Afleveringen
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I have a bit of a reputation as a Scrooge when it comes to Christmas, but I truly do love this season. However, as a preacher I find it difficult. There are only so many birth passages, and having preached for well over a decade now, I’ve gone through most of them. Yet, by God’s grace, today we may well have stumbled onto an odd and sneaky Christmas passage. Today let us hear about the unique Lord and Son of David, who has come to save his people.
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The word “goat” was most often used, outside of just describing a grass-feeding animal, as one who was a victim, blamed for something they didn’t do. It has taken on a rather distinct and somewhat opposite meaning now: the greatest of all time. People love to debate things like this; especially at the close of the year rankings and lists are all the rage. Commandments seem like an odd thing to rank, but today we get the definitive list. But what does it mean to love the Lord with all you are, and your neighbor as yourself?
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Today we start our celebration of Advent – of Jesus’ coming into the world. His incarnation as a child led to this very week in his life, his advent into Jerusalem. As we continue our study through Matthew, our text today speaks of the Sadducees as the leadership in Jerusalem continue the questioning of Jesus by asking him about the resurrection; or, rather, by mocking it. But Jesus has an answer for them, and one for us as well.
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Every election we are subject to the same effusive language: This is the most important election ever. None of this language is new, but it is almost as old as our democracy. Yet, soon, we will face an election in our midst that is even more impactful on your daily lives than that for the presidency: the election of our two more elders. As we approach that date, it is good to provide some common answers to questions as you think about their qualifications.
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Everyone loves a good party, and for all the grief the Old Testament gets for being filled with blood and vengeance, the people of Israel were called upon to throw parties often. Celebrations and feasts were a central feature of Israel’s worship of God, which was fitting: the Lord is a joyous God, and that joy that extends naturally to his people. In our passage this morning, Jesus says that the Kingdom is like a party; but a party that not all are excited to attend. What can we take away from that parable?
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No one ever wants to hear their doctor say the dreaded C-word: cancer. At the same time, we understand that not all cancers are the same. Some are very treatable and have almost no effect on your quality of life; others are debilitating and almost always fatal. Good doctors will not just inform you of the disease, but its prognosis as well. Jesus, the good physician, has notified the leaders of Jerusalem of their problem. In this parable, he is telling them the full extent of it. Their problem is not just with some prophet from Nazareth, but with God himself.
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The world is filled with authorities. Your boss, your governor, your president. For each of us, escaping authority is an unthinkable dream. We all have someone to answer to. Yet, when it comes to the gospel, we don’t often talk about authority. Gift, grace, compassion? Sure! Authority, demand, obedience? Well, we might whisper something about them, as the fine print of a sermon. For what does authority have to do with the Good News of Jesus? As it turns out, much.
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Most, if not all other world religions are based on principles. Islam’s center is not Muhammed, but action. The same can be said about Buddhism and Judaism. Moses and Buddha might be important, like Muhammed, but the principles of the religion extend beyond them. Not so with Christianity – we are a religion that centers not so much on principles as on a person. As we have seen what kind of King Jesus is, the incident with a withered fig tree helps to show us what kind of person Jesus ISN’T.
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In our last installment on the Church and Politics, we consider how Christians handle themselves in our American context.
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Political turnover in the past was chaotic. No matter how good the former King was, there was no indication as to what the next ruler would be like, or what his policies would be. While the father might have been a good and conscientious king, that was no promise that his son wouldn’t be a bumbling idiot and mean to boot. For many in Jerusalem, while they perhaps had heard of Jesus, they didn’t know much about him. In his introductory and triumphal entry, they learn something important about him: humility.
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Many folks in America are "really" political. What of Christians? How political should we be? Maximally, as it turns out!
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If we live in a new Kingdom, not of this world, how then are we to interact with the governments of this world? While we are to submit, we also must necessarily subvert.
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How political is the gospel? As it turns out, it is political through and through
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We are in the political ad season, with every candidate promising that they’ll look out for your interests and, at the same time, telling us the other won’t. “I care about you” is the theme of them all, and for good reason. All politicians know one inevitable human fact – we care about ourselves, and often to the detriment of the good of others. Jesus here tells his disciples that this cannot be so for them. But that inevitable human fact is hard to shake. That is why you need to learn humility.
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The Bible is a wonderful book. Written over the course of a millennium, in different languages through the eyes of different cultures and people, it hits on a variety of subjects. Money, sex, anger, power, war are huge issues, but it also tackles smaller ones – friendship, speech, time-management, philosophy, even at times giving us a look at simple personal correspondence. Yet, there is one driving question that lingers in the background, one thing that is the Big Thing in the Bible – how do we gain eternal life? Jesus is presented with that very question and gives a surprising answer.
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Marriage is uniquely important in the Bible. In Genesis, we find in the opening two chapters three basic points: God has created everything that is not himself; Humans were made in his image; and humans are given into marriage. That’s quite a place of importance for marriage! The fact that God calls his people his bride, that Jesus is the bridegroom, and one of the few pictures we have of heaven describe it as a wedding feast shows that the emphasis in Genesis is not lost. Today, we see the importance that marriage has in Jesus’ eyes, but also the importance of those who do not fit into that mold.
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Everyone has rules. Very few people are true anarchists, and even they are probably kidding themselves. We may differ on what they are, but we all believe that some things are right and some wrong; and doing justice is nothing more than to right the world’s wrongs. But where does forgiveness fit in? What should we forgive, or how much? Today, we follow Peter’s question, and Jesus’ quite difficult answer, and see what it means for us
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Discipline, no matter the form, is difficult stuff. No matter how we need to be disciplined, the fact that we must work at it indicates our deficiency in some way. At times, that is just working on the basics of the Christian life, becoming more like Christ in our thoughts and actions. But at other times, more outside help is needed. As we continue to think through how we are to live together as community, Jesus today commands that we be loving one another through discipline. But what does that look like?
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Veterinarians are not novel and new things; ever since there has been a need to keep working animals upright and pulling, there has been a need to have people to keep them that way. Quickly, animal care spread from animals that do work for us to the animals that provide for us. The church is both the sheep and paradoxically the vet at the same time. We are to keep each other whole and healed, and work hard to prevent sin and its sickness from spreading.
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The Olympics are in full swing, and it is hard not to think of both the triumphs and failures of the past. There are many times that teams, with much more individual talent have failed their ultimate test. USA Basketball, loaded with some of the most talented players in history, were humiliated when they took only a bronze medal in 2004 – the precise opposite of the “Miracle on Ice” of 1980. We know well that it is not just individual talent, but how that talent works together that matters. Jesus has instructed us on our own individual morality in the Sermon on the Mount; now he turns to teaching us how to play well together. These are sermons for the church, beginning in the smallest of places: children
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