The Gathering of the Saints--God's Fruitful Vineyard; Isaiah 5:1-7, 27:2-13, John 15:1-11

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The Devil is Defeated!; Isaiah 27:1, Rev. 20:1-10

 

On Reformation, it is customary to sing Martin Luther’s most famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress” as we have done.  The second half of verses 3 and 4 go with our texts today, “The prince of darkness grim—we tremble not for him.  His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure.  One little word shall fell him.”  That one word Is Jesus, whose kingdom is forever.  Today we hear that the devil is defeated, and is defeated soundly by Jesus Christ. 

            The opening of our Isaiah texts talks about the defeat of leviathan.  Leviathan is described as a fleeing and twisted serpent and a dragon.  In Canaanite mythology, leviathan was a sea serpent.  Leviathan represents the enemies of God, but leviathan also represents Satan.  This we see in our Revelation passage.  In verse 2, we learn that the dragon, the serpent of old IS the devil and Satan.  The abyss was believed in Jewish mythology to be at the bottom of the sea.  In Rev. 20, we see an angel coming out of heaven with the key to the abyss and a great chain who binds Satan and throws him into the abyss for 1000 years.  This angel is either Jesus Himself or it is an angel who has received the key from Jesus, whom we know holds the keys.  During this time, Satan is unable to deceive the nations.  Historic amillennialism, the majority view of the Church around the world and the view held by most of the early church fathers, teaches that this has already occurred and occurred at the cross.  There’s a wonderful scene in the Passion of the Christ movie that shows Satan gloating as Jesus is being crucified, but the moment Jesus says, “It is finished,” and dies, the temple veil is torn and it cuts to Satan in chains screaming angrily at the bottom of the abyss.  Scripture that speaks to the devil being defeated already include Hebrews 2:14-15, which says, “Sine then the children [that is God’s children] share in the blood and flesh, He Himself [that is Jesus] likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of the death, that is the devil, and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.  Just before His death, Jesus said in John 12:31, “Now judgement is upon the world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” And in John 16:11, Jesus says, “…the ruler of this world has been judged.”  In Colossians 2:15, Paul talks about the evil spiritual forces being conquered in the past tense and from verse 14, we know this happened at the cross.  “having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us which was hostile to us and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through it.” 

            Satan being in the abyss though does not mean Satan is without influence in the world.  We are told to resist the devil and flee from him.  We are supposed to be on guard against the devil.  But Satan cannot act without permission from God. Still if Satan is bound why do we so much evil in the world?  Our Revelation text says that at the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be released to gather the nations against Christ.  He will accomplish that, but they will be unsuccessful and will be destroyed with Satan being cast into the lake of fire.  Then the “rest of the dead” will be raised and judged.  Is it possible the 1000 years has ended and we are in the last days when Satan has been freed to gather people against Christ?  Possibly.  Could it be the fault of the Church—that we have been lazy with Christ’s mandate to expand the kingdom?  Is it our fault for not living and proclaiming the gospel, for failing to love our neighbors?  For not believing in the power of God at work within us? 

            There is a day when Satan is destroyed.  Isaiah 27:1 says the Lord will kill the dragon.  Rev. 20:10 says, “the devil who deceived the nations was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”  This is the end of Satan.  When will it be?  Our Isaiah text says, “In that day.”  “That day” is the day of Christ’s return.  It is the same as the Day of the Lord.  We know this is so because of the end of chapter 26.  26:21 says “Yahweh is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.”  The Lord is coming to earth to judge the living and the dead, as we confess in the creeds.

The other historic view, called historic premillennialism, is that Satan will be thrown into the abyss when Christ returns.  Rev. 20 is the only passage that talks about a 1000 year reign of Christ with Satan being in the abyss on one side of it and being cast into the lake of fire on the other side of it.  It also has 2 resurrections, the dead in Christ being raised at the beginning the 1000 year and the rest of the dead being raised at the end of it.  Again, the 1000 years is not necessarily meant to be taken literally.  This view says that when Christ returns, the dead in Christ rise first and reign with living believers for a time.  This view takes into account verses like I Corinthians 15:51-52, “Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”  And I Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to mee the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”   After that time Satan will be released to see if he can deceive the nations and rally them against the saints on earth, and the “beloved city”—Jerusalem, which represents the people of God, but they will be consumed with fire from heaven before being able to do anything.  The part of Revelation 20 that we didn’t read talks about the resurrection of everyone who are judged according to their deeds, with anyone whose name not being written in the Lamb’s Book of Life also being cast into the lake of fire. 

While it’s hard to make sense sometimes of the amillennial view, it’s also hard to make sense of this view of 2 separate physical resurrections of the dead.  In the part of Rev. 20 which we didn’t read.  We read of 1 resurrection where believers and unbelievers are separated. These verse sounds a lot like what Jesus Himself talks about in Matthew 25, when He will return with His angels at the end of the age to separate the sheep from the goats.  Amillenialism teaches that the first resurrection of the believers happens when we are baptized, and there are many Scriptures to support this.    Ephesians 2:5-7 READ. Colossians 2:12, “Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised u with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from the dead.”  Colossians 3:1-2, “If then you have been raised up with Christ, see those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Be intent on things above, not on things that are on the earth.”  Romans 6:4, “therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”  And there are other verses.  We are those who are blessed for we have participated in the first resurrection.  There is a resurrection to come, when we will receive our glorified, imperishable bodies.  But even now, we have new and eternal life in Christ. 

We know that Christ is reigning now and has been since His ascension into heaven.  I Corinthians 15 talks about the reign of Christ. READ I Corinthians 15:25-28.  And the saints will reign with Christ.  This role is especially given to the disciples and patriarchs and to those who endure persecution, the martyrs.  But also for all who persevere in the faith to the end of their lives.  In Rev. 3:21, Jesus gives this promise to the believers in Laodicea:  “The one who overcomes, I will grant to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”  Paul quotes from a piece of church liturgy in II Timothy 2:11-12, “For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him.  If we endure, we shall also reign with Him.”  This promise of reigning with Christ is found in the Old Testament as well.  Daniel 7:27 says, “Then the kingdom, (sovereignty), the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One.  His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.”  I Corinthians 6:2-3 says, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?  And if the world is judged by you, are you not competent to try the trivial cases?  Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” 

            It’s easy to get discouraged.  We see the Church in decline in the western world.  We see our society becoming more and more corrupt.  We see human life denigrated.  We see evil called good and good called evil.  It looks like Satan is gaining ground, but it’s a lie.  It’s a lie that he wants us to believe.  We are not defeated!  We are raised with Christ.  We are more than conquerors.  Just before Jesus died, in John 14:30, He said the ruler of this world, (the devil) has nothing in Him.  That is, had no power over Him.  The devil was already powerless against Jesus.  Jesus wasn’t going to give the devil the attention he desired.  We have Christ in us and we don’t have to give the devil a foothold in our lives either.  He can be powerless against us.  We can resist the devil, and he will flee from us. 

Every time someone comes to Christ, the Church is advancing.  The Church IS advancing.  Funny enough, it’s advancing most clearly and stridently in some of the places where it’s hardest to even be a Christian.  It’s advancing where it is illegal to own a Bible. Maybe it’s going to take some persecution for us to realize that Jesus was serious about the Great Commission. The Church is advancing where people lose their lives for declaring Jesus is Lord!  And despite what it looks like, the church is growing here in our community.  There are people being delivered from addiction.  The hungry are being fed.  People are coming to Christ.  Baptisms are happening.  Disciples are being raised up.  There is a new small church movement, called dinner church, in the US where the church is advancing.  People are coming to Christ, being delivered from bondage, and being discipled.  If each of us just leads 2 people to Christ and helps them to grow as disciples, the Kingdom of God will grow exponentially.  Many of you have done this through the raising of your children.  It doesn’t mean we have to stop with 2!  Don’t be deceived—Satan is on a tight leash.  He cannot act without seeking permission.  One day, he will be cast into the lake of fire.  We are commanded not to give the devil a stronghold.  Jesus has not abandoned us and has given us all the tools we need to push back the darkness.  God’s promise to bring all of His people into His kingdom is one that cannot and will not fail. 

Spoiled Dinner; Luke 22:14-24

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What are some of your favorite memories around food?.....Do you have bad memories around food?....Today on this World Communion Sunday, we read the story of the Last Supper from Luke’s gospel.  This is the most important meal for Christians—more important than the feedings of the 5000+ and the 4000+, more important than the meal where the sinful woman washed Jesus’s feet, more important than His meals with the tax collectors and sinners, more important His meals with Pharisees, or at Zaccheaus’s house.  It is more important, because Jesus told us to continue celebrating it in remembrance of Him.  But this Last Supper is more than just a memorial service.  Christ gives Himself to us and unites us with all other believers, which is why it is the most important supper. 

            The Last Supper was a celebration of the Passover.  It would have been a big deal for any Jewish family.  Jesus was joyfully anticipating this dinner.  Our passage begins with Jesus telling the disciples how much he has been looking forward and longing to share this Passover meal with them.  It should have been the perfect dinner, but it wasn’t.  What was supposed to be a joyful celebration had some moments that could have spoiled it.

            First is the fact that Jesus clearly says, it’s His last Passover meal for a while.  He says, “until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”  Now that’s not bad news!  We don’t know when that will be, and neither did the disciples.  It could be very soon!  And it is definitely something worth anticipating!  But He also says that before that happens, He is going to suffer.  This shouldn’t have been a surprise to the disciples.  Jesus had been talking about it constantly on His way to Jerusalem.  We heard Him mention it many times last spring.  There is sadness even knowing that it was going to happen, and yet, we know how necessary it was for Christ to suffer, so that all people might be forgiven of their sin and have eternal life.  Still even Jesus’s impending death didn’t have to spoil the dinner.  Like having a last celebration with someone you know is terminally ill, it’s bittersweet, but you strive to make it be a great memory for all involved.  And Jesus Himself made it special by giving new meaning to the afikomen and the cup of redemption and the cup of joy.  It’s certainly something neither they nor we can forget.  Jesus is the fulfillment of Passover being broken for us, spilling His blood for our salvation, that we might have eternal joy. 

            But then Jesus says the one sitting next to Him will betray Him.  There is someone at the dinner table who plans to spoil the evening.  This starts a conversation among the disciples.  They start wondering which of them will do it, even though Jesus made it pretty clear—the one whose hand is with Mine on the table.  The one who dips with Me, in the other gospels.  The others are clueless and start speculating about each other.  This speculating turns into a full-blown argument. Like children, they start arguing over who is the best.  Anybody in here have to deal with family fighting at the dinner table?  It can certainly ruin a meal!  Jesus uses it as a teaching moment.  He points out that He is the greatest, and yet, He comes to them as a servant, not as patronizing.  He encourages them to be like Him, servants to one another.  And yet, He also tells them that they are all going to be great.  He commends them for standing by Him in His trials, thus far, even though they were all going to run away, except John, and tells them that they would inherit the Kingdom of God and inherit thrones in that Kingdom, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Those who are spoiling what should have been the perfect dinner, will in the end be rewarded, not for what they did here, but because they have been chosen by Christ to take the gospel to the world.  Jesus turns the conversation back to the kingdom redeeming the spoiled dinner.

            But the dinner isn’t over yet.  There’s one more spoiler.  Jesus looks across to Simon Peter that Satan has asked permission to sift him like wheat.  Peter is incredulous saying he vows to follow Jesus to prison and death. Jesus tells Peter that Peter is doing to deny Him that very night, not once, but 3 times. Yet even as Jesus gives this disturbing news, He tells Peter that He has prayed for Peter that his faith will not fail.  We can trust that when our faith is weak, Jesus has prayed for us.  When we know others who are struggling with their faith, tempted to deny the Lord, we should pray for them, trusting that God, will in God’s perfect timing, restore them as well.  Jesus promises despite all that Peter will do, that he will have a job to do once he repents, which is to strengthen his brother disciples.  Peter will in the end, be the strong one.  It’s often those who have reached rock bottom and come out of it who are best suited to help others, whether it be those who are recovered and recovering addicts to help other addicts, the formerly incarcerated who make the best mentors for those headed down into a life of crime.  Peter understood after denying Jesus 3 times how much he had received forgiveness, and so he boldly proclaimed forgiveness in Christ to anyone he could. 

            The Last Supper should have been the perfect dinner with everyone getting along and celebrating, but it had many spoilers.  And yet, it was the perfect supper.  Nothing was a surprise to Jesus.  Not even Satan could ruin this meal.  Jesus used every potential spoiled moment to teach something about Himself, about the Kingdom of God, and about the disciples.  We can remember this when our dinners don’t go so well, to give and receive grace to ourselves and to those around our table, to teach and to learn.  The disciples continued the practice of table fellowship among believers and promoted in all the churches as Christ instituted, and so we do today.  We remember Jesus in this meal.  We remember what that Jesus died for us, that He is the Passover lamb, slain from the foundation of the world, who death sets us free from the law of sin and death.  We remember that He is our salvation.  We remember that we are inheritors of the Kingdom of God.  We remember that Christ has taken people who were not family and made them into God’s family with God as our Father and Christ as our Brother.  We are brothers and sisters, called to serve one another in love.  Under Christ’s new covenant we are called to bless the world, just as God promised Abraham that He would bless all the peoples through Abraham. 

            The table is still a sacred space, not just the Communion Table, but whenever believers are gathered, when believers are gathered with unbelievers.  Whenever we gather for a meal—in our homes, in restaurants, at church, on a picnic we can remember Christ and invite Him to our tables as He invites us to His.  Even when things don’t go perfectly, Christ is in our midst and can do His holy work. 

The Earth is Judged; Isaiah24-25:5, Revelation 6-7

 

We have come to the end of a judgement cycle in Isaiah.  We have heard lots of judgements over the summer, but remember that every single one has also come with hope and a promise of restoration and salvation after the time of judgment and even during the time of judgment in some cases.  This final judgement is the judgement of the whole earth. 

            A couple of weeks ago, we heard about the church in Philadelphia whom Jesus promised to spare from an even greater “hour of testing” that was to come upon the whole earth, because they had already faithfully endured much persecution in which many members had lost their lives.  We hear in the text that there will be those who are unaffected by the coming judgment, but it’s going to be overall devastating for the world.  It doesn’t matter what one’s social status or class is.  Isaiah tells us that the Lord has said that the earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled. 

            Why is God going to judge the earth?  For many of the same reasons God said that He would judge certain nations, but moreso because the evil is so widespread.  In Isaiah 24:5, God gives the reason, people have “transgressed laws, violated statutes, and broke the everlasting covenant.” 

            What will happen when God judges the earth?  Both Isaiah and Revelation talk about earthquakes.  Both talk about the heavens being shaken and the sun and moon being darkened.  Isaiah says that the host of heaven will be punished along with the earthly rulers.  These are the spiritual forces whom Isaiah says will be confined.  We also see this in the book of Revelation, though not in our passages today.  Alcohol will not bring pleasure but will be sought as a way to escape, but it will not work.  Partying will stop.  People will hide and try to escape suffering.  Our Revelation passage speaks of war, pestilence, famine, and attacks by wild animals.  It also talks about food being incredibly expensive.   Death and Hades are given the authority to take 25% of the human population. 

            Isaiah mentions a city that will be destroyed in this prophecy.  The word used to describe is “wasted, confused, chaos.”  It is the exact Hebrew word used to describe the earth in Genesis 1:2. It is disordered.  When we refuse God’s order, the result is disorder and chaos.  The city is not named as cities in the other judgements were.  What is this city?  Is it a city that was unknown at the time, like Beirut, Moscow, or Washington, DC?  Is it Jerusalem?  It is a city that represents the whole world.  Whatever this city is, it will be destroyed never to be rebuilt.  So yes, Jerusalem in a sense spiritually, even if not literally.  We have seen Paul in Galatians b4 talk about the Jerusalem that now is and the Jerusalem that is above, the heavenly city.  He tells us that the earthly Jerusalem is like Hagar, a city that is in slavery, but that the heavenly Jerusalem is free like Sarah.  St. Augustine in his great book, The City of God, describes the same thing.  He says that there exists the City of God and the City of Man.  Both Paul and Augustine say that these cities exist in the present tense.  They are systems.  God’s people belong to the City of God, and if they aren’t living like it, they are called to come out of the City of Man, the earthly Jerusalem.  Whatever our feelings about even the physically real city of Jerusalem, it is not meant to stand forever.  We hate to think of our heritage being destroyed, but in the end, it will be completely unnecessary when the New Jerusalem descends from heaven and replaces it.  Until it does, it already exists, and we are called to live like it exists and that we are its citizens, for indeed we are!

            This great judgment that is to come is referred to as the Tribulation, the great trouble.  We see this in our Revelation passage, that those around the throne of God dressed in white robes and singing praise to the Lord, a multitude that no one can count from every people group on the planet are those “who come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  Popular Bible teaching says God’s people aren’t going to have to endure the tribulation, but that’s not what Revelation 7 says nor is it what any early church father taught.  Tribulation is to be endured and persevered through with God’s help, not escaped.  What the early church father did differ on is whether the 1000-year reign of Christ is metaphorical or whether there will be a post tribulation literal reign of Christ on earth between the resurrection of believers and the resurrection of the condemned.  I personally find myself waffling between those two positions.  God warns us about it, not so that we will be afraid, but so that we will be prepared. 

            There have been many great tribulations throughout history.  I think this is one of the reasons that the disciples expected Christ to return. They always spoke of Jesus’s return during times of intense persecution, but there is still a great tribulation to come.  Are we on the threshold of it?  Maybe.  There are many who think so with the collapse of western civilization, with WWIII about to start and the great threat of nuclear war and the escalation of violence in the Middle East.  We certainly see vast numbers of people breaking and disregarding God’s laws and even natural law.  We see people calling evil good and good evil.  Whether God is going to send a lesser or the final tribulation upon us soon, only God knows, but after the final tribulation, Christ will return and reign.  We see in Isaiah 24:23, “The Lord of hosts will reign on Mt. Zion and in Jerusalem and His glory will be before His elders.” 

As he has done in when pronouncing other judgements, Isaiah weeps over those that do evil.  The apostle Paul reminds us that “we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with powers, and principalities, and spiritual wickedness in the high places.”  Do we care enough to mourn over those who do evil and desire to see them set free spiritually?  Do we care enough even about our neighbors to share the good news of Jesus with them? 

            Don’t forget that the ending to both of our passages this morning are positive!  They are full of praise for God’s goodness, power, and triumph and for the triumph of the people who are faithful to the Lord.  In Isaiah’s prophecy, the righteous in the west shout with joy over the majesty of the LORD.  Those in the East sing songs of God’s glory.  Those in the islands praise the name of the Lord!  In our Revelation passage, before any judgement can even start, the angels are commanded to first seal up the 144,000.  I don’t believe this is a literal number, but it is the number of completion of Jewish believers—those who actually come from the 12 tribes named as representatives of God’s historic people.  We should be praying for the conversion of the Jews.  It’s why the work of organizations like Jews for Jesus is so important.  God will fulfill God’s promises to them by bringing them into the New Jerusalem.  Notice there is no one from the tribe of Dan or Ephraim. Instead of Ephraim, Joseph is named, and instead of Dan, Manasseh is named.  And then we have the multitude that no one can count around God’s throne. This multitude will include us and all believers throughout time, and all who have come out of the Great Tribulation—that is they survived it, not necessarily by not dying, although therw will be many who will remain alive, but all who remained faithful to Christ, enduring to the end.  They cry out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and unto the Lamb.”  The angels join with them, along with God’s chosen 24 elders (the patriarchs and apostles), worshipping and saying, “Amen!  Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen!”  Once the great tribulation is passed, so comes the end of all hunger, thirst, weather disasters, sorrows and tears! 

            I’m not foolish enough to say these are the end times.  I don’t know if the hurricane that happened is God’s judgment, or simply something God allows via the natural processes God has ordained, or because of the general fallen state of humanity.  I’m not going to try to say why any particular thing is happening.  Nor will I try to predict what’s going to happen.  Only God the Father knows when the end will come.  Only God knows the particulars of why God does or allows anything.  I do think we should be prepared for hard and trying times, but we can live with hope because we know that God wins.  Even as God judges the earth, God does so out of love for people and a hatred for evil.  In his book City of God, St. Augustine wrote, “Do not refuse to regain your youth in Christ, who says to you, ‘The world is passing away.  The world is losing its grip.  The world is short of breath.’ Do not fear—your youth shall be renewed as an eagle.”

The Price of Seduction; Isaiah 23

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The Key of David; Isaiah 22:15-25, Revelation 3:7-13

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Living for the Weekend or Living for Eternity; Isaiah 22:1-14, I Corinthians 15:29-34

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Prophetic Preaching?!; Isaiah 20

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Isaiah 19, Romans 5:8-11, Colossians 1:22-23

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Don't Forget God!; Isaiah 17

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From Gloating to the Grave; Isaiah 14

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Babylon is Fallen!; Isaiah 13, Revelation 16:17-21, 18

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The Remnant Returns; Isaiah 10:20-34, 11:11-16, Romans 9:14-32

 

            4^th of July weekend, Jim and I went to see the movie Sound of Hope.  We recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to see it.  It’s the true story of the small, lower income, mostly black community of Possum Trot, TX that adopted 77 children out of the foster care system in the late 1990’s so that no children remained in the system for 100 mile radius.  The movement to adopt was spearheaded by the pastor’s wife.  Last week, we heard that God can use anyone or anything as a tool in His toolbox.  It doesn’t matter if the person realizes or even believes in God.  It is God who is the Master Craftsman, and it is God alone who deserves all the honor and glory for the things He has done.  We saw that when the tool starts bragging and being prideful, sometimes, it gets destroyed or discarded.  God likes to use willing tools.  God likes to use faithful tools.  And there are other particular tools that God likes to use.  We like the shiny tools, the tools with, as Tim the Toolman Taylor liked to say from the old sit-com “Home Improvement” used to say, “more power!”  But if you watched that show, you remember that often adding more power resulted in disastrous, albeit comical, consequences.  God uses the little tools, the ones that aren’t so shiny, the ones that are often overlooked.  God uses the small, not the big, the few, not the many.  God uses the remnant. 

            I remember from my studies in church history thinking that it is truly a miracle that the church has survived to this day.  Between heresies, schisms, and persecutions, it seemed as if the church would eventually cease to exist.  There are times in history where the Church has had to go deep underground, meeting in secret, with only handfuls of believers.  Certainly, there are places in the world that used to be largely Christian that are barely Christian today.  We see the decline of the Church in our own country.  We see certain branches of the church, including our own denomination, embracing more and more heresy, looking more and more like the culture around us everyday.  And truly, it is a miracle that the Church has survived.  The true church is miraculous!  It is God’s design, with Jesus as its head.  But God has promised that it would always continue.  It can never be snuffed out.  The gates of hell cannot and will not prevail against it. 

 In our Scripture readings today, we see that God does have a remnant.  The remnant are the people who remain faithful to God despite all the craziness around them.  Whether in a state of prosperity or suffering, they remain true, not that they are perfect, because only Jesus is perfect, but that the arc of their lives is to love, trust, and obey God.  In fact, the word return in today’s passage is the same Hebrew word for repent.  To return is to repent.  To repent is to return to God.  The remnant are always the few, never the majority.  In today’s readings we have two returns of the remnant promised by God.  The first return is one has happened, and the second is yet to come.  The first return happened after the defeat of the Assyrian Emperor Sennacherib sometime after 681 BC.  Isaiah said it would be made up of those who relied on Yahweh, and it would be a relatively small number of people.  Before the return would come more destruction by Assyria, whom the Lord would ultimately also bring to ruin because of their pride, as we saw last week.  Things get worse before they better.  Hard things come to test our faith, but we are not left without hope.  God doesn’t want us to be afraid, just as God didn’t want the people of Isaiah’s day to be afraid.  Assyria would threaten, but not defeat Judah. We don’t need to make alliances with the powers of this world so that our lives will be easier.  We are to trust in God no matter what.  We don’t have to capitulate to the culture, to go along to get along.  We must be true to what God commands, even though God’s ways are difficult at times, even though the world scoffs at us and even marginalizes and punishes us for following God. 

The apostle Paul saw this first return as ongoing in his day and beyond as we read in our Romans passage this morning, where Paul quotes Isaiah 10:22-23 along with some verses from Hosea and other verses from Isaiah, some of which we have seen before.  Paul declares that the remnant is not just people from Israel or even Israel and Judah, now called “the Jews” in Paul’s day, but also from among the Gentiles, those who become righteous in Christ by faith.  And Paul says pursing the Law of righteousness, Israel didn’t attain it because they pursued it by works and not by faith.  One cannot work his/her way into the kingdom, but must enter by trusting in God.  In the Old Testament, we see it was by faith in who God was—depending on God alone for salvation.  In the New Testament, it is depending on God alone for salvation in Jesus Christ. 

The second return will happen when Christ returns.  The people of God from all the nations will be gathered together.  Judah and Ephraim will be reconciled. God’s people will be brought in from the farthest reaches of the earth from all the nations.  We know this second return is when Christ returns because of verse 10.  Jesus is the root of Jesse whose resting place is glorious.  Note that even though this is a remnant, the number exceeds the sands on the seashore, just as was promised to Abraham, and yet it is a remnant.  Even to the last, there will be those who reject God.  We see this in the book of Revelation.  Revelation 16:12-16

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.  Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.  They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.   “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”  Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.”

This passage echoes Isaiah 11:15, “And Yahweh will dry up the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, the Red Sea, and He will wave His hand over the river (Euphrates) with His scorching wind, and he will strike it into seven streams, and make people walk over in sandals—they won’t get their feet wet.”  Yahweh is the one who makes it possible not only for the remnant to return, but also for the rebellious political powers to gather with their armies.  They gather in Har-Magedon—beneath the mountain of Megiddo prepared for war, but no battle will actually take place.  The victories brought about through the remnant will be just as improbable as the crossing of the Red Sea when the Israelites came out of Egypt and Gideon’s defeat of the Midianites with his 300 men.  Neither of those were accomplished by human effort.  It was God who parted the sea, and it was God who struck the Midianites with confusion.  Ini this final battle, God’s people will see victory over their enemies, but it won’t happen in a war. Jesus will destroy them with His Word. 

            God always has a faithful remnant, and it is intentional on God’s part.  I Corinthians 1:26-31:

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

 

God uses the small, the unassuming, the fragile—those who know most that they must be dependent upon God, so that God gets the glory.  When you start to wonder what difference you can make, when you start to doubt what God can do through a small church like ours, know that in God’s economy size, status, and wealth don’t matter.  What matters is one’s faithfulness to God.  Do we trust God?  Will we walk by faith, and not by sight?  Are we humble?  Are we characterized by prayer and repentance?  Don’t be discouraged when you see decline if you are being faithful and you know others who are being faithful. 

Tools in God's Toolbox; Isaiah 10:5-19, Psalm 139

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"And His Hand is Still Stretched Out!"; Isaiah 9:8-10:4

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Morning Is Coming! ; Psalm 30, Lamentations 3:19-33

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Conspiracy Theories; Isaiah 8:9-22

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Woe to the Backward Society!; Isaiah 5:18-30

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Woe to the Greedy!; Isaiah 5:8-17

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Women Leaders Are Bad?!; Isaiah 3:10-4:6, I Timothy 2:9-12, 3:8-11

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Christ's Commission is Still Good; Luke 24:44-53, Romans 10:8-21

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The Good Shepherd & the Gatekeeper; John 10:1-20, John 21:15-24

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Times of Refreshing; Acts 3:11-26

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The Benefits of Christ's Sacrifice; Hebrews 9:11-22, Titus 3:4-7

 

On this second Sunday of Easter, we celebrate that Christ, though His death and resurrection has secured our redemption.  Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the new covenant, a covenant not of dead works, but of love and grace, a covenant which the Holy Spirit applies to us.

            If you remember, a covenant was a binding agreement that if broken, required the death of the party who broke the covenant.  The “signing” of the covenant was done by the sacrifice of animals cut in half.  The parties agreeing to the covenant would walk through the carcasses to say, “May it be done to me if I break this covenant.”  When God made the covenant with Abraham, only God walked through the animal carcasses, showing that God alone would take on the death penalty for the broken covenant, a covenant which we broke time and time again.  In the Old Testament, God commanded Moses and Aaron to set up a sacrificial system.  This system was the way that the death penalty for the breaking of God’s commands was met.  Animal substitutes were used in place of people.  As animals were sacrificed, the people were made aware that it should be them who were killed, but even this was poor, since God already promised Abraham that God alone would take the death penalty for our sins.  We know that Christ instituted the new or renewed God’s covenant at the Last Supper.  He explicitly said that covenant would be sealed in His blood.  The concept of covenants cut in blood are gross to us, but how often do we consider that before God, we really deserve the death penalty?  For all the times it had been broken and would be broken again, Jesus paid the price.  He fulfilled the requirement of the covenant that God must die.  And because Jesus is also fully human, His blood covers us. We have taken a lot of the “blood hymns” out of modern hymnals, but sometimes we need to remember how precious it was that Jesus shed His blood for us and how powerful that blood is to wash us clean and secure our redemption.  Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the covenant by His death and resurrection. 

            Our Hebrews passage tells that Jesus acted as both High Priest and Sacrifice.  And not only is He High Priest, He is the perfect sinless High Priest.  Sacrifices already had to be without blemish or spot, but the High Priest first had to sacrifice for his own sins before he could offer sacrifices for the people.  Jesus is the once for all sacrifice.  Sacrifices no longer need to be repeated.  Hebrews 9:13 mentions “the ashes of a red heifer” that was used to sprinkle those who were defiled.  There are people who want to restart the sacrificial system.  Many of you are aware that there are plans to sacrifice a red heifer during Passover in a few weeks in Israel so that it can be burned and the ashes used to purify people and instruments to rebuild a temple.  God’s people are the last temple.  We are living stones.  Any Christian participating in this is doing the devil’s work, not the Lord’s work.  Jesus doesn’t need us to help Jewish zealots set up a sacrificial system.  Jesus needs us to help proclaim that He is the true and only Messiah and that the time to believe in Him is now!  If you haven’t picked up any of the information on the back table that the Jews for Jesus missionaries left, I would encourage you to do so.  They need our prayers as they witness to the truth of who Jesus is.  Jesus’s blood paid for our redemption.  That is, the debt we owed to God that we could not pay, Jesus paid it all and did so for everyone!  Jesus died to redeem the world, not just one people group, but all people.  His sacrifice is complete.  No others are ever needed again.  The Jews cannot be saved by reinstating temple sacrifices.  They can only be saved by the blood of Jesus, just as we are.  The people living in the most isolated places in the world can only be saved by the blood of Jesus.  Jesus fulfilled the Law so we don’t have to. 

With redemption comes forgiveness.  All of our sins are forgiven.  Both of our passages today tell us we are washed clean by the blood of Christ.  Our consciences have been made clear.  We don’t have to continually beat ourselves up for the wrong things we have done.  We simply need to confess what Jesus has already forgiven. When we lay our burdens at the feet of Jesus, we don’t need to pick them back up again.  We might be called to make amends to someone we have hurt, but that is living into the forgiveness which we have been given, which brings us to the next benefit that Jesus by His sacrifice has given us.

Not only did Jesus redeem us, He cleanses us from dead works.  We don’t have to try to earn salvation by merit.  We don’t have to worry that we have or haven’t done enough to gain eternal life and entrance into heaven.  Our Titus passage tells us that our works of righteousness don’t save us, but it is the mercy of God our Savior who saved us out of love for us.    However, it doesn’t mean we don’t do anything. The rest of Hebrews 11:14 says that Christ freed us from dead works “to serve the living God.”  We can serve God freely.  I think back to the story of the Prodigal Son.  The older brother kept working for his father, but he resented it.  He was trying to prove something to his father, his worthiness, not understanding that as a son, he didn’t need to prove anything.  He had access to all that the father wanted to give.  In fact, when the younger son asked for his share of the inheritance, the father divvied up the inheritance to both sons, of which the older brother would have gotten double.  Yet, he never accessed what was his.  He kept trying to earn it, and kept building more and more resentment.  God wants us to serve freely.  God did create good works for us to do.  God wants us to participate with God in God’s work.  In fact, we were saved for service; our salvation is not simply acquiring “fire insurance” so that we don’t go to hell.  At the same time we don’t have to do works to pay off debt.   We serve out of gratitude.  This also frees us from worrying about outcome.  When we serve God freely, the results are up to God.  Faithfulness is the measure of our success.  Do you know that the word “serve” and “worship” are the same word?  To worship God is to serve God and to serve God is to worship God. 

Eternal life of course is another benefit of Christ’s sacrifice.  This means that there will never be a time when we are separated from the presence of God.  It means that physical death is not the end for us.  We will live with God in a new heaven and earth where time does not exist.  We will live where there is no more death, pain, grief, fear, worry, or evil.  We will live where everyone not only gets along, but really and truly loves one another. 

Another benefit of Christ’s sacrifice is sanctification.  That is, we are made holy; we are made saints.  We have the capability to become more and more like Jesus, and when God looks at us, God already sees Jesus in us.  Sanctification means transformation.  We are being remade into the people that God always intended us to be.  It takes our cooperation.  As people of the Reformed tradition, we call this the “perseverance of the faith.”  We cooperate with the Holy Spirit. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we have all the blessings that God has promised God’s people.  We joint-heirs with Jesus of all God’s good gifts.  We are made siblings of Christ, children of God by believing in Jesus.  We are Christ’s brothers and sisters as well as His bride. 

            Speaking of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is the greatest blessing we have been given as a result of Christ’s sacrifice.  God gave us Himself through Jesus Christ, and then God gave us Himself again in the person of the Holy Spirit, who was sent to us by Christ.  Jesus is God with us—Immanuel.  The Holy Spirit is God in us.  The Holy Spirit gives us full access to all the benefits secured by Christ’s sacrifice.  Without the Holy Spirit, we would have no faith.  We would not be able to confess Christ.  It is the Holy Spirit who illumines our consciences, who convicts us of sin and opens us to our need of a Savior.  The Holy Spirit teaches us by helping us to understand God’s Word and applying it to our lives.  It is the Spirit who gives us the power to resist temptation, who enables us to keep God’s commands, who empowers us to do good works for the glory of God.  The Holy Spirit reveals the will of God to us.  The Holy Spirit is eternal life—the Fountian of Living Water welling up within us. 

            The sacrifice of Jesus is everything.  In Him we have redemption--we have no debt to God.  We have forgiveness. We don't have to earn salvation through good works, rather we are free to worship and serve God by doing good works for God's glory, leaving the results to God.  We are made saints.  We have eternal life.  We have the Holy Spirit.  We are never alone.  Jesus has bought our salvation through His precious blood!  Amen!  

Our Living Hope; John 20:1-18, I Corinthians 15:1-20, II Corinthians 4:6-10

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The Second Adam; Genesis 3:14-19, I Corinthians 15:21-26, 45-49. John 19:1-16, Galatians 3:13-16

 One of the sufferings of Jesus on this Holy night is the crown of thorns being placed on His head.  Obviously, the Roman soldiers doing this are continuing the mockery started by the Temple soldiers and at Herod’s palace of Jesus being the King of the Jews.  Jesus didn’t say He was the King of the Jews.  He said He was a King and that His kingdom is not of this world.  But this crown holds much more significance than mocking Jesus’s kingship.  It’s no accident that thorns were used.  The soldiers meant it as another way to inflict pain and humiliation, but for Jesus and for us, it means much more.  Jesus’s crown of thorns was a physical symbol of an incredible spiritual reality—His taking on the curse of man for us.  And yes, I’m using “man” specifically.  Jesus becomes the second Adam. 

            Only Jesus, as a man, could take away the curse that was pronounced on the first man, Adam.  It is a curse that affects us women too, but it was a curse pronounced on the man.  We read from Genesis 3 this evening.  God confronts Adam, Eve, and the serpent in the Garden of Eden after they have broken God’s one command not to eat of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  The first curse is pronounced on the serpent, who would now slither in the dust and have enmity with the woman “and with your seed and her seed.”  But part of the serpent’s curse is the first great promise of a Redeemer.  “He shall bruise or crush your head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel.”  There has only been one “seed of a woman.”  That is Jesus Christ, Son of Mary.”  Satan bruised the heel of Jesus in His sufferings, trying to prevent Jesus from going to the cross.  Because the death of Jesus, instead of being a victory for the devil, was the sign of Satan’s sure defeat; for in His death, Jesus paid the atonement price for all humanity.  And by rising from the dead, the serpent’s head was crushed.  We know the end of the story that one day, the devil and his angels will be cast into the lake of fire.  The first part of the curse was being broken, just as God promised to Eve’s consolation and the serpent’s chagrin.

            But it is the 3^rd curse being broken symbolized by the crown of thorns.  It is the ground that is cursed because of Adam.  Instead of growing everything needed easily, the ground would now produce “thorns and thistles” and have to be cultivated with effort.  Jesus allows the thorns to be placed on His head, showing that He is taking all of the curse, for the ground as well as the ultimate curse of death!  We sing about this in the hymn, “Joy to the World!” –“No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground.  He comes to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found.”  Christ’s reign undoes the curse wherever it is found.  Most women still experience pain in childbirth, farmers work hard even with modern technology, and it’s becoming even more of a challenge these days.  We still have to deal with thorns and thistles!  The thistles especially are growing rapidly right now, and we still die.  Romans 8 tells us all creation is groaning for the Day of Redemption, but our hope is sure!  As sure as Christ rose from the dead, He is returning to complete the reversal of the curse. 

            But even now, we see the curse being undone.  Our I Corinthians passage tells us what it means for Christ to be the last Adam.  Because of Adam’s disobedience, we all die, but in Christ, all will be made alive.  We will all be resurrected.  Verse 23 tells us Christ was the firstfruits—He rose on that Feast, and after that, those who are Christ’s will be raised at His coming.  And if we read Revelation, those who are not in Christ will be raised after that.  Then those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life will get to live with Him forever in the new heaven and new earth, and those who are not will go into eternal destruction.  And then there will be no more death!  Jesus, the second Adam, the last Adam is a “life-giving spirit.”  Paul exhorts us in I Corinthians 12:49, that even now, we, as new creations in Him, are called to bear the image of the heavenly even while still bearing the earthly image. 

            When I was at Antioch Presbyterian Church, I was doing a lot of elder training in preparation for their departure to the EPC, which uses the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms as its sole confessions, along with the Nicene and Apostle’s Creeds.  And those confessions hold more authority than our Book of Confessions.  We vow to be guided by our Confessions, but they vow to accept and abide by the Confessions, and any scruple must be defended, so it’s crucial to know this confession inside and out!  When we were going over the lesson on anthropology, the doctrine of humans in relationship to God, the concept of Jesus as the second Adam came up.  We of course, looked at this I Corinthians passage.  One of my elders said, “I have never heard Jesus called the Second Adam or Last Adam before.”  I replied, “Really?  We sing it every year at Christmas in “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” and proceeded to quote the verse you have printed at the end of tonight’s service.  They all looked at me strangely.  Sure enough, even though I had been pastoring that church for almost 4 years, their hymnal did not have that verse, so most of them had not grown up singing it.  Our hymnal doesn’t have it either.  And even though I’ve had this verse memorized since childhood, it’s not in a lot of newer hymnals, even 30-year-old hymnals!  And yet the theology is so rich!  Jesus is the woman’s Conquering Seed, whom we implore to crush the serpent’s head in us.  Yes, we still fall prey to the devil’s wiles and temptations, and we need to ask Jesus to break the power of the curse in us, to free us from patterns of sin.  Erase in us the “old man” as Paul exhorts us in Ephesians 4:and instead, mark us with Yourself, Jesus, so that we look like you.  Second Adam from above, in Your love, put us back into your good graces!  Make us Your children. 

            The crown of thorns points to the day when all things will be rightly ordered once again.  We will dwell in a new heavens and new earth without plants that will cause us harm.  Tending the earth will be a joy.  Jesus will have many crowns, diadems we give Him, and none of them will be made out of thorns.  Jesus wore the crown of our curse, taking the curse of Adam upon Himself.  Jesus broke the generational curse of death to give us life.  He wore the thorny crown for us!

The following was added at the very end of the service just before reading the Galatians 3 text and was followed by the singing of verse 4 of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".

Friends, it is Good Friday.  Jesus has been crucified, and He rests in the tomb.  But it is Good Friday.  His death and suffering were not in vain.  Everything He went through, every injustice, every type of suffering, has deep meaning and significance.  Nothing was by chance or is incidental to the story.  Jesus had to fulfill all things, all Scripture, to take all of God’s wrath for us.  The work He accomplished was Good!  And It is Finished!  We have one more Scripture telling us what it means that Christ took the curse of Adam on our behalf.  And then we will sing that 4^th verse of Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.  As we contemplate Christ’s death tomorrow on Holy Saturday, may we do so with reverence and thanksgiving, so that we can fully celebrate with great joy on Resurrection Sunday.  Here these words from Galatians….

A House of Prayer for All People; Isaiah 56:1-8, Luke 19:29-48, Colossians 3:11-16

 

Several years ago, Ned gave a good Palm Sunday Sermon about Jesus’s casting out the money changers and His critique of making God’s house a robber’s den.  Ned rightly pointed out that all this money changing and selling of animals took place in the Court of the Gentiles, and this was the reason that Jesus was so angry.  I want to elaborate on this truth this morning, and for this, we have to start in the Old Testament.

            When the Israelites came out of Egypt, God gave Moses very specific, detailed plans for setting up a worship space.  It was the Tabernacle.  It was to be set up in the very center of the camp, and all the tents of the people were to be set up around it in a very specific order.  We see these instructions in Exodus 25-31.  The Tabernacle had 3 main parts:  an outer court, the Tent of Meeting, and the Holy of Holies within the Tent of Meeting.  No one could enter the Tent of Meeting except for the priests.  No one could enter the Holy of Holies except the High Priest once a year, but the outer court was open to all worshippers of Yahweh with certain conditions.  You had to be repentant and ritually pure.  If you were a male, you had to be circumcised. Women were allowed in the outer court.  Even foreigners were allowed in the outer court to worship if they had been baptized and circumcised.  Everyone worshipped together.  The outer court was where you brought your sacrifices and offerings.  There were a few exceptions of people who were permanently excluded from worship in the outer court, however, even if they were sincerely repentant and wanted to worship.  They had to have others offer their gifts for them.  We find this list of people in Deuteronomy 23:1-8.  And yet, there are exceptions to this.  Ruth was a Moabite.  She lived among the Israelites and married an Israelite man.  She probably worshipped in the tabernacle with him.  By the time Solomon was born, David and Bathsheba were legitimately married.  Their firstborn died just a few days after his birth, but even so, Solomon might still be considered illegitimate by some.  But he not only worshipped in the temple, he oversaw the building of the temple!  This shows that God sometimes changes the rules. 

            Our Isaiah passage shows us that it was God’s plan to open up worship.  In this oracle, Yahweh says, “Let not the foreigner who has joined Himself to the Lord say, ‘Yahweh will surely separate me from His people.’”  Here God shows breaks down the barrier of nationality and ethnicity altogether.  It doesn’t matter which nation you are from, what your ethnicity is as long as you have placed your trust in Yahweh. Yahweh goes on to say, “To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, to them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, and a name better than that of sons and daughter.  I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off.”  Oh, what wonderful promises!  God welcomes them into God’s eternal family.  We see this with the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8.  No follower of Yahweh is to be excluded from fellowship and worship.  God ends this oracle promising that God will continue to gather together not just the dispersed of Israel, but others with them. 

            Yet, by the time we get to Herod’s temple, instead of being one people worshipping together, there was far more separation than during the time of the Tabernacle.  Now there is a court of Gentiles surrounded by walls, and they could go no further.  Then there was the court of women, but only Jewish women.  It was also surrounded by walls, and they could go no further.  Then there was the court of Jewish men—no Gentile converts allowed!  And then there was the priests’ court, the temple itself and the Holy of Holies.  The outer was the closest Gentiles could get.  They couldn’t see their sacrifices being offered.  They couldn’t even give their own tithes as the money boxes were located in the court of women.  They couldn’t fully participate in worship.  With all the ruckus taking place in the court of Gentiles, there was no quiet, reverent place to pray. Jesus rides into Jerusalem, takes a look around in the temple on Sunday evening.  While others are impressed with the size, scope, architecture and beauty of the Temple, Jesus isn’t impressed, and has some plans for the next day.

On what we call Holy Monday, Jesus returns to the temple, tosses the tables and drives out the animals and traders from the court of the Gentiles.  Then Jesus spends most of HIs week preaching and teaching in the court of the Gentiles near the entrance to the court of women.  Here anyone could stop and listen to Him if they wanted.  His message was and is for everyone.  By His presence, Jesus shows that He is not a fan of walls that divide people who love God and want to serve God.  Holiness and purity still matter; there is still “worship” that is unacceptable to God.  But how one is born does not in any way exclude any one from worship or from being able to be part of God’s family. 

God’s dream that all the Lord’s people would be united together in prayer as one people was not being realized, but Jesus came to make that happen.  When He died, the veil of the Temple was torn in two.  Not only did that expose the sham worship the high priests had been offering for centuries, because there was no Ark of the Covenant present, but now, not only were the priests no longer separated from the presence of God, but God was showing that no one need be separated from His presence any longer.  It took awhile for the early church to realize this.  The leaders in Jerusalem had to hear from Peter about his experience with Cornelius and Paul and Barnabas about their travels before they determined that, yes, the Gentiles are welcomed into the family of God with few restrictions—those being don’t eat meat which has been sacrificed to idols, don’t eat blood or animals that have been strangled, and from sexual immorality.  Even Paul will talk about whether or not it’s okay to eat meat sacrificed to idols later on.  His comments have to do with company and with intent as to whether or not it’s right or wrong.  When James, leader of the Church in Jerusalem, makes his pronouncement that the Gentiles should be welcomed into the family of faith, he quotes another Old Testament prophet, Amos 9:11-12, another oracle of Yahweh, who said, “In that day, I will raise up the fallen tabernacle of David, and wall up its breaches.  I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the Gentiles who are called by My name.”  God isn’t talking about a literal rebuilding of the temple, and the Jerusalem council knew this.  In his first letter, Peter writes, “You also, as living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 

Jesus came so that God’s plan for all of God’s people to worship together as equals, as one family, as one holy temple could come to pass.  Paul tells us in our Colossians passage what that should look like.  We need to be compassionate and kind to one another.  We need to be humble and gentle and patient with one another.  We need to bear with one another and to forgive one another, and let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.  Our worship should include sharing God’s Word with one another, letting it live in and through us.  We should use God’s word to encourage one another in songs and glorify God in all ways.  God wants His temple to be a house of prayer for all people.  Sadly, like the people in the past, we continue to be divided.  Denominations keep multiplying by the day.  Most churches remain largely segregated.  How do we live in unity?  I’m not convinced that we all have to become Catholic or Orthodox and get rid of our distinctive Christian traditions and practices.  We serve a big God.  I think the different ways we worship add to the richness of what it means to be Christian.  I don’t think any of us have perfect theology.  I think we need to learn from one another, appreciate one another, and acknowledge that despite these differences, we are still one in Christ.  I think we need to rejoice with other congregations and mourn with them.  I think we need to work together in shared ministry to reach our community and world for the Kingdom of God.  I don’t think every congregation is for every person, but I believe that there is a place in the capital C Church for every person.  I believe as the Creed says, in “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”  But all this doesn’t let individual congregations off the hook.  It doesn’t let us off the hook.  We need to examine ourselves and ask--Whom are we excluding?  Is it intentional or unintentional?  Are there ways we can be more welcoming to those whom God might want to join us?  Are we harboring racism, sexism, classicism?  Are there walls keeping people out that need to be torn down?  How is our relationship with our sister congregations?  Is there more we could do to partner with one another?  Are we jealous of the congregations that are growing?  Do we notice and mourn the congregations that have closed?