Jesus’ way of worship – Part 2

Welcome to the politically incorrect guide to being in church – otherwise known as… Jesus’ way of worship. 

Last week in part one…we heard about Jesus’ new way as witnessed in the Gospels…Today in part two… we’re going to look at what this means
for the way we worship? And next week in light of all
we’ve learned… about Jesus way of worship…
we’ll explore just what… or who is the church?

As we learned last week… Jesus was part of a two thousand year old faith tradition…
with synagogues
spread all over the Roman Empire…and a magnificent new Temple in Jerusalem…
controlled by a powerful religious elite…

so there was nothing more politically incorrect…
than for Jesus…to claim his identity…as the anointed one
of God…the Messiah…the Christ…and to proclaim
that the scriptures were being fulfilled as he speaks.

As a result …Jesus’ and his followers…are increasingly unsafe around synagogues
and eventually the
Temple...so Jesus has to form something completely new…
not only a new politically incorrect way pray and worship…
but a new congregation…a new people of God…
that we’re part of today

And we learned last week…Jesus congregation looks different in eight ways…
because they

1. are gathered around Jesus

2. they offer hospitality to sinners

3. they’re made up of equals

4. they’re convinced Jesus’ teaching reveals God’s will

5. they are healed, forgiven, and restored to community

6. they prayerfully challenge principalities and political powers

7. they share what they have and care for each other and

8. they welcome children as the model for faith

And this politically incorrect way to worship
wasn’t limited to one day a week or to a place… [pause]
it was a way of life…from waking up to lying down…
not a weekly religious habit.

And later on when Jesus was no longer with them in the flesh
after Pentecost…they continued Jesus’ work in spirit and in truth…
bringing light in the darkness and sight…
to those blind to the suffering of others. a way to free prisoners of prejudice and intolerance…
a way to embody good news to the poor

In the Spirit they become…Jesus body on earth…a politically incorrect people…
for whom worship is a way of life…

A ‘called out’ people…gathered around Jesus…

in Greek an ecclesia…
in English…a church

a living breathing representation of the Body of Christ.

So the question for today in the second part of the series…
is when you and I gather together here at the ends of the earth …
are we a manifestation of Jesus new congregation?

Listen to Jesus’ words about what worship will be like in the future

Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7INnvnHrlg&feature=related
ends at 3’ 21” Last words… ‘I am he’. 

At the well… Jesus widens the circle around him…
to include an unclean Samaritan woman.  And here…
we’re called to widen the circle around Jesus …to welcome and give hospitality to others…
 to include the previously excluded …so the circle of people… gathered around Jesus…
gets bigger and bigger until it encompasses… all humanity
until every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…

Some people call this evangelism...bringing the good news.

A people who worship in spirit and in truth…not in a synagogue or a Temple but…
where two or three are gathered
in Jesus’ name…he promises to be with them…

So we gather around Jesus today…here at the ends of the earth…
to drink from the life giving water he offers…

to express our love for God…to admit our brokenness…
our on-going need for forgiveness…to speak out against 
powers and principalities in the prayer Jesus taught us…
and to listen for a fresh word from our teacher
that will grow us…as his disciples

Now for ten years I can see from up here… 
that most of you come to worship with open hearts and minds...
 expecting to hear a word from God… just right for your life today…

You listen intently… in spirit and in truth…
for what God might be saying to you in…
the words of our prayers and our songs…
and the opening up the scriptures…
under the light of Jesus’ teaching.

You could say we’re led in worship
the way the Spirit led Jesus… into the wilderness…
but there’s always temptation to watch out for…

Just as Jesus was tempted in the wilderness…
to take short cuts to power…there can be subtle and alluring temptations…
during our worship together…
to distract us from hearing God’s word for us and drinking our fill…
from the water of life.

If we allow ourselves to succumb to temptation…
we might even forget why we’re here…we stop listening for what God may be saying to us…
and our thoughts become pre-occupied with other things.

Perhaps the tempter whispers…you’ve heard all this before …
might as well plan what you’re having for lunch…

There’s no need to listen…

Or perhaps we’re distracted by other people in the congregation …
by their opinions and needs…
or what we imagine are their preferences for music…

When this happens the tempter might whisper…

Hey…I don’t think this message is going to make sense to old so and so over there?
Or…they’re not going to like this song…or …oh heck…
they’re going to be worried by the sound of the babies in the corner

If we pay attention to these temptations…
suddenly we completely forget to be gathered around Jesus…we forget to listen…
for what he might be saying to us.
So…the temptation has worked…and we’re distracted…

Or sometimes a judgment pops into our minds…
and tempts us away from listening for God’s word to us …
we start wondering whether other people are here for the right reasons…or hearing the right things…

When this happens…our concentration is broken.

Or we can get side tracked by making comparisons…
how things used to be in the old days…or at the church
we used to go to…

When this happens the tempter might whisper…
don’t you hate this music…don’t you want to block out the words…
don’t you miss… old so and so’s preaching…
he really used to hit the nail on the head…

And suddenly…you’re no longer gathered around Jesus 
listening for God’s word for your life in here in Wanaka…

And when you’re new to a worshipping community…
well there’s a particular temptation…that’s tailor made just for you…
It’s when the tempter distracts you by whispering…
I wonder what kind of impression your making… will they think you look spiritual enough…

and suddenly the whole reason for being gathered around Jesus… is drowned out by worry

I guess these temptations are why we’re commanded
to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy…
in fact the Gospels tell us…

…and on the Sabbath day Jesus went into the synagogue, as was his custom………
he had the habit of worshipping with others.

And maybe if we come often enough…
a fresh word from God will break through our busyness and pre-occupations…
So we keep coming back to the well… don’t we…
for that living water…
And we actually have a choice… whose voice we listen to…

Given Jesus way of worship there’s another question …
are we consumers of a product called worship…
or are we participants in a way of life called worship…
a process of growing and healing that addresses our on-going need for redemption
and calls us to Christ-like action in the world.

Do we ever get so spiritually evolved…we can no longer
be addressed by the living Word of God?

As a way into our hearts…God can use the lyrics of hymns and songs…images…
on the screen and in our imaginations, and God can breathe new meaning into…
words of scripture… we’ve heard a thousand times before

Sometimes our resistance and lack of concentration…might be a signal we’re avoiding…
being addressed by the living God. Sometimes our pre-occupations…
are way to defend ourselves against the Holy Spirit.

So let’s try listening… to what God might be saying…
to us today… through Jesus word to Peter in John’s gospel…
what stands out… will be different for everyone.

‘Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and
went where you wanted; but when you’re old you’ll stretch out your hands, and someone else
will dress you… and lead you where you don’t want to go.’

Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God…..
Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Peter turns… to see the disciple Jesus loved following them… and asks…‘Lord, what about him?’

And Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive
until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.’

Now just sit with these words in silence for a moment…

asking what God wants to say to you.

Silence

What did you notice…were you receptive…what word or phrase stood out for you…
this is what we practise when we’re gathered around Jesus.

If worship is a way of life …then listening in spirit and in truth for God’s word for us in Jesus…
is an all of life activity. It may come through the beauty of creation…or the ministry of a friend…
and it is concentrated and focused
when we’re together as the Body of Christ on the Sabbath…
as is our custom.  

But because it’s a way of life…it doesn’t end here.

Touched and healed and transformed…
by the incarnate Word of God…we’re…
called out from here…sent out from here…
to widen the circle around Jesus…

In 21^st century Wanaka…there are many voices competing for our attention. 
My prayer is that through all that noise…we will hear the voice of Christ calling us to follow him. 

Jesus’ way of worship – a politically incorrect guide to being in church

Easter 2 year B Sermon

Introduction to sermon series

Welcome to the politically incorrect guide to being in church – otherwise known
as Jesus’ way of worship. 
It’s at least a three part series, but a fourth is beginning to take shape.

Today in the first part…I’m going to talk about Jesus way… as witnessed in the Gospels.

Next week about what that means for us…the way we worship?

And then on the 29^th of April in light of all what we’ve learned …about Jesus way of worship…in a special covenanting service we’ll develop the question about what or who is the church?

But first… Jesus’ way.

When your part of a two thousand year old faith tradition
as Jesus was…with synagogues established throughout the Roman Empire and a grand Temple in Jerusalem
controlled by a powerful religious elite…there’s nothing more politically incorrect…than claiming to be the anointed one of God…the Messiah…in Greek, he Christos…the Christ

A time when the established religious leaders make their claims of authority as the sons of Abraham and followers of Moses…there’s nothing more politically incorrect than to claim to be the Son of God…
in intimate familial relationship with the Creator of the Universe.

And when the Law of Moses and its demands…
govern everything a good Jew must… and must not do…
then there’s nothing more politically incorrect
than for an upstart rabbi… not only to claim the scriptures have been fulfilled as he speaks…but that his interpretation is a revelation directly from God.

As a result of all this…it becomes dangerous for Jesus to enter any place of worship. This scene taken
 literally from the Gospel of John occurs in the Temple courts shortly before the crucifixion…right after Jesus
prevents an angry mob from stoning a woman to death–after she’s been caught in adultery.

Gospel of John video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CiEEmIaAWw&feature=relmfu

From this a violent argument ensued…and the Temple authorities picked up rocks to stone Jesus…
but he escaped because his time had not yet come.

Throughout his three year ministry from baptism in the river Jordan, to preaching in his home town synagogue
at Nazareth, and on to the synagogues across the region…
and finally to the Temple in Jerusalem …

Jesus’ politically incorrect approach gets him thrown out
of established places of worship… And if Jesus’ and his followers…are no longer safe in the synagogue
and the Temple …Jesus…. has to form something completely new…
not only a new way to pray and to worship,
but a new congregation …a new people of God…
without constraints and barriers… [pause]

So what does Jesus’ new congregation look like?

First he gathers people around himself…not a building…he has no library of scrolls…he’s learned them
all by heart as a boy…like other good Jewish men.

Second he offers and receives hospitality at weddings, at parties and with huge hungry crowds…and finally
and most significantly at the table of the last supper.

Third he gathered a congregation of equals. Remember the widow’s mite…where Jesus signals…
that wealth and status are not the measure of a person’s devotion to God.

Fourth… where ever a welcome and equal congregation gathered around Jesus… he would teach them…
on a hillside, by the river…at a dinner party…and in his teaching…
he would fly in the face of political correctness.

Often opposing the so called accepted interpretation of scripture…Jesus would say…
You have heard it said, but I say…

not only did he claim his right to interpret the scripture…but he gave the same right to his followers.
That’s what a rabbi means when he gives his disciples the ‘keys to the kingdom’ as Jesus did …that was a rabbi’s idiom…the way to give permission to interpret the Law and the Prophets.

And indignant at the heavy burdens… placed on people by the religious authorities…
Jesus claimed his interpretation of God’s will…
his yoke…the one embroidered on his rabbinical prayer shawl …his yoke was easy and his burden light.

In Jesus’ day when a rabbi told a student …
their interpretation was correct…the rabbi would say
you have fulfilled the scriptures.

When they got it wrong…he’d say you’ve abolished the law and the prophets. So when Jesus
proclaims the scriptures are fulfilled in their hearing… what he means is the written word of God had been interpreted… one hundred per cent correctly …by him! That he is the living Word of God
with a capital W………Jesus is the very revelation of God.

The fifth thing Jesus did…which was stupendously politically incorrect… is when the… welcome equal congregation… gathered around him…he would touch them… even if they were labelled unclean… and he would heal them… even if it meant breaking the law of the Sabbath! And feed them…
even if it meant incurring the wrath of the authorities!

And what was the effect of Jesus’ healing every time …well…it restored a person to community…
who’d been ritually banned… from the synagogue or the Temple…because of their so called sinful condition.

And sixth Jesus when the welcome equal congregation gathered around for teaching and healing…Jesus demonstrates a new way for them to pray…
a very politically incorrect way to pray…particularly if you happen to live in the Roman Empire…
where Caesar demands to be recognized as father and holy god of all… and the provider of every good thing.

Listen to how politically incorrect the Lord’s prayer is taught on that hillside in Roman occupied Judea.

Our father in heaven, holy be your name,

Your kingdom come, your will be done…

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread…and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Guide us to resist temptation and deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever…

Not only was this politically incorrect…but it would make the prayer very unpopular… with the religious powers… who wanted to keep things nice with the Romans.

Seventh…eating and drinking and touching…
and including the poor and the sinner…
into the congregation around Jesus...
means sharing what they have… with each other
so everyone has enough…and caring like a new family.  

And finally…one of the most politically incorrect of all
to be included…in the congregation ….were the children… not only were they welcome…
but they were held up as the model of faith… for entering the kingdom of God as it grew on earth. [pause]

And this so called politically incorrect way of worship
wasn’t limited to one day a week or to a place… it was a way of life…

it was a manifestation… of the kingdom of God
in the Messianic age… where the shalom of God
the wellbeing of everyone… was the attraction!

Gathered around Jesus…offered and offering hospitality …equal before God. A people…
taught the way and the truth and the life by the living Word of God in the flesh…
a people forgiven…healed, and restored to community…

A people… longing and praying for God’s will to be done and God’s sovereignty over all powers and principalities…
a people seeking the salvation and wellbeing of all God created.

A people whose calling is their leaders calling…
Jesus’ calling to bring sight to those blind to the suffering of others, to release those…
imprisoned by prejudice and intolerance…to embody good news to the poor
in pocket and in spirit

A politically incorrect people for whom worship is a way of life…from rising to lying down…
not weekly religious habit.

A ‘called out’ people…gathered around Jesus…

in Greek an ecclesia…
in English…a church

a living breathing representation of the Body of Christ here in this place.

Let us pray…

Resurrection!

Sermon Easter Day Year B 

It’s wonderful isn’t it …that two thousand years later
people are still arguing about the resurrection of Jesus. It was in the news this week…
I’ll bet we could get into a hum dinger of a debate going this morning about it…

But did you know in Jesus’ day…Jewish factions argued all the time about…
resurrection...
the Sadducees who controlled the Temple… just didn’t believe in it…
and the Pharisees did.

But theirs wasn’t a debate about… what happens after people die…no…it was about…
whether there’d be a final resurrection on the day of judgment…
when God would remake the world...
and give his people… new… resurrected bodies’[i]  

Until then… most Jews had faith that God would look after their spirits when they died...

You see right through Jewish history… the Hebrew word for resurrection is… 

reserved …used only to refer to the new bodily life… which is to come… 

for all the righteous
at the end of days… And it’s clear from the Hebrew scriptures...
most Jews looked forward to it…

What happens right after we die…was considered to be just the first stage...
of a two stage process.  

And when Jesus lived…most pagans and Jews…
believed in the first stage...in some kind of continuing existence after death...but some 

like the Sadducees… completely rejected…an end of days resurrection for everyone[ii]

And it’s clear from the songs and stories and poetry of the first century that everyone 

had heard about ghosts, and spirits, and visions and hallucinations...and they knew 

these apparitions weren’t about bodies the way you and I have a body.

And when the Jews debated about resurrection…
they were talking about bodies...not ghosts or spirits.
Like when King Herod getss paranoid about Jesus being John the Baptist raised 

from the dead. Herod certainly isn’t saying he thinks… Jesus is a ghost.

And we can hear echoes of this in Martha’s conversation with Jesus…
about the resurrection of the last days. Or when the Sadducees try to trick Jesus…
about who’s going to be married to whom…in the resurrection to come.

And Jesus’ opinion…is consistent with this…because he talks about the resurrection…

as an event sometime in the future... when all the righteous will be raised... [pause]

And that’s why… when Jesus predicts his own death...and that he’d be raised again
three days later…his disciples don’t understand what he’s talking about...because it’s inconceivable

They never imagined resurrection could happen…
to just one person... ahead of everyone else.
And the Messiah wasn’t supposed to die anyway.

Of course all this… is why Jesus’ death on the cross...
is devastating for them and destroys their hopes and dreams.[iii] 

Standing at the foot of the Cross…from the disciples point of view...Jesus crucifixion
means the hoped for kingdom of God … hasn’t come…and Jesus… can’t be the
Messiah 

Standing at the foot of the Cross…Jesus followers don’t dream of saying...

‘Oh, she’ll be right…Jesus has to die to save us...
but in a few days… he’ll be back just you wait and see.[iv]  

On the contrary... the two days after the crucifixion...
are the darkest days of their lives…
as far as the disciples are concerned...end-of-story.

But the story isn’t over...because something happens...

that causes the first Christians…to reform the Jewish understanding of resurrection…
in seven surprising new ways. [pause]

According to Tom Wright… the first thing that was different about the disciples understanding
of resurrection... is that…when they announce Jesus has risen from the dead,
they mean something happened to Jesus…
that had never happened...to anyone else.[v]

...something no one ever expected to happen...

Number two...resurrection moves…
from a debatable religious idea in Judaism ...
to the very centre of the faith… of the first Christians.

Belief in Jesus’ bodily resurrection ...is held so strongly by the first Christians…
many are prepared to die for it…
as martyrs in the arenas of Rome.

Third…the first Christians are clear...that while Jesus’ resurrected body... 

is somehow new, transformed, and incorruptible...it’s still a real body...the risen Christ
isn’t some disembodied spirit …ghost or hallucination...

And fourthly...before Easter... no first century Jew…
expected the resurrection to be anything but a sudden
large-scale event...that happens to all God’s people[vi]  

But after Easter...
Christians believe the resurrection has happened…
to one person.. in the middle of history...

before and guaranteeing… the great final resurrection.[vii]

the fifth redefinition of resurrection…
proceeds logically from this...because if resurrection begins with Jesus...then…
in anticipation of the final resurrection…when  God will make all things new
Jesus followers…are called to continue his work…
in all their personal and political relationships...[viii]

As followers of Jesus they were ...and we are…
charged with transforming our present world…

in light of the future hope…ignited by Jesus’ resurrection.

The Sixth overhaul of Jewish understanding…is politically fascinating...

before Jesus...the resurrection is often used by the Jews
as a metaphor for the restoration of Israel
as a people and a nation

but from the earliest days in Christianity...

that meaning completely disappears....

By the time Paul’s letters are written...
the resurrection is tied to the sacrament of baptism…
as a metaphor for dying and rising with Christ...

in baptism...resurrection becomes the symbol of a new life… of obedience to Christ..
in bringing Gods will on earth. [pause]

And the seventh and final Christian reshaping of resurrection... links it for the first time
in religious history...with the Messiah In all previous Jewish writing...

no one ever debated…
would the Messiah rise from the dead?...
because no one expected the Messiah to die!

Jewish texts… promised a Messiah
who’d fight God’s victorious battle against the wicked pagans
rebuild and cleanse the Temple...and bring God’s justice
to the world.  

But Jesus does none of these things during his ministry ...instead......Jesus suffers injustice... wreaks havoc at the Temple and dies at the hand of the pagans. 

Jesus does none of the things the promised Messiah is supposed to do..

.but from very early on...his Jewish followers proclaim for all to hear…

that Jesus is indeed the Messiah…
precisely because of his resurrection.

There had never been a story like it... Oh yeah there were Messianic pretenders
before Jesus and since… their movements were a dime a dozen. And…
often these movements ended with the violent death of their leader...

But their followers believe they were resting with God...
they do not understand them to be resurrected...

because as far as they’re concerned… that’s only going to happen… 

to all of them together ...
at the end of days... 

even though the gospel accounts differ... something happened to convince the first Christians…to make Jesus’ bodily resurrection...the very centre of their faith...

as Mary Magdalene and the other Mary go to annoint Jesus body in the tomb… 

something happens.... something so compelling … it transforms… a quivering, terrified, defeated, and depressed… band of mourners…
some scared stiff even to be identified with Jesus…

something so undeniable happens…

it turns broken men and women...into courageous campaigners throughout the Roman Empire…who proclaim Jesus saving message of Shalom...for all to hear

something inspires them to go any distance, and face any danger…even death...
for what they believe...[pause]

I love Easter... because it gives me the opportunity...

to tell you...what I hold to be true in my heart...

that nothing... but a face to face… touch to touch encounter...

with the resurrected Christ…nothing else... would or could explain...

the transformation of
the cowards of Gethsemane…

into the heroes of Pentecost…

may your faith also be strengthen and transformed...He is risen indeed.

Let us reflect on this as Kirsten and Taylor sing…You raise me up

---

[i] ibid.

[ii] Wright, NT. Surprised by hope – Rethinking heaven, the resurrection and the mission of the church, Harper, NY. 2008.  37

[iii] ibid.

[iv] ibid 39

[v] ibid.  37

[vi] ibid 45

[vii] ibid.

[viii] Ibid 46.