Today we step away from our journey through Acts to celebrate the first Sunday of Advent. “Advent” means “coming” and it is a term to describe the four Sundays that precede Christmas in which God’s people celebrate Jesus’ first coming in Bethlehem as well as His awaited second coming. On this first Sunday of Advent, just before the busy month of December begins, we discover that faithfulness to King Jesus produces peace and enables us to become His couriers of peace in our distressed world.
Sermons from November 2015
Paul continues his 2nd missionary journey, and travels to Athens, the birthplace of modern western thought and democracy. In a proud city of extraordinary architecture, art, and culture – one designed to display its great history, people, and ideas, Paul becomes “greatly distressed” by what he observes – in a way reminiscent of God himself, whenever God-given artistry and ability is not attributed and celebrated as grace and gifts from him alone. Since Paul has been transformed by Jesus himself, he is able to deeply understand Athens, and at the same time love Athens with the love of Jesus himself. In so doing, he gives us a clear example of how to engage in our highly nuanced, pluralist culture… blank Starbucks holiday cups and all.
Why are many of us reluctant to tell others the good news about Jesus? In this message we observe a key motive that fueled the Apostle Paul to lovingly and courageously explain the message of Jesus to many in the metropolis of Thessalonica in the midst of opposition. Maybe the solution to our fear and timidity isn’t more education or a new method. What if we learned and became apprehended by the same reality that compelled Paul? That “…there is another king, Jesus.”
Sometimes we all get stuck – stuck in traffic and stuck in unhealthy reoccurring thoughts, attitudes and habits. Like the struggling prey of a python, our unsuccessful attempts toward liberation can lead us to despair. In the Apostle Paul’s first visit to the ancient Macedonian city of Philippi, we meet a young girl, a business woman and a law enforcement officer who all find themselves entrapped. The good news for them is great news for us – our stuck-ness need not remain. True deliverance beyond tolerable recovery is available because a loving and infinitely powerful Deliverer is at hand.
When we followers of Jesus first learned and accepted the good news that Jesus is Lord of all, submitting our lives to His leadership and receiving all of His rewards, it was natural to want to share this message with others. Yet, in many cases not everyone was as interested as we would expect. This can discourage us and dampen our light. If you long to see more of your current friends and family living with God and joining Him in His mission to heal the world, the eternal realities revealed in this passage will encourage you to keep shining knowing that God often works in and through us in ways that we could never imagine or believe.