Sermon October 18- 2 Corinthians 5:14-12

This sermon was fueled by a lot of reflection on my time in Egypt. While there, I looked at this part of the Muslim world through the window of my own life and experience. It was a different world than one had ever experienced.

This sermon was a call to reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. Only in him can we have the assurance of our salvation. Righteousness is a gift of grace through faith in Jesus. That’s it.

I offered a very simple understanding of Islam- one gathered more from observation than study. And I paralleled the practice of Islam to the dutiful religiosity of cultural Christianity practiced in so much of our great nation.

This sermon in a word was an invitation. Click here to listen.
Pastor Scott

Sermon September 27 "Exceeding the World"

(Sorry this post is so late. I woke up on Sunday, September 27th with the flu. I was in bed all week trying to rest and recover for my trip to Egypt... and then I was in Egypt. Better late than never I hope).

This sermon was preached on the verses that conclude this particular section of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:43-48). Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in Heaven...

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is all about holy living; living as children of God. And that is what he points out here. Why do we love enemies and pray for persecutors? So that we can act like what we are- children of God. Jesus began this section by saying that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets- not to abolish them. And what were the law and the prophets but the guidelines and resounding clarion call to holy living.

Loving your enemies and praying for your persecutors fly in the face of our natural inclinations. But part of our sanctification is about having those natural inclinations transformed by God's grace in our lives through Christ. That is why Jesus concludes this section by saying "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." What is at stake in not loving enemies and praying for persecutors is our living as children of our Father.

But how do we do that? I Corinthians 13:4-7 describes what love looks like. And it has nothing to do with how we feel and everything to do with how we choose to act. Loving enemies doesn't mean feeling fondness for people who hate us, but rather responding to them in patience, kindness, humility, trust, and hope.

If we choose not to live this way toward our enemies then we are not living as a holy people- we are not living as children of God. We are not reflecting God’s love toward us.

How happy am I that God dose not treat me by the standards I used to treat Sal Dana (my childhood nemesis and neighborhood bully)? How can we live that way? How can we muster up the ability to be patient and kind, to not give into our pride and envy, how can we protect, trust, hope, and persevere through maltreatment from the Sal Danas of this world?

We go to the cross. We reconfront God’s love for us on display. We hear Jesus cry out again and again, “father forgive them for they know not what they do.” And we realize that he is saying that about us!

I concluded the sermon by reading Romans 12:9-21 in which the apostle Paul provides the exclamation point to Jesus' teaching here.

Pastor Scott

Click here to listen to the sermon