Archives For Epiphany

Looking for Jesus: Part 7

January 15, 2013 — Leave a comment

oasis

[Note: the first part of this sermon was The Gospel According to Water.]

How This Fits with Epiphany
Epiphany means “manifestation,” it means a sudden bolt of inspiration, understanding: “Aha!” One of the supreme places the Bible and the church fathers have pointed for one of these great manifestations is the baptism of Jesus. There the God who made the waters came down into the waters. The one who led Israel through the sea came down to be led through the sea. The One who cleansed and purified Israel, the One who was always clean and holy came to be washed clean for the forgiveness of Israel, to fulfill all righteousness. Then, right on schedule, as Jesus was coming up out of the water, the Spirit descended upon him and the Father spoke from heaven identifying for the whole world, His beloved Son. This beloved Son, filled with Spirit, became the Rock that was struck so that living water might flow out to the ends of the earth (Jn. 19:34). And when we read and hear this story of the rivers, the story of the waters, and we see Jesus standing in the midst of the waters, how can we not glorify Him? How can that not hit us? How can that not open our eyes? Jesus is our living water, our Spirit-filled water.

What Should Studying the Bible Be Like?
This why when you read the Bible rightly, when you are studying it prayerfully, it should be like drinking water, like cool fresh water on your face on a hot day, like a happy, gurgling stream in a mountain meadow, like riding in a fierce, raucous squall. It should be at turns refreshing, sweet, comforting, peaceful, unnerving, terrifying, and overwhelming. Because Jesus meets us in His Word. Continue Reading…

In Bible, Culture, Epiphany, Evangelism, Grace, Justice & Mercy, Politics, Sermon Outlines, Sola Scriptura, TRC, Wisdom
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The Gospel According to Water

January 15, 2013 — 2 Comments

waterThe story of the Bible is the story of a river. It’s the story of the Spirit hovering over the waters, causing it to flow, making it surge, making it splash, making it live.

Adam and Eve were supposed to build boats and ride the river down the mountain. They would have had great adventures. Which river would they have gone down first? The Pishon? Looking for the gold in Havilah? Or try the Gihon going down to Ethiopia, or the Euphrates perhaps? Four rivers going out to the ends of the earth, the ends of the compass. The whole world was theirs because the whole world was their Father’s and they were safe in His love. But instead they plodded down that eastern hill in sadness, dust clouds licking their feet.

Grace was when they walked in the garden, when springs of water came up from the face of the ground to water the flowers and plants. Grace was the river that ran out of the garden, out of the presence of God, and down the mountain to the ends of the earth. Grace was drinking that living water, splashing in those streams, riding them, walking in them with the God of the Universe. Continue Reading…

In Bible, Creation, Culture, Epiphany, Grace, Misc, Sermon Outlines, Sola Scriptura, TRC, Wisdom
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Looking for Jesus: Part 6

January 7, 2013 — 1 Comment

[Note the first part of this sermon was The Gospel According to the Rocks.]

What does the Bible say about the world?

1. When we consider all these themes (trees, lights, rocks, etc.), the Bible is telling us that there is a deep goodness embedded in the world (Gen. 1:31). All of creation has experienced the curse of sin and death and now groans, waiting for the redemption of the sons of men (Gen. 3:17-19, Rom. 8:19-22), but the world is also constantly talking about the glory of God (Ps. 19:1-4, 97:6). The world makes it manifestly clear that it was created, that we were created by an all-powerful, glorious, orderly, good God (Acts 17:24-29, Rom. 1:19-21). But even more explicitly, after we have read and studied the Bible, the World is constantly talking about Jesus, about God’s love for His people, His mission to share that glory with the world. The world proclaims the majesty of the Triune God and all men are without excuse, but the astounding claim of the New Testament is that it was created by and has the fingerprints of Jesus all over it (Jn. 1:3, Col. 1:16, Heb. 1:2-3). Creation, flood, Exodus, miracles, resurrection, trees, rocks, stars – all proclaim the obedience of creation to its Good Lord. In other words, the world proclaims that Jesus is Lord.

2. The Bible tells us that because of sin, the world has a certain kind of gravity to folly, a logic to evil, and therefore there are clearly established patterns to sin and evil. Sin tends to grow up in a particular direction (Rom. 6:19). Paul says that ingratitude gives way to hollowness that descends to folly that finally becomes darkness (Rom. 1:21). In layman’s terms, a little bitterness gives birth to a biting sarcasm that grows into full blown lies that grows up into men trying to have sex with other men. In Ps. 19, David confesses that sin is mysterious and therefore prays that God would cleanse him from secret faults (Ps. 19:12), followed by a prayer against presumptuous sins – that they would not have dominion over him (Ps. 19:13). Then David says he will be “upright” and “innocent from the great transgressions.” Psalm 1 describes a similar logical progression: walking, standing, sitting with ungodly, sinners, and scornful (Ps. 1:1). He who walks with the wise will become wise, but he who is a companion of fools will be destroyed – whether actual flesh and blood people, books, music, movies, heroes we look up to (Pr. 13:20). Apart from the miraculous and gracious intervention of God’s grace (e.g. Lk. 15:17), this progression always happens (Ps. 6:16, Pr. 26:27, Gal. 6:7) and fools never learn (Pr. 26:11, 2 Pet. 2:22). Molehills of sin always tend to grow up into mountains of evil. Continue Reading…

In Bible, Church Calendar, Creation, Epiphany, Sermon Outlines, Sola Scriptura, TRC
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The Gospel According to the Rocks

January 7, 2013 — Leave a comment

redoubtPeople are instinctively drawn to rocks, stones, and metals. Chances are many of the women in this room are wearing a small decorative rock on one or more of their fingers, perhaps on an ear, or hung on a chain around their neck.

We pave roads and sidewalks and pathways with rocks and stones. We dig into the ground to find beautiful rocks. And some rocks simply demand our reverence by their sheer size. Mt. McKinley in Alaska is over 20,000 feet of pluton rock, what scientists call intrusive igneous rock, believed to have been shoved up from beneath the earth’s surface, where it cooled and crystalized. McKinley is the tallest mountain on land in the world considered just from base to summit. But over a hundred other mountains many in the Himalayas are actually far higher in altitude. But they get running starts. For example, Mt. Everest, the highest point on planet earth is actually riding piggyback on top of 15,000 feet of other rocks.

The world is full of rocks. We throw rocks into lakes, we skip them across ponds, we pile them up and build houses and buildings. We decorate, adorn, glorify with rocks. Some gigantic rocks are full of lava, rumbling, stewing, steaming, exploding.

I remember shortly after moving to Alaska when I was nine years old, Mt. Redoubt, a rock of about 10,000 feet at the very top of the Aleutian island chain, began exploding. Scientists say that beginning on December 14, 1989 until around April 1990, the mountain exploded around 23 times, spitting lava and shooting ash for thousands of miles. On the day of the first explosion, a Boeing 747 enroute from Amsterdam flew right into the ash plume and had a complete engine failure. The crew was able to successfully restart the engines and make an emergency landing in Anchorage. Ash disrupted airspace as far away as Texas during those months. I vividly remember seeing the ash falling on cars and parking lots, thin layers of gray dust everywhere. It was common to see people walking around with facemasks.

Volcanoes are living rocks, alive with fire and smoke, and when they burp, they disrupt our world. Smoke is rock breath. Continue Reading…

In Bible, Creation, Epiphany, Sermon Outlines, Wisdom
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