reconcile broken relationships.

In Isaiah 11, the prophet begins by painting a powerful picture of what the Coming One of God will one day be like. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him. Truth and justice will flow from Him. He will not judge unfairly, but instead He will strike down the wicked with nothing more than the words of His mouth. It is a powerful picture – and it is precisely what we see in Jesus. But this powerful picture is just the first part of Isaiah’s dream. His vision of the Messiah coming begs a question: what will be the fruit of His ministry? In response, Isaiah paints yet another picture. The wolf will lie with the lamb, the lion will eat grass and a child will play with the cobra and be unharmed. Not only will the Messiah judge and rule with truth, justice and power, the fruit of the His coming will cause enemies to become friends, and predators and prey to become family. In other words, healing, peace and reconciliation will flow to and through all our relationships. The Christmas season can be a beautiful time, but it can also be a reminder of the painful brokenness that exists in many of our relationships. But this reminder need not be the end of our stories – Jesus Christ came so that we might experience the joy of reconciliation with God, each other, ourselves and all of creation.

Luke 2:26-38