WestGate Church Teaching

Every culture, every people group, every family has some form of celebration. In Jesus’ day, there was a major celebration for Jewish people called Passover. Luke records a moment where a pre-teen Jesus gets separated from his parents during this large festival. This curious story reveals some truths about what it means to grow up, and grow up religious. Our faith has to become our own - different than our parents. And this can cause some tension, but following and being faithful to God sometimes does.

If we are not careful, the Christmas Story we imagine will be more likely to be shaped by Hallmark than the actual author, Luke. But in the story in Luke, we see that Mary and Joseph didn’t have a very polished and easy time. In fact, it was messy, uncomfortable, filled with travels with Mary almost past her due date, Roman oppression, and social ostracization (because of the unique and miraculous circumstances of Mary’s pregnancy). But if we look underneath the hardships, we’ll see that Luke is also trumpeting another truth: that God is at work, even when we can’t see it clearly.

When the angel appears to Mary, a poor, teenage peasant girl, he announces that she is “highly favored by God.” When you and I think of what it might mean to be “highly favored” by God, usually it looks like gold mansions and Lamborghinis. But Mary’s life - by any measure - was about to get substantially more difficult, and filled with not only discomfort, but hardship and even tragedy. The thing is, the natural human response in such times is to wonder if God has forgotten us, or perhaps maybe doesn’t even exist. But in Luke 1, Mary composes a song that directly confronts the idea that God has left, or abandoned us, and her faith-filled song is a reminder for all who travel through dark days that God see us, loves us and is working to set all things right (even if we can’t see it).

The story of the birth of Jesus contains the story of the birth of another character, Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. John’s role is unique in the story. In the story of Jesus, John comes to say that “Things really are this bad, and we can’t heal or save ourselves; things really are this dark – nevertheless, there is hope.” John’s message - and indeed the message of Christmas is echoed in the familiar words of the prophet Isaiah that “on those living in the land of shadow a light has dawned.” John's unique message to us about Jesus is challenging. This "saving" light is NOT from someone within the world, but rather, this light comes from somewhere else, outside of this world. This light is Jesus, who has come from somewhere else to save us.

In the first century, a physician named Luke set out to write an orderly account of the incredible story of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Luke’s writings, collated from research and eyewitness accounts from those who knew and travelled with Jesus, are still studied today by religious and non-religious people across the globe. Some dismiss Luke’s stories as mere myth, amplified accounts of people trying to gain control by forging a new religion. But Luke is systematic in trying to discover the truth about this Jesus, and if we are even just slightly as methodical and scientific as Luke was, we’ll encounter a man who changed history. And is still changing history.

All through the Old Testament, God continually commands His people to “remember” as an activity to call to mind the things that He has done for His people as a way to keep into the front of minds how faithful their God has been to them. This Thanksgiving, we’ll take some time to reflect back on the faithfulness of God through all the changing experiences of the past year. But this weekend also marks the beginning of the Christmas season of Advent, where Christians look forward and anticipate the birth of Jesus - and what that birth means. Liz Ditty stops by to share the stories of Anna and Simeon, and how their stories in the Gospel of Luke show us two different but equally powerful ways to look forward to God’s promise that He will find us.

There was a meme going around this past election season that said, “Keep your thoughts and prayers. Go vote.” The idea is that “prayers” are the least practical and helpful thing a human can do, and do nothing to tangibly affect or change anything. But in James chapter 5, James says emphatically that one of the central distinctives of a follower is Jesus is that he or she prays. James is adamant that prayer changes things, and that Christians should be people of prayer regardless of what season they are in (sickness, suffering, success). But why? What good does it do? James is convinced that the power of heaven unleashes Heaven into history, changes things, and changes us. And that the prayers of ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

The love of money, the Bible says, is the root of all sorts of evil. And the course of human history has revealed this to be true. Money can corrupt, cause factions, and even rip apart families and friends. Jesus even went so far as to say that a person can’t really serve both God and money at the same time. So how should we think about money? As we dig into the 4th chapter of James, we see the brother of Jesus write a number of clear warnings about money to the early church, outlining the divisiveness it can bring. And James gives some level-headed advice on how to think about money in a way that brings peace and joy not only to you, but to your relationships with God and others.

The Bay Area is a place that is quite literally filled with ambitious people. But amidst all this drive for productivity and impact, the question arises: is there a downside to all that ambition? Does it take a toll on our humanity? Our relationship with God? And what does a person who is trying to follow after Jesus do - exactly - with his or her ambition? In this passage, James says that there’s a type of ambition, which left unchecked, can lead us to ruin. And James tells us how to come to terms with our own ambition in a way that leads to God, and even toward peace.

The famed science fiction author Philip K. Dick once wrote, “There exists, for everyone, a sentence - a series of words - that has the power to destroy you. Another sentence exists, another series of words, that could heal you. If you're lucky you will get the second, but you can be certain of getting the first.” Which raises an interesting dilemma for those that want to follow Jesus. What if - instead of speaking like Jesus words that bring life, hope and healing - our words are actually unleashing damage into the world and onto those we love? In chapter 3, James addresses this very issue and has some incredibly strong words (perhaps some of the strongest in the entire book) about the importance of taming one’s tongue - and how to go about doing that.