Jesus is IT (Matthew 2:13-23)

Matthew has just recounted the story of the magi coming from the east and worshipping Jesus as king.  What’s remarkable about that particular story is that Matthew is the only one of the four gospel to tell the story of the magi.

I begin there for the simple reason that this morning’s text is largely dependent upon some of the details from that scene with the magi.  By way of introduction, take a look for a second at verse 2:2 – the magi have just arrived in Jerusalem and they go straight to King Herod to ask…

READ VERSE 2:2

For a king like Herod, that was the last question you wanted to ask.  Herod was known for responding to even the most minor of threats with the full force of his cruelty.  And so such questions and the suggestion that there may another king running around was bound to result in some rash response from Herod.  Then in verse 12 we read about how the magi were spared from that wrath via a dream, and shortly after that, Joseph – through a dream – is warned to take Jesus and his mother to Egypt.

Typically, when we look at this text we tend to go in one of two directions with it.  On one hand, we frequently focus on the escape to Egypt as a picture of God’s providence and preservation of toddler Jesus.  Or sometimes we focus on the “slaughter of the innocents” and try to reconcile how it is we can believe such a thing happened when there is not one strand of evidence outside of Scripture that Herod ever committed such a cruel act.

Filed under: Bible Study, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Faith, Ministry, Sermon, Theology

The Visit of the Magi (Sermon on Matthew 2:1-13)

It’s a joy to be back in Portland and able to worship here at Parklane again.  I graduated from Calvin Seminary in May, and Mishaela and I have been back in the area for about 3 months now.  Just so everyone’s up to date on what we’re doing here, we decided about a year and a half ago that would start walking through the door to church planting.  What’s more, we also began to feel a real burden to see more CRC congregations in Oregon and to minister to Portland.  And so, we moved back to Portland and we’ve been working to establish ourselves in the Sellwood neighborhood, with the hopes of starting a new faith gathering in that part of town.  I suppose it’s also worth pointing out that Mishaela and I are expecting our first child in February, which we are very excited about.

As a church planter I’ve been gravitating toward the gospel of Matthew – and for good reason.  A question I’m sure many of us have wondered about is “Why are there four gospels?” After all, if the goal is to present a biography of sorts of Jesus life, won’t one do the trick?

The reality that is often overlooked is that each gospel comes with its own particular slant on what happened.  Each gospel writer, when he set out to record the events of Jesus’ life and his teachings, did so with the intention of achieving something more than just recording the events of Jesus’ life.  It’s that particular slant that has resulted in the gospels occasionally telling a slightly different version of an event or even omitting or including stories that the other gospels haven’t.

Filed under: Bible Study, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Faith, Ministry, Original Languages, Sermon, Theology

Women, Gentiles, & Jesus, Oh My! (Sermon on Matthew 1:1-17)

I used to make a regular habit of posting sermons I preach.  For whatever reason I’ve been getting lazy with this.  I’ve obviously been reading through – and studying – Matthew’s gospel and blogging about what I’ve been learning, but many of those posts seems to have a more academic bent to them and I’m probably not making the discipleship connection like I want to.  Fortunately, I’m doing a much better job with that when I turn around and preach those texts.  So I’m going to commit to being more diligent about throwing up my sermon manuscripts when I preach as a counterpart to the more academic posts.

This is the first sermon I preached in conjunction with studying Matthew.  Enjoy!

READ MATTHEW 1:1-17

My guess is that very few of us have ever heard a sermon on a genealogy.  Although I’m still on the younger side, I know I never have.  In fact, there almost seems to be a part of us that shies away from genealogies as much as possible.  I mean, when was the last time you actually read the book of Numbers for example.  And if you’re like me, you tend to skip the genealogies of Genesis – and Matthew – to get to the things that are more interesting and exciting.  For whatever reason, over the years we’ve come to see these parts of Scripture as mostly pointless filler that seems to have virtually no value for us today.  They may have been important to the people 2,000 or 4,000 years ago, but to us it’s just a big waste of time.

My prayer is that this morning I can change your opinion a little – at least of Matthew’s genealogy.

In the way of introduction there are a few things to keep in mind as we look at this text.  First off, we absolutely cannot underestimate the fact that each of the four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – are written from a particular perspective.  This might make some of you uneasy to think about.  When each author sat down to write his gospel, he did so with the intention of making a point.  In other words, the gospels are not simply relaying the cold, hard facts of Jesus’ life and teachings.  That’s why the gospels sometimes put the same story in different places or present slightly different versions of an event.  There was something in the life of the author or early church that necessitated the author to write what he did.  We then discover clues to what that thing was and it helps us understand what we’re reading better.

Filed under: Bible Study, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Evangelism, Faith, Ministry, Sermon

And God said… (Genesis 1)

I’ve written on the text before, but I just completed a full translation and study of Genesis 1…so I’ll blog about it again .

Genesis 1 is perhaps one of the best-known passages in the Bible, but it’s continually misused.  For the last 100+ years, North American evangelicalism has grossly misconstrued the creation story and turned it into something it’s not: a science lesson; scientific conclusions have been drawn from a text that has nothing to do with science.  I know this will probably get me labeled as a “liberal” by many who may stumble across this post, but all I’m doing is attempting to flesh out what the text says – not the English text, the original text…the Hebrew.

First off, Genesis 1 reeks of Hebrew stylistic and poetic devices – and this comes out even in English.  The text is wrought with repetition and poetic verbiage.  These characteristics absolutely must be taken into account when reading this text.  Poetry is never to be taken literally.  I’m sorry for the harsh tone, but we’re talking about the Bible; whether or not the world was created in six consecutive 24-hour periods is never addressed – one way or another – in Genesis 1.  Biblical Hebrew scholars almost unanimously agree that the repetition of “And there was evening and there was morning…” is entirely a structural device used for organizing the text and to aid in memorization, not to provide readers with a timeline.

Filed under: Bible Study, Christianity, Faith, Theology

Discipleship

The whole concept of disicpleship has been a growing interest and theme for me the past year.  I’m beginning to think that discipleship is really where it’s at when it comes to the Christian life.  Here are a few thoughts:

Ecclesiastes 12:13 says, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of man.”  I’ve always seen this as the seminal verse regarding man’s relationship to God.  We are created beings (rather than eternal), created for God’s purposes.  When it comes down to it, everything we do is intended to be for the glory and benefit of God alone.  We benefit from our relationship with God, but to be consistent with Scripture, our top priority is obedience to the Creator.  Even Psalm 1 talks about this when it says “Happy is the man/person … who delights in the Law of the LORD and meditates upon it day and night” (Ps 1:1-2).  ”Happy” is a legitimate translation of the Hebrew and does a better job emphasizing the wisdom nature of the Psalms.  In the Hebrew mind, the Psalms are intended to a guide that instructs God’s people how to get the most out of and enjoy to the fullest extent life, including our relationship with God.  Therefore, we were created in order obey God’s commands, thereby enjoying the closest/best relationship with God we possibly can.

Relationships require mutual respect and submission.  In 1 Peter, husbands and wives are commanded to mutually submit to one another.  Taken literally, mutual submission is absent; but taken within its historical and cultural context, mutual submission comes out loud and clear.  According to the Bible, the only way a marriage can be fully enjoyed by both spouses is if they each submit to one another.  In Ephesians 5, Paul equates the marriage relationship to the relationship between the church and believers to Jesus.  This also emphasizes a posture of submission to God.

At it’s most elementary level, a disciple is a student.  But not just any student; a disciple is someone who strives to mimmic every aspect of their teacher’s life.  The goal of a disciple is to – in many ways – take on the very appearance of their teacher.  In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commissions his disciples to make other disciples.  When we look at the entire picture of what the Christian life is supposed to “look” like, we have very little choice but to conclude that God wants his people to become disciples – students, embodiments – of his son, Jesus.  As disciples, we publicly declare Jesus’ lordship over our lives since everything we do is a direct result of the faith we profess.  We are submitting to God’s will and Law.  And by nature, the concept of disciple assumes a personal relationship with the teacher – in this case Jesus.

The book of Matthew has a well-embedded discipleship theme.  It also has the feel of being rather Jewish in its structure and story-telling.  Throughout this gospel are numerous OT references and several calls to “follow him.”  It relies heavily on knowledge of Jewish traditions and culture.  Coincidentally, the Biblical concept of discipleship originates in the OT, with Elijah and Elisha acting as the OT epitomes of what it means to be a disciple.

There are a few things I want to define this new church plant that I’ll be working to establish:

1. I want people to learn the Bible.  Not in the legalistic sense of “Read the Bible or else” kind of way.  But when people come to our Bible studies or future gatherings, I want them to walk out with a deeper fascination and respect for the richness of what is contained within Scripture.  They may not believe what written in it, but they’ll recognize that there is something different about this book, something that makes it more than just a collection of ancient near eastern fairy tales.
2. I want people to grow as disciples.  I want the members of our group to realize that being a Christian is more than just something you think or believe, it’s an entire lifestyle.  That’s why I prefer to talk about myself as a “Follower of Jesus” rather than a Christian.  This isn’t just the “true religion,” it’s the best way to live; and the way we live is always rooted in our worldview/philosophy/spirituality.

Filed under: Bible Study, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Church Planting, Discipleship, Faith, Ministry, Philosophy