“The Lord is My Light”
Second Sunday of Lent: 2/28/10
Psalm 27:1-14


Introduction: Why is it that kids want to sleep with the light on? It is because they are afraid of the dark. And why are they afraid? Because their imaginations go wild when they think of what could be in their room. I remember that I was always afraid of what might be under my bed, or in my closet. It usually comes from stories we’ve heard, or movies we’ve watched. And once the light goes off, the imagination goes wild!
I know that my daughter is more afraid of what might happen at night, when it is dark, than in the day when it is light and we can see everything around us. There is the issue of security. This second week of Lent we turn our attention to how God is there for us in the fears of life; how God is our protector, our refuge, our salvation and our guide. So let’s look at Psalm 27, a psalm of David, someone who would have known about dangers in the dark having been a shepherd, seeking to protect his sheep.


I. The Lord is my Salvation- (Matthew 4:16; Jn. 1:3-9; Ps. 27:1, 7, 9, 13-14)

a. The light of salvation- Light is of great importance in our world.
Without light we would fail to thrive. Sunlight is what powers our world. It determines the length of each day. Plants must have sunlight to manufacture their food. Without the sunlight shining down, we would freeze. But it is also important for our mental well-being. It has been shown that people who live in climates with a great amount of darkness suffer a much higher level of depression.

Secondly, without light, we cannot see. Darkness is actually just the absence of light. We are designed so that our eyes need light to see. In fact, for some people, my cousin’s son being one of them, they have a condition that when it is dim lighting they can’t see at all; this is called night blindness. I have also learned about the importance of light as I have gotten older. For me to see well, I need for it to be well lighted. When it is dim, my eyes struggle to focus on the words on a page. The smaller the words, the more light that is needed.
This is true spiritually as well. We need light to see. And the light for us is Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself, speaking of His having come as the prophet foretold, said in Matthew 4:16- “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light…a light has dawned.” In the gospel of John (1:3-9) we get an even great understanding of this, as John speaks about God coming in the flesh in the form of a human being, Jesus Christ: John says, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”
The truth we need to understand, is that we were lost in the darkness of sin. Jesus came to help us see that through Him we could have salvation, and this salvation would be a light to us, helping us to see what is true; helping us to believe what is true. As Psalm 27:1 says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation…” Through Christ, we are not only saved, but we are able to see what is true. This then helps to take away our fear.

b. The stronghold of salvation- But the psalmist tells us that there is
more that we fear; we also fear our enemies. Throughout psalm 27 David tries to help us see how God is our stronghold, and in Him we have refuge, and security, and protection. EX. Sometimes at night the kids will have a bad dream. But it’s not bad enough for them to wake up. They might moan, or groan, or try and say something, but they don’t wake up. Yet, I know that whatever they are dreaming about is disturbing them. So I go into their room, and I lightly put my hand on their back. And I quietly say, “It’s okay, dad is here.” And with that, you can see their breathing changes, and their mind and body relaxes. THE FEAR SUBSIDES. Why? Because they trust that my presence helps to make things safe.
After telling us that the Lord is our light, and our salvation, David says: “The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Then dropping down to verses 7 and 9: “Hear my voice when I call, O LORD; be merciful to me and answer me… Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior.” In these verses David is combining this idea of light (seeing) and stronghold (God being our place of security; a place to hide away from our enemies). David is calling out to God to not hide from him, but to let David see Him. David is asking God to not reject him; or in other words for God to make Himself visible to him. And he prays this with confidence, as God is His Savior.
There are many things that we can choose to be our stronghold; to help us feel safe in the midst of our enemies. For some it is found in relationships. For others it is found in money. Still for others it might be found in making themselves as healthy as they can be. And even more, some look to their possessions to be a stronghold. A stronghold is that place we turn to that makes us feel secure, safe, and at peace. But relationships can end; money is spent or can be lost; health will deteriorate; and possessions will fade away. But God is there forever. Unchanging. Undaunted. FOREVER.


II. The Lord is my Protector- (Psalm 27:2-3, 6, 11-12)

a. Confidence of the heart- David then turns his attention to the evil
doers who cause him to fear. You can hear the intensity of David’s fear, as he talks about the evildoers wanting to devour his flesh. We are not sure whom David is fearing, but they pose a great risk to his well-being. In this place, David was feeling weak and unable to protect himself. He was not confident in what he could do to save himself. But as we consistently see in the life of David, he is confident in God. He says in verses 2-3, “When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh—my adversaries and foes—they shall stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident.” Why will they stumble and fall? Because God is his protector.
Remember, David has had battles with lions, and bears, and with the giant Goliath. David has known fear, but he has also known confidence in the midst of fear. The fear comes from doubting himself. The confidence comes in knowing that he will be victorious with God’s help. David has seen victory after victory. And each time another enemy raises its head, David calls out to God, feels this confidence that comes from God, and then gives glory to God for the victory that is won. j
There are many who live their lives with confidence. For some, their confidence comes from their belief in themselves. For others, their confidence comes from the Lord. Is it wrong to be confident in yourself? Well, the answer to that is yes and no. No, in that God doesn’t want us to go around as fearful people, not wanting to step out for God, or not wanting to live our lives as He calls us to. This confidence needs to come from God, knowing that God will work out all things for the good to those who love Him.
But yes in that if we place our confidence solely in our own skills and endeavors, we will forsake God. Those who are confident in themselves, believe they don’t need God. In fact, the only time they might seek out God is when they can’t do something on their own. They become their own God!!

b. Lifting us up- David knows that as God protects him, and delivers
him from the hand of his enemies, he will be lifted up into that place where he feels all is well in life. Have you ever been in that place? It is a place where you feel at peace; you feel like nothing could go wrong. This is the place where David comes to, when his enemies are overcoming him. And in this place, David offers sacrifices of thanks to God, and shouts out with joy to God, and sings songs of gladness to the Lord.
This leads David to have the attitude of humility and understanding; an attitude we ourselves need to have. We read about it in verses 11-12: “Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries…” At some point, we will not be able to do it on our own, and then we will need God. Let us put our confidence in God even before we need Him.
I want to read for you an excerpt of a journal that a friend of mine sent me via e-mail about his mission trip: “We started the day at the Butac Elementary School. We performed fluorid treatments on all of the students and teachers. Next, we loaded our belongings into a borrowed jeep and started up into the mountains. The jeep was a two wheel drive and was doing ok until we came to very wet, rocky, muddy climb. We accepted reality that we were not going to get there in our borrowed jeep, so we transferred to a four wheel drive jeep that Solomon had following us and left all of belongings except the important items like water and Bibles behind. With four wheel traction we made it to the top of the mountain and arrived at. Biwak Ilocos Sur. This is a town of about 30 families living under very primitive conditions. They are very self sufficient. We sang, worshiped the lord, then Pastor Scott gave a sermon about following Christ; we danced for the Lord and had a wonderful time of worship. We all shared what the Lord was doing in our lives. After service we were served a meal. On the way back to our two wheel jeep we all decided that we had truly had a mountain top experience. It is amazing how passionate these born again Christians are for the lord. The lord is definitely with us and is speaking through us.”/ How does this fit within the fear of our enemies? In this trip, there were several enemies: the road conditions getting to this place; the lack of sufficient supplies; the tiredness that comes from the travel; but the biggest enemy is Satan, trying to keep people from coming to the Lord and experiencing the power of the Lord. Because of this mission experience, my friend, having trusted in the protection and strength of the Lord, was lifted up by God!
In this time of Lent, we need these mountain top experiences to remind ourselves how we must fully commit ourselves to God, and put confidence in God alone!!


III. The Lord is my Refuge- (Psalm 27:4-5)

a. Behold God’s beauty- When God made this world, at each stage He
said “It is good.” God created this world to be good. God created this world to be beautiful. However, when sin came into the world, our goodness was affected, and in time has been corrupted. When God looks at His people, He cannot simply say, “It is good,” because there is much about us that is not good.
We can see beauty in many ways. The last two summers my family has traveled to Yosemite, and Sequoia, and the beauty that we saw in the rocks, and redwood trees, and streams, and varying colors of red, blue, green, and gray, were spectacular. As I mentioned in another sermon, we even saw a bear. But our world has made another kind of beauty important, and that is physical beauty. As we grow up in school, we deal with the challenge of being accepted, OR NOT, based on what we look like; our physical beauty. We hold up physical beauty as being of great importance, almost worshiping those in the public eye because of their beauty.
But when David says in Psalm 27:4, “…to behold the beauty of the Lord,” he is not talking about physical beauty. David is talking about the beauty of being in God’s presence. That is why he begins this verse by saying: “One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…” David puts the Lent season into perspective. We are called to seek after the Lord all the days of our lives. We are called to behold the beauty of God, and the beauty of relationships that come through the love of God.
I know for me, that when I am walking close to God, it is then that I can see the beauty that God puts in His people; the beauty that God places in this world. When I have been in deep worship with the Lord, I can feel that my life is beautiful.

b. Set me on a high rock- The place of greatest peace, is in the presence
of God. And this psalm reminds us that when we take shelter in the Lord, we are in a wonderful place of refuge. We are sheltered from our enemies, from our troubles in the cover of the tent of the Lord. In essence, the Lord takes us to a high place, far away from all concerns.
There is a wonderful book called Hinds Feet on High Places, by Hannah Hurnard. In this book she uses the verse from Habakkuk 3:19 (“The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and He will make me walk upon high places.”) to show how God can take us to higher places of love, joy, and victory. It is the story of the spiritual journey of Much-Afraid/ through the difficult places of her life. In this story Much-Afraid overcomes her tormenting fears as she passes through the many dangers of the valley, until she reaches the High Places. Let me read for you a small section of the book…..
“Up there on the mountaintop he was transfigured before her, and she knew him then to be what she had dimly sensed all along—the King of Love Himself, King of the whole Realm of Love. He was clothed in a white garment glistening in its purity, but over it he wore a robe of purples and blue and scarlet studded with gold and precious gems. On his head he wore the crown royal. But as Much-Afraid bowed herself and knelt at his feet to worship, the face that looked down upon her was that of the Shepherd whom she had loved and followed from the very low places up to the heights. His eyes were still full of gentleness and tenderness but also of strength and power and authority. Putting out his hand, without a word he lifted her up and led her to a place where on the upmost pinnacle of all they could look right out on the whole realm around them. Standing there beside him and so happy as to be scarcely conscious of herself at all…” (pages 190-191)


Conclusion: The Lord is our light. An important part of Lent is putting ourselves in a place where we let God be our light; where we are committed to God in a way that God can shine His light down the path we are to travel, and we let this light guide our way. It starts with the light of salvation, where we receive Christ as our Savior and Lord, and through this we can SEE the truth of God, as God shines His light into our hearts and minds. It continues as we let God be our protector and our place of refuge. So as you leave here today, I pray that you would echo the words of God with your mouth, upon your mind, and in your heart, the words from Psalm 27:4, “One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord.” If you let the Lord be your light, then you will behold the beauty of God in your life even in the midst of your enemies and your struggles. Let us commit ourselves to this today. Amen.

“Giving From What You Have Been Given”
First Sunday of Lent, 2/21/10
Deuteronomy 26:1-11



Introduction: I want you to remember back with me for a moment when President John F. Kennedy said in one of his speeches: “Don’t ask what can your country do for you. Ask, what you can do for your country.” In this speech, President Kennedy was trying to get us to understand that we need to be thankful for all that we have, and that we should seek to have a giving attitude. But this declaration of showing gratitude started in the beginning of time, when God called His people to give of what has been given to them.

As we start the Lenten season, we are to remember that this is a season that is to prepare us for Holy week: the week Jesus was arrested, beaten, and crucified, all for the benefit of removing our sins. Today, we start with this idea of showing how we are thankful by giving back from what we have been given.



I. The Inheritance of the Land- (Exodus3:7-8; Deuteronomy 26:1)

a. Israel’s inheritance- We read in Exodus 3:7-8 the plan God has for his
people when God talks with Moses at Mt. Horeb. “The LORD said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey…’”
The Israelites were in slavery to the Egyptians. There were in misery because of the hard labor the Pharaoh was putting upon them. They had been crying out to God for many years. In this discourse with Moses, God shows that the Israelites will be given a land of milk and honey; a land that will be a blessing to them; a land that will be their own; a land that will allow them to plant and be fruitful and that will sustain them.

As we read the text in Deuteronomy 26:1, we see that in talking about the people’s attitude toward their situation, they need to understand how they have come to posses this land. Hear again this verse: “When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it…” Several things are mentioned here: first, the land is being given to them from God. They haven’t earned it, or done anything particular to deserve it. It is a gift from God. Second, it is given as an inheritance. Because Israel was God’s people, they received this as an inheritance from their Father (God) to them. Third, they were to settle in it. When you settle into something, you make it your own. God was telling them that this land was to be their own. They would not be wandering any more!

b. Our inheritance- Whenever we read scripture, we are to remember
that it isn’t written just for the original hearers, but for all of God’s people; for all time. These words are to be heard by us, as God’s words to us. When god talks about what He has given to the Israelites, we are to remember that God has given us many things as well. God has given us our faith. God has given us this church. God has given us our gifts. God has given us the call to be His people and speak His word.

Second, when God talks of an inheritance, we need to understand that God has an inheritance for us as well. The land of milk and honey we have been given, is indeed this church and the ministry to which we are called. We are truly blessed to have this property, these buildings, this sanctuary, this place in North Long Beach. Let us not take for granted what we have. On top of this, we live in a free country that allows us to worship and to earn money. All that we have been given needs to be seen as an inheritance given to us, by God.

Third, we are told to settle in it. Now, some of you in this church have been in this church for many years; some have been here for over 60 years! Yet, others of you have only been here for a few years, or maybe even a few weeks. The truth is, anyone who is a part of this church, IS part of this church. We are called to settle in as if this were our home. God calls us all to be the people of God, and as such, we are to feel at home in this church so that we might understand that all who come here are important, and are a part of the work of God.



II. The First Fruit of the Ground- (Deuteronomy 26:2-5)

There are many things in life that are seen as a blessing. It is easy to miss this
fact. One of the things I do with my kids each night before they go to bed, is I have them tell me “5 Good Things” about their day. I do this, because I believe it helps them to reflect upon their day, and remember that there was much good that happened. It is fun for me to hear what they think are their 5 good things. It is a blessing to me to hear how they felt blessed in that day. Then I share my “5 Good Things” with them. This is an excellent way to remember God’s blessings in life.

Let us hear again from our text, Deuteronomy 26:2-5, “Take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name 3 and say to the priest in office at the time, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our forefathers to give us.’ 4 The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God. 5 Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: ‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.’”/ This text is all about giving thanks for God’s blessings.

Let me break it down for us, so that we might really take it to heart.
God calls His people to bring of their first fruits. Now, you might have heard this idea before, or maybe you haven’t, but the idea is that out of all that God gives us, we are to give back to God the first of what we have been given; or in other words, the best of what we have been given. For us today, that would mean that the first check we write, or the first money that is given away, is the money that goes to the church; the money that goes to God’s work. Just as the text says, they are to bring it to the priest, as a gift to the Lord.

What are they to say to the priest? They are to acknowledge that the reason they have this fruit is because it has come from the land that the Lord gave to them. It is a way for them to remember that they were given this land by God. Whatever fruit is born from the land is a gift from God to them. So as not to forget that it comes from the Lord, they give this first fruit back to God, by giving it to the priest.

Not only this, but they acknowledge that they are no longer wandering, but have a land in which they have settled. While we aren’t wanderers, often times we feel like we are wandering around in our lives. Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we no longer wander. We have a place to settle: in a relationship with God through Christ. And when we give of our first fruits, we are acknowledging that God has given us the new life that we have, and has allowed us to be part of His people and His work through this church!



III. Acknowledging God’s Work- (Deuteronomy 26:6-9)

a. Remembering what God did- Going on, the text says in Deuteronomy
26:6-9, “But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. 7 Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. 8 So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” Here in this part of the passage, we see those who come to the priest and give of their tithe, the fruit of their labor, are also to remember all that God has done.

So what do they acknowledge? What has God done? He brought them out of Egypt. And God didn’t just do this in secret. God did this very publicly; and very miraculously. If you remember, God sent 10 plagues upon the Egyptians: the plague of turning the water into blood; the plague of frogs; the plague of gnats; the plague of flies; the plague of the livestock becoming diseased; the plague of boils upon the Egyptian people; the plague of thunder and hail; the plague of locusts; and then the plague of darkness. But in all of this, the Pharaoh did not relent. Why would he? He didn’t want to let his work force go.

So God finally sent the final plague of death. All firstborn children of the land will die by this plague. To avoid this plague the people had to put the blood of a lamb around their doorpost, and if they do, the angel of death will pass over them! This all came to pass, and the Israelites escaped their slavery by the help of the Lord. Then the Lord led them to this land of milk and honey.

b. Remembering what God is doing- How easy it is to forget God’s work
in our lives. We believe, but we forget to thank God for our faith. We make budget, but we can often take this for granted. We have a place to live and food to eat, but again, we take it for granted. We even forget to give thanks to God for life itself.

Example- In a sermon from Louie Giglio, he was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is.......how God spoke the universe into being....how God breathes stars out of His mouth. Then Giglio went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating/ God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this? But they do. Then Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart...how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.
After this, he started talking about Laminin. I don’t know if you know what Laminins are, but ‘they are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.' Laminins are what hold us together....LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. But get this, it is amazing to understand what they LOOK LIKE. Any scientific portrayal will show you the same structure….They are in the shape of a cross. The cell molecules that hold us together are in the shape of the cross.

The point is, that God is always doing so much in our lives; so much in our church. We need to be the kind of people who remember. But even more, the kind of people who share this with others. We cannot be shy about who God is and what God has done. Last week Jim Foster, a missionary to South Africa, spoke here reminding us of the text to take God’s message to our community, our city, our nation, and to all nations. The best way to do this is to acknowledge God’s work!

Example- Here’s another example. It is a story of a class who was asked to list the seven wonders of the world. The class worked, and came up with these:
1. Egypt’s Great Pyramids; 2. The Taj Mahal; 3. The Grand Canyon; 4. The
Panama Canal; 5. Empire State building; 6. St. Peter’s Basilica; 7. China’s Great Wall.

One girl in the class however was working on her own, and they wondered what
she was doing. Was she having trouble with her list? “Yes,” she answered. Then the teacher asked her what she had so far. The girl hesitated, then said: “I believe the 7 wonders of the world are: 1. To see; 2. To hear; 3. To touch; 4. To smell; 5.To feel; 6. To laugh; 7. To love.”
God gives us so much. We need to acknowledge it!!



IV. Set It Before the Lord- (Deuteronomy 26:10-11)

Lastly, the text tells us that we are to set it before the Lord. In other words, it is
an offering to the Lord. An offering is not just a gift that is given. While this first fruit was a gift back to the Lord, it was more than just a gift. It is a way of showing that the best of what they have is the Lord’s. It is a way to show that they wouldn’t be where they are at, or have anything that they have, without the Lord’s help. It is a way to give thanks from the depth of their being.

Think about this. When you give a gift, you are saying that you care about that person. But you aren’t giving yourself to them. You aren’t saying that they make you to be who you are. You are just being loving. An offering is more than a gift. It is a way to show that all that you are belongs to God. It is a way to express that you understand that you wouldn’t have your life, your faith, or your place in life, without God making it happen for you.

This is what God is calling His people to do; to offer themselves to God. And they do this by the giving of their first fruits. When we fail to give our first fruits, we will come to that place where we forget that what we have has been given to us. We will forget that we don’t own what we have; it is God’s gift to us. We fail to realize that what we have can be lost as easy as it was gained.

So many people go through their lives saying that they believe in God; that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. But they give so little of themselves. And when they do give, it is usually just a very small portion of what they have; and it is often not the best of what they have. And because of this, they struggle in their spiritual lives. I see this time and time again. And when they come to me for help, and I try and suggest that they need to give more, they look at me with that look that says, “I can’t do it.” I don’t have anything to give.” And that’s where they are wrong. We all have much to give. And it should start with our FIRST FRUITS; OUR BEST. And each week when we come to church, we can set it before the Lord.


Conclusion: As I said before, Lent is to be a time when we commit ourselves fully to God. Lent is a time when we remember that there should be nothing more important to us than our relationship with God. Lent is a time when we reflect upon what things of this world have become more important to us than God. We might want to admit this is true, because then we have to do something about it. So I encourage you, today, this week, this Lenten season, to take seriously your relationship with God, and make sure your priorities are in the right order. Let us give from what we have been given, acknowledging who has given it to us, and then giving thanks through the way we live. Amen.

“The Feast of the Father”
Sunday, February 7, 2010; Luke 15:22-27
Series: The Prodigal God, by Timothy Keller

Introduction: Up to this point we have talked about how what Jesus teaches us in this parable is the gospel: that God seeks out those who are lost, and receives those who confess their sin, and welcomes them into His family. With this truth we receive a new identity, a new nature. Our lives are changed as we have this relationship with God. But what then? How are we to live from there?

We talked last week about how the father threw a feast for his son who had returned, and how at the end of the world we will have a feast with God. But just before Jesus left this earth, He too instituted a meal that was to be like a feast; The Lord’s Supper. This meal is a sign of God’s saving grace.

So let’s finish our series this morning by talking about three ways to exper-ience a feast, which corresponds with the ways we are to let Jesus shape our lives.


I. Salvation is experiential- (John 2:1-12)

a. Sensory- One of the great things about eating a meal, is not just its
nutritional value, or that it gives the body energy, but the fact that God has designed us so we enjoy the sight, and smell, and taste of the food as well. FOR EX.- When we come to the table, and there is food there that we love to eat, before we even sit down we say, “That food looks and smells good!” We experience it through more than just our sense of taste, but also our sense of smell and sight.

In the gospel of John, chapter 2, we are told that Jesus attended a wedding reception. At this reception the couple ran out of wine too early. This put the couple in danger of being deeply embarrassed. Jesus chose to honor a request and change some water into wine. Why would Jesus honor this request? Why was it important to make sure the wine didn’t run out?

The answer to this is that Jesus knew the importance of the joy that comes from a celebration of this kind. Jesus is the Lord of the feast, and wanted to make sure that the people continued in this feasting spirit. Salvation is not only legal in nature, where Jesus pays the penalty of our sin, but also sensory. The Bible talks about us needing to “taste and see” that the Lord is good.

Jesus’ salvation for us is a feast. As we believe and rest in Jesus’ work for us, the Holy Spirit becomes real to our hearts. But we need to do more than just believe that God loves us, we need to sense this reality and experience the power of this love. God’s love can become more real to us than the love of anyone else. God’s love can delight us, and console us, and strengthen us. God’s love lifts us above our fears.

b. Strong feelings- This makes all the difference. If you are filled with
shame and guilt, you do not merely need to believe in the abstract concept of God’s mercy. You must sense, on the palate of the heart, the sweetness of God’s mercy. Then you will know that you are accepted. If you are filled with worry and anxiety, you do not only need to believe that God is in control of history. You must see, with the eyes of your heart, God’s wonderful majesty. Then you will know that God has things in hand.

You might wonder, is it really possible to have this kind of experience? Some people find this more difficult than others, because they are of a more rational, controlled temperament. Others are so hungry for mystical experiences that they read into their every intuition and feeling as if they are a word from the Lord.

But Jesus does offer to us access to the presence of the Father. While we live on this earth we get just a foretaste of what we will experience in heaven, but the more we seek the Spirit of God, the greater the taste we will have. The hymn writer Isaac Watts speaks of it in these lines from one of his hymns: “The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields or walk the golden streets.”


II. Salvation is material- (Matthew 25:31-46)

a. Physical creation is good- Along with experiencing a meal through
our senses, a meal is also a physical experience. The Lord’s Supper is to be experienced physically, not just mystically. Because of this, we see that Jesus believes that the material world does matter.

The book of Genesis tells us that when God made this world, He looked at the physical creation and called it “good.” God loves and cares for the material world. The fact that Jesus was resurrected and the promise of a new heaven and earth show clearly that God still cares for the material world. This world isn’t just a theatre for God’s show, to be discarded at the end. No, the ultimate purpose of Jesus is not only individual salvation and pardoning of sins, but the renewal of this world; the end of disease, poverty, injustice, violence, suffering, and death. The climax of history is not a higher form of disembodied consciousness, but a feast. God made this world with all of its colors, tastes, sounds, lights, and all of its independent systems. This material world is now stained and broken because of sin, and God will not rest until this world has been made right again.

There are many philosophies that say this world is just an illusion, or a temporary copy. If that were true, then this world would be unimportant. All that would matter would be the issues of our soul and spirit. However, Jesus was not simply saved in His spirit, but resurrected in body. God made both the soul and the body, so there is an important reason for us to live in this body. Although Jesus’ main concern was the healing of our spirit, for us to be saved in Him, Jesus also healed the sick, fed the hungry, and cared for the needs of the poor.

b. Salvation seen in serving others- In the gospel of Matthew, chapter
25, Jesus describes Judgment Day. Jesus says that at the judgment day many will stand there in front of Jesus and call Him “Lord,” but Jesus will respond that He does not know them. Jesus says that what will show God that we are saved, that we are His children, and He is our Lord, is how we treat the hungry, the sick, the prisoners, and the outcasts. In other words, how we serve in this material world, shows that we understand how God cares for the material.

This is not a contradiction to what we have been talking about in the Parable of the Prodigal. Jesus is saying that the inevitable sign that you know you are a sinner, saved by God’s grace, is having a sensitive social conscience and serving those in need. Younger brothers are too selfish to do this, and elder brothers are too self-righteous to do this.

Christianity, therefore, is materialistic in this way. Jesus’ miracles were not so much violations of the natural order, but a restoration of the natural order. God did not create a world with blindness, leprosy, hunger, and death in it. Jesus’ mir-acles were signs that someday all these corruptions of God’s creation would be abolished.

Jesus hates suffering, injustice, evil, and death so much, He came and experienced it to defeat it and, someday wipe it away. So to know this should lead us as Christians to be motivated to do something about hunger, sickness, and injustice. Christianity teaches us that God hates the suffering and oppression of this material world so much that He chose to get physically involved in the fight against it.


III. Salvation is individual- (James 2:18; Matthew 13:23)

a. Individual nourishment- A meal fuels growth through
nourishment. The Lord’s Super or Communion represents ongoing growth in God’s grace. In order for us to survive and grow, we must eat and drink regularly. This is what we must do with the grace of God as well. We must make sure that God’s grace is central to our lives; in what we see, think, and feel.

As we have talked about this in this parable, believing in the gospel of Christ is how a person makes a connection with God. It gives us a new relationship; a new identity. It is like the younger son coming home from being lost. But just believing in the gospel is not enough; we are not finished with the gospel method. It is like what James said in James 2:18- “Someone may well say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works.” Faith and works need to go hand in hand.

We regularly look to other things besides God and His grace for justifying us, giving us hope, and helping us to feel secure. We struggle to believe the gospel enough to let it change our behavior from one of selfishness to one of giving. To overcome this struggle we must feed on the gospel, digesting it, and making it part of who we are. This is how we grow. This is how we are individually nourished.

EX. The other day I had two sponges. One was soaked and the other was dry. I set down the soaked sponge on the counter, and then placed the dry one on top of it without thinking. When I came back a few minutes later, I realized that the water had soaked into the dry sponge. As I thought about this, it didn’t surprise me, because that is what sponges do, they soak up that which is around them.

As I was writing this sermon on Monday, my mind went back to the sponges, because it reminded me of my own coming to Christ. I grew up in a family that believed in God, but didn’t go to church. I was taught right from wrong. But as I got to high school, I started having friendships that led me to do wrong things. In my sophomore year, I re-connected with an old baseball friend, who invited me to church. Through his bringing me to church, and his prayers for me, I ultimately gave my life to Christ.

This is where the sponge comes in. We are like sponges. When I was hanging out with the wrong crowd, I was soaking up what they believed and how they behaved. Then when I went to church, I started soaking up what other believers believed, and how they behaved.

This reminds us that salvation is individual, but it is also communal. We become saved as an individual, but we are to live out our salvation with God’s people!

b. Communal nourishment- As I said before, as believers we cannot
live out the gospel and be selfish. The solution to stinginess is a reorientation to the generosity of Christ in the gospel, where He poured out His wealth for you and me. The cross of Christ proves that God cares about your every need. The point is that what makes us responsible and generous Christians is not the desire to follow the moral laws, but a deep understanding of our salvation through Christ. Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding, our identity, and our view of the world. Behaving according to the rules without a heart-change will be short lived.

The gospel is not just the ABC’s of the Christian life. It is not just reading our Bible on our own and then trying to live it out. The only people who produce changed lives are those who as Matthew 13:23 says, “hear the word of God and understand it.” It is about understanding the costliness of what Jesus has done for us. It is understanding the seriousness of our sin, just as the younger brother finally realized the seriousness of his sin, and had a change in attitude and behavior.

The more we are around others who understand this and live it out, the more likely we are to do the same. This is why it is so important to feast with community. We live in a culture in which the interests and desires of the individual take precedence over those of the family, group, or community. As a result, a high percentage of people want to achieve spiritual growth without losing their independence to a church or organized institution. This is why you hear people say all the time: “I am spiritual but not religious,” or “I like Jesus, but not the church.” They say they are interested in a relationship with God, but not if they have to be part of an organization.

Now this isn’t completely surprising, because many churches are filled with elder brothers—people who want the benefits of being in a relationship with God, but don’t want to have to welcome in those whom they consider to be “sinners.” And yet, they don’t realize that staying away from churches because they have self-righteous elder brothers in them,, is just another form of self-righteousness; they are declaring that they are better than those in the church. You cannot have a Christian life without a band of Christian friends; without a family of Christian believers.

C.S. Lewis, in talking about this connection we make in the presence of other believers, said in his book The Four Loves: “In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity….The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall have.”

Conclusion: Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal lets us know that He is the Bread of Heaven. Jesus tells us that both the sensual way of the younger brother and the ethical way of the elder brother are spiritual dead ends. He also shows us that there is another way; through Him. To enter that way and to live a life based on His salvation will bring us finally to the ultimate party at the end of history. We can have a foretaste of that future salvation now when we truly make a connection with God through having a relationship with God’s people.

In a moment we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. We will feast in the presence of God and one another. We will do this, hopefully being like the younger brother, understanding our sin, and the grace of God. Let us not be like the elder brother, concerned about the sins of others. But rather, understand that in our imperfection, we are welcomed together by God, through Christ at the celebration of the feast. Let us praise God for His being a prodigal God to us, one who is extravagant in His love, grace, and mercy. This day, and every day. Amen.