The Bread of Life - John 6:25-40

                            

This morning we’re reflecting on Jesus as the bread of life. As a former baker, the image of bread is powerful. There's nothing quite like the smell of freshly baked bread to make you hungry, and then there's the sight of a beautifully baked loaf sitting on the counter ready to eat, and the taste of fresh warm bread with butter soaking into the bread is amazing. There's the feel of tearing a piece of bread from a loaf because you can't wait. Bread satisfies hunger, and can bring deep enjoyment.

The day before, Jesus spent the day teaching the people about God. At the end of the day, the people were hungry and there was no food available for everyone, so Jesus takes a young boy's 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, using them to feed the 5,000 men and their families, filling their bellies. After eating, Jesus sends his disciples away in their boat to cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee while he gets away to refresh himself by spending some time alone with God. Later in the night, Jesus catches up to his disciples by walking on the water to meet them in the boat and they continue on to the other side of the sea.

The people go to find Jesus again and they do. But they ask Jesus a rather strange question, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" You would think they would ask, "How did you get here," since they must have seen the disciples leave without Jesus and yet Jesus is here, on the other side of the sea. They’re focused on the wrong questions; there's a certain blindness here. It makes me wonder how often we're the same, focused on things surrounding God and Jesus that in the end prove not all that important, while missing the boat on the really important things.

Jesus doesn't answer their question, instead he addresses their motive in seeking him out. This made me wonder this week on all the times I thought God didn't answer my prayers, wondering if part of the reason was that my requests completely missed the mark. Jesus challenges them, "Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill." Jesus is telling them the only reason they're interested in him is because their bellies are full and they want more. Now before we get too critical of them, hunger was not uncommon and most of them probably had too many nights when they heard their children crying themselves to sleep because there wasn’t enough food due to high taxes, drought, and greedy officials.

Yet the challenge is there for us today. What are you looking for from Jesus? Is it because you've been told that if you follow Jesus, you’ll have all your prayers answered, you'll get a better job, find the perfect spouse, be protected from any hard times? Jesus pushes us to consider that we might actually be hungry for something more than baked bread and fish; heart and soul hunger. Jesus encourages the people, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." The people have heard this before from rabbis and other Jewish teachers. Food to them was the Torah and Law; a way of life shaped by the rules and laws put in place by God. The people ask, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Yet following rules and laws don't nourish you, they don't feed those places in your heart and soul that are hungry. We obey Jesus out of love, but this often creates more hunger, we’ll touch on that shortly.

Jesus turns them away from doing works, Jesus tells them there’s only one work, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." This is the heart of everything, to believe in Jesus, the one who brings eternal life. Belief is not just knowing stuff about Jesus and accepting it as true; belief comes out of a relationship of faith and trust in Jesus and living his way rather than your way. Jesus points to your heart instead of your head. But the people are having a hard time believing so they turn to Jesus and ask, "What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus isn't like any of the other Messiahs who had come before Jesus, military types who came to lead the people into freedom like the Maccabeus did a 100 years earlier, so they ask for another sign. The Jews are hungry for a warrior Messiah who will lead them into political freedom, but Jesus focuses on their soul hunger and relationship with God.

Because Jesus had just fed them the day before, the sign that comes to mind for them is manna. They challenge Jesus to permanently feed them. This isn't a surprising request since the Jews expected that God would one day feed them again with manna as he fed the Jews during the 40 years in the wilderness. In the wilderness, they were hungry and God fed them, saving them from hunger, just as he saved them from their slavery in Egypt. Baruch 29, a book found between the Old Testament and the New Testament, talks about the Messiah’s coming and what the kingdom of heaven looks like, "And those who are hungry will enjoy themselves and they will, moreover, see marvels every day. For winds will go out in front of ME every morning to bring the fragrance of aromatic fruits and clouds at the end of the day to distill the dew of health. And it will happen at that time that the treasury of manna will come down again from on high, and they will eat of it in those years because these are they who will have arrived at the consummation of time."

Jesus counters their small ideas of the Messiah with a grander vision. Even after having seen other signs, after having had their bellies filled, the people still can't see the spiritual significance of what they've experienced. Their minds and hearts are earthbound, looking to the things they can see and eat, looking for a king. Jesus speaks to those empty places in our hearts. Where do you turn to fill those places in your heart and soul that feel empty? Jesus declares, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." When Jesus tells us to ask for daily bread in the Lord’s prayer, the Catechism reminds us that we’re asking, “Do take care of all our physical needs so that we come to know that you are the only source of everything good, and that neither our work and worry nor your gifts can do us any good without your blessing. And so help us to give up our trust in creatures and trust in you alone.” This is a prayer of trust in Jesus, looking beyond food!

How can Jesus fill your hunger? As you listen to Jesus' voice from the Bible, you hear Jesus reminding you that he’s divine, and that you’re secure in his love and given eternal life. The Holy Spirit’s in the church and in us to remind us of Jesus' words and teaching so that we can grow in wisdom, to comfort us in the hard times, and to give hope, and strength. The bread of life brings new life by being broken on the cross; filling us with the Spirit, filling you with purpose and meaning as you believe in him. Belief in Scripture always leads to action, as James says, “Faith without deeds is dead.” We’re fed and filled in order to engage in the work of the kingdom of heaven. The call in your hunger is to seek out Jesus, to be filled with the things he loves and to be open to being led by the Holy Spirit to change the things that break the blessings and shalom of the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus echoes back to the Sermon on the Mount where he teaches that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. We look at the world around us, at the affects of sin, at the atrocities committed in the world where refugee camps of over a million people no longer seem unusual. We hunger for hope and for healing in the world, freedom from the pain and chaos humanity often creates. When poverty and addiction hurt so many families in too many communities, we hunger for change; this is hungering for righteousness. Inspired by Jesus and James, Christians everywhere feed those who are hungry, offer water to the thirsty, invite the strangers, visit those in prison, clothed the naked; living out Jesus' call to help others experience his love for them through being Jesus’ hands and feet.

We hunger for a world like the kingdom of heaven. Today we celebrated the Lord's Supper. In the bread we’re reminded that Jesus' body was broken like bread, and because of it, our sins are forgiven, and we have new life in Jesus. Jesus is returning one day and calls us to bring the Gospel news of hope to those he has placed in your lives, people you can ask to join you as you follow Jesus and are fed by his Spirit, leading us out of lives with no purpose to lives filled with service.

It may feel like it's a small difference you make by bringing a person to Jesus when there are so much injustice in the world, when even in our own communities there is much hurt and brokenness; but like a pebble's ripples in a pond, your own ripples of faithfulness spread as they then live out Jesus’ change in their lives by hungering for righteousness and working to grow the kingdom of heaven here. As people come to Jesus and find eternal life, the kingdom of heaven breaks through here on earth.

 

The Living Water - John 4:1-15

   

It’s the first Sunday of Lent; through Lent we’re going to spend time on the Gospel of John looking at some of the images he gives us of who Jesus is. We’re beginning with this encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman. Jesus has been in the area of Judea, close to the centers of both the political and religious power centered in Jerusalem. Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist is in prison, Jesus’ disciples are baptizing new disciples, and Jesus realizes that it’s getting dangerous for him to stick around, so he heads back to his home province of Galilee in the north. To get there, Jesus needs to either travel around the province of Samaria which was between Judea and Galilee, or take the longer ways, which may people did; they would either go the Way of the Kings through the mountains in the east, or go by the Way of the Sea which was to the west along the Mediterranean Sea. Jesus decides to take the straighter, shorter route through Samaria.

It’s about noon and Jesus is tired, so as they approach the village of Sychar, Jesus stops to rest by the local well while the disciples go into the village for food. Jesus meets this Samaritan woman who appears at this unusual time of day to get her water; a time when she would be alone and away from the gossip and scorn of the other women in town because of her life choices. When the woman shows up at the well, Jesus asks her, “Will you give me a drink?” The woman is shocked, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” John then tells us that Jews don’t associate with Samaritans. Samaritans weren’t fully Jews; their ancestors had married people who weren’t Jewish during the time when Israel was in exile. The Jewish people believed that the Samaritans were less than they were, even believing that they were unclean people religiously. Their religious purity demanded that Jews should not associate with Samaritans. This is why the woman is shocked that Jesus talks to her and even asks her for water!

As you get to know the story of Jesus, you see that Jesus treats Samaritans with respect, even making them the heroes of some of his parables. The Samaritans respond to Jesus’ grace by believing in him, and later, when Jesus heals 10 lepers, all Jewish except for one Samaritan, the only one who comes back to thank Jesus is the Samaritan. Now Jesus shocks her even more by offering her water, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Jesus is going deeply spiritual here, and she doesn’t understand right away, still wrapping her head around Jesus’ willingness to associate with her and even treat her with respect.

She answers Jesus by asking if he knows where he is, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” She’s referring to Genesis 33 when Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. Later on, Jacob gives this land to Joseph, “And to you I give one more ridge of land than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.” Joshua tells us the Jews took Joseph’s bones back to this plot of land after the Jews returned to the land of Israel after God freed them from slavery. This is a special place for both Samaritans and Jews, a place where both people and their flocks have been refreshed for generations. Jesus is using the history of this spring fed well, about 100 feet deep, to offer her a huge gift, one she is thirsting for even if she doesn’t quite understand it yet. This is contrasted to a surface water well that will often dry up in times of drought. Jews only consider running water, like in a spring fed well, or a stream, or river as living water, as pure water.

Water’s a recurring theme in the stories of the Bible because of its importance to life. Already at creation, the Garden of Eden is nourished by three great rivers flowing through it. Water refreshes, cleans, and is often used as a symbol of life, which is why it’s part of the symbolism of baptism. Israel identifies with the wilderness and the forty years they spent there due to their lack of trust in God’s strength and plan. Those years were filled with numerous stories of God providing them with water, even providing them with water that flowed out of rock; Deuteronomy 8, “He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.”

In John 7, Jesus is in the temple during the Festival of Sukkot, a time when the Jews gave thanks for a bountiful harvest, but also prayed for God to send water again the next year. Jesus uses the imagery when he stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” Jesus connects the picture of water to the Holy Spirit, the gift he sends at Pentecost. This is an image of Jesus’ generosity as he speaks of streams of living water flowing from us, the Holy Spirit filling us to overflowing!

God regularly uses our physical need to drink as a picture of spiritual need that only he, through the Holy Spirit, can fill. While working as a landscaper in Southern Ontario, there were times when we ran out of water during the day, often during the brutal heat of mid-afternoon. We would need to seek out shade and lie on the ground a moment to rest our bodies while one of us would take the truck to pick up some water. It’s always amazing how even a mouthful of water helped get us going again. It’s the same with our hearts, souls, and minds. Some people wrestle with anger, bitterness, or even a contrary spirit that flows out of pride; then there’s times of hurt and sadness where we seek something to ease the pain. This is also a form of thirst, a thirst that Jesus addresses when he invites us to come to him in Matthew 11, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” When we drink out of Jesus’ living water by believing in him and putting this belief in action, it brings renewal, new life. It’s like those desert landscapes that can be so barren and then burst into bloom when the rain comes. In the same way, when we drink from Jesus’ living water, we experience transformation, new life, which leads to a deeper relationship of trust and faith in Jesus.

Then there’s the thirst for knowledge and understanding, a desire to understand the world we’re in. Other times we thirst for meaning, purpose, acceptance, hope, or more. Jesus also mentions how we can hunger and thirst for righteousness in Matthew 5, a thirst for the kingdom of heaven to be visible here on earth. Where do you turn when your soul, heart, or mind is thirsty? What voices, people, or beliefs do you turn to for refreshment? There are a lot of voices promising you whatever you think you want, yet often we’re not aware of what we really need, so we turn to voices that scratch our itches, but only temporarily, voices that tickle our ears with what we want to believe, rather than challenging us to be real about who we really are and who Jesus calls us to be. Jeremiah understands this, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water… Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the Lord your God when he led you in the way?  Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Nile? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates?”

In talking with Nicodemus, Jesus offers us a warning, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” How do we drink from this living water that Jesus offers, from the gift of the Holy Spirit? The conversation with the Samaritan woman turns to worship and Jesus talks about worshipping in spirit and in truth; doing what we’re doing right now; doing it with family at home; doing it alone, maybe in a place that is special to you where you go to intentionally talk to God.

Worship can sometimes feel more like wrestling with God like Jacob when you’re seeking his presence and help in uncertain times, it can be having hard harsh conversations like Job and God where we get called to admit we don’t always get answers for our pain but we move ahead in faith and trust anyway, or it can be worshipping in times of loneliness or seeking like the Samaritan woman. Sometimes our times of deepest drinking from Jesus’ living water is during these times of wrestling worship.

 John, in Revelation 22, offers again this invitation, “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”

 

The Armour of God - Ephesians 6:10-20

Thank you, Friendship Group, for leading us in worshipping God this morning! Paul writes this letter while he is prison. Prison is a place where it gets easy to be afraid, especially afraid that God doesn’t care anymore. Paul wants to help the church in the city of Ephesus have courage because one day they might also be put in prison because many people there hated Christians because they taught that idols were not real. Satan used the people who sold idols to get the people angry against the Christians. Paul later left to go to other cities, but he wants to help them stay strong for Jesus and not be afraid of what Satan was doing. Paul takes Satan seriously, he knows Satan can be scary sometimes, so Paul gives us courage by reminding us that Jesus has already defeated Satan and we just need to stand strong against Satan’s lies and tricks.

I often ask people, “Where do you see God working in your life.” It gives us courage when we learn how to see where God is in our lives. God also gives us armour to help us be brave. Paul uses the image of a Roman soldier dressing himself for battle to show us how to stand against Satan. Satan is no joke and we need to be aware of how he works against us and how the armour helps us stand strong. He encourages them to “Be strong in the Lord and his mighty power.” Paul reminds them that they are filled with the Spirit and their strength comes from the Lord. If we’re going to be strong and brave as we stand against Satan’s schemes, we need Jesus. Our battle’s not a physical battle against other people, it’s a spiritual battle for our hearts and souls and it’s being fought against “the rulers, authorities and powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Paul prays that we will “stand our ground, and after we have done everything, to stand.”

The Jews saw the area between heaven and earth as the place where Satan and other evil spiritual powers were in control. This is why Jesus hanging on the cross between heaven and earth is such a powerful picture of the battle between Jesus and Satan, because Jesus was in the realm of Satan and these spiritual forces when he dies. When Jesus dies for our sins, he defeats Satan and his forces. Paul reminds us in Colossians 2:15, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Satan has no power over us, but he can still tempt us by lying to us and this is what the armour of God protects us from.

We’re not called to go looking for a fight, instead God gives us armour to protect ourselves. The armour is also called the armour of light in Romans 13:12, reminding us that Jesus is the light of the world. Putting on the armour of light is like putting on Jesus. Paul writes, “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.” We’re called to clothe ourselves with Jesus and to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can stand strong against Satan’s tricks, and live the way Jesus wants us to live.

Paul calls us “to stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around our waist.” All the armour Paul talks about is given to help defend us, not to go into battle with. As Jesus and the Holy Spirit battle for us, we’re called to stand strong for Jesus, to keep believing and trusting in him and his plans for us. Paul keeps pointing us to Jesus who tells us that he’s “the way, the truth and the life.” Jesus’ truth helps us to have courage and stand strong because we know the truth of his love for us, his salvation for us, and the truth that he is with us always. The truth is that Jesus is God and is more powerful than anybody else and he defends us.

Next, we put on the breastplate of righteousness, which sits over your heart. Righteousness is about right living, it’s about how we live with God, each other, ourselves and creation. Loving God and our neighbours is at the heart of righteousness, but it’s also about responsibility: about justice and protecting those who are vulnerable, providing for those who are unable to provide for themselves, and helping others develop the potential God has put in them. We put the gospel of peace on our feet. Gospel means good news, and peace for the Jews is all about shalom, about having healthy relationships with God and others; it’s about wise living within the community for God. The church is all about people being together so we don’t have to go through life alone, we’re supposed to be there for and with each other. Righteous lives supported by the gospel of peace that Jesus brings, helps us live wonderful lives together as followers of Jesus that please God. This gives us the strength and courage to constantly stand for Jesus, even when it’s hard.

Paul then calls us to “take up the shield of faith so that we can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.” When Paul talks about a shield of faith, he’s thinking of the big shields the Roman soldiers carried. They were huge, 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide, and allowed the soldiers to duck behind then when enemy archers would send volleys of arrows at them. Often these arrows would be tipped in tar and lit with fire to create more damage and fear. When you trust in Jesus and follow him, your faith puts out the arrows of doubt that Satan loves throwing at you. Adam and Eve fell to those arrows, doubting God when Satan asked them if God really cared about them. Jesus comes and defeats Satan, first in the wilderness when Satan tries to create doubt in Jesus’ mind about his Father’s plan, but Jesus chooses to trust his Father and place his faith in his Father’s plan and sends Satan packing.

The next piece of armour is the helmet of salvation. A helmet protects our heads, our minds, the place where we do our thinking. Trusting that our salvation comes from what Jesus has done for us in our place on the cross, bringing back into a right relationship with God, helps us stand strong against Satan’s lies that we need to earn our salvation, or that we’re not worthy, or loved by God enough to save us. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul tells us, “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” Knowing that when Jesus returns, we’ll be with him, gives us strength to face the hard and confusing times of life when things don’t seem to make sense and everything gets hard.

Finally, there’s “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” We saw how the shield of faith protected Jesus against Satan’s temptation in the wilderness, but Jesus defeated Satan by using God’s word, words from the Old Testament to remind Satan that we live on every word that comes from the mouth of God, that we don’t test God, and that we are created to worship and serve God. The better we know God’s word, the more we let it shape our lives, and our ways of thinking and seeing the world, the stronger we are.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God. But Satan, even though he knows he can’t win, keeps trying to separate as many followers of Jesus as he can from God’s love through lies, whispering in our hearts that we can’t really trust God, and we can make our own salvation and heaven. This is why we put on the armour of God, to stand strong against Satan and his followers who want to keep us from knowing and experiencing the love of God, especially though Jesus. We don’t do this alone; God gives us this armour to protect us, and it’s for all of us to wear together as the body of Christ.

We need to always pray, staying close to God and Jesus. Talking regularly with God is one of the ways the Holy Spirit keeps us strong. Life and faith are not always easy, but by praying regularly to our Father, you can stand strong, knowing that Satan has no power to lead you down paths and roads that might lead you away from Jesus. Nothing can separate us from the love of God because we have the armour of God protecting our minds and heart, keeping us strong in the Lord.

 

 

 

 

 

Be Filled with the Spirit - Ephesians 5:1-21

Paul often uses contrasts to describe our journey of faith and how we respond to Jesus. He does the same thing in these verses. But before he gets into the contrasts, he sets down a foundation of how we are to live, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Because of Jesus’ love and sacrifice for us, Paul calls us to allow gratitude and thankfulness shape our hearts, minds and lives in response to that love. This is why the church can be such a blessing, why it appealed to so many people 2,000 years ago and it’s why the church has been placed here; to bring light and offer the hope that only Jesus can give, or as we’re talking about in our Profession of Faith class, we’re here for the life of the world.

Paul is warning us here that we have choices in how we live; we can follow Jesus’ way, or we can follow the way of our culture, especially in its negative paths. Paul recognizes those ways of living that separate us from God keep finding their ways into our lives: sexual immorality, impurity, greed, or mockery that, no matter the times or generation we’re part of, keep getting embraced. Paul uses the word porneia here, where we get our word for pornography and is about lust, about filling your heart and minds with sexual images and thoughts that use and demean others for your own pleasure. It’s easy and common to escape into created worlds of lust and greed instead of living with the people around you. With the world at our fingertips through the internet, it’s easy to indulge our lust at any moment of the day, anywhere we are. Our culture teaches that it’s normal and even good to indulge our lusts through pornography and studies show that it affects both men and women, both young and old. Self-control and purity are seen as out-dated virtues.

What these things all have in common is a spirit of selfishness, arrogance, anger, hatred, and spite that takes rather than gives. I’ve had people challenge me on sex outside of marriage and say it’s about love and this is why God isn’t unhappy about their relationships. Yet when I push them on it, they will normally come to admit that their physical relationships are about experiencing pleasure for themselves more than about the other person; their ultimate commitment is to themselves rather than the person they’re with. Impurity is about letting things into your head, heart, or life that brings stains to your soul, stains you know don’t please God, but you embrace them anyway even though they build barriers between you and others, even if the barriers are unseen and only inside your heart. I’m no longer shocked at mockery or coarseness, it so normal today and too often it’s passed off as “just joking,” and there’s little concern for the hurt or harm it brings. Paul challenges us to embrace the spirit of Jesus instead which consists of love and self-sacrifice, placing the other first instead of tearing them down. How we live is important.

Paul’s talking about the differences between living in darkness and living in and as light in the Lord. We’re reminded that Jesus gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering, one that pleased God, a sacrifice to God for us that paid for all our sins because he loves you so deeply. We’re unable to cover the cost of our sin, so God comes down to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. Jesus takes the price of our sin on himself, buying us back from death and Satan for himself. The invitation is always to come into the light, but it does reject those who embrace the way of darkness. The call is to expose the deeds of darkness while having nothing to do with them.

We’re called to live as children of light, which is all about goodness, righteousness and truth. We live in a cynical culture and many people mock these ideals, but they build strong blessed communities that allow people to flourish and experience acceptance and permission to take chances to explore their talents and who they are. Jesus is the light of the world, but because we are followers of Jesus, we also are light to the world. This is why Jesus reminds us how foolish it is to hide a lamp under bushel baskets because that defeats the whole purpose of what lamps are for, to provide light when it’s dark. In the same way we provide light in the form of hope and grace, as comfort and acceptance to those who are going through dark times. We’re light, called to love and walk in the way of love, guiding others into Jesus’ way of goodness, righteousness, and truth.

The reality is that it’s impossible for us to walk the way of love, to walk the way of Jesus out of thankfulness and gratitude to God without help, and that help comes from God. Paul encourages us to “be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? Do we really know what that means?

To be filled with the Holy Spirit, means that we’re mastered and controlled by a very different power, one that works inside of us to stir things up so that we’re more aware of God’s presence around us. This presence and power of the Holy Spirit helps us to focus our energy on worshipping God and serving God throughout the day, every day. The Spirit guides us through our day; praising God through how we do our life at work, at school, at home, and in community. It may involve songs and music, but often it’s about how we do goodness wherever we are, doing our best work all the time, especially when no one else is looking; standing up for what is right, even if it might cost you; and at times, this could cost you a lot.

Following Jesus and being filled with his Spirit is not about doing church, but about who we are as the church in the world. Who we are as followers of Jesus, our character being shaped by the Holy Spirit, reveals to the world who God is. Paul emphasizes this in his letter to the Galatians where he talks about what it looks like to be filled with the Spirit, contrasting the world’s way with walking with the Spirit. Galatians 5:16–26, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” The Holy Spirit changes us, makes us new people, changing us from who we used to be into people that are living out the values and ways of the kingdom of heaven, inviting others to join us in the kingdom, inviting them to join us in relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

 We’re called to live out the Lord’s Prayer, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” wherever we are, and we’re in the world all week, every week. We’re called to walk in the way of love, love of God, love of our neighbour, love of the things Jesus loves. It comes down to trusting that Jesus’ way is intended to help us reach our potential; to be the person God has created us to be; to be communities that honour God and each other. Love for Jesus, walking in his way of love looks like giving water to the thirsty, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and those in prison, caring about the people in our communities, and obeying his commandments and inviting those who are ignoring or rejecting God’s will to trust that God’s way is best because he loves us and desires what is best for us, even if we can’t understand it at the time.

When we care for others Jesus says, we’re really doing it for him, walking in his way of love, showing that we are filled with his Spirit. This is how we’re light to the world; bringing hope. Even if you feel you’re too old or physically unable to be this kind of a presence, being filled with the Spirit will grow your prayer life as you pray for those who are engaged in the physical and relational work, you can support the activities of being light in our community with your finances, you can encourage those who are engaged in blessing the community through Bethel Church by blessing them through cards, phone calls, emails, and in person on Sundays.

We come together as a church filled with the Spirit to walk in the way of love. It’s not a journey we walk on our own, we walk it together and with God as he fills us with his Spirit to guide and bless us that we may be a blessing here.

Unity of the Spirit - Ephesians 4:1-32

Years ago, I read a book by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancy called In His Image, where I discovered just how truly fearfully and wonderfully our bodies are made. Our bodies are way more complex and amazing than I had ever imagined before reading their book. Brand and Yancy tell how the wondrous complexity of our bodies relates to being created in God’s image. When we talk about being created in God’s image, we’re talking about spiritual things here. All other creatures were also created, just like humans were, and they’re all living breathing creatures; the difference between humanity and the other animals is that God breathed his breath, his spirit into us to give us life, giving us a glimpse of God’s love for us.

Paul uses the body as an image of the church. We’re all interconnected, we’re all are part of the same whole. “There is one body and one Spirit,” Paul says. The call is to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. It’s all connected to Jesus as our one hope. This whole theme of oneness comes through again and again in these verses, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Yet how important is unity and peace in the church to most of us? In a culture, even a church culture that often emphasizes being right over peace and harmony, unity is not always considered important. Just look at how many denominations or independent churches there are to see that unity is often not a high priority for many.

Jesus gives the church the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God. This image Paul gives us goes against how we often do church, where we hire someone to do the work while we focus on what we get out of church. Paul believes that Jesus gives the church the workers we often hire to do the work of the church, to equip and train us to do the work of service. This is how we are built up as a church and reach unity in the faith and knowledge of Jesus as the Son of God. We learn through serving that life is not about me, but about serving God and neighbour.

Jesus gives us leaders to equip us to do works of service. The works of service don’t save us, only Jesus saves us from our sin through his work on the cross for us. We cannot save ourselves from our sin, we need Jesus; but, like the Heidelberg Catechism tells us, we do works of service because it helps us to be more like Jesus, it’s a way of showing our thankfulness to God for his grace, and it helps to win our neighbours over to Jesus. Paul reminds us that works of service makes the church stronger and healthier, helps us to be more united together. It’s part of how we mature as followers of Jesus.

Jesus’ last prayer in the Garden focuses on his followers being one, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message (his disciples), that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” If all the parts of a body don’t work together in unity, it’s hard. My brother Glen had epilepsy; if you have physical struggles, it makes life more difficult and you need to learn new ways of doing everyday things. It doesn’t make you any less a person, but you have things to deal with that others might not have to. It’s also true that those whose bodies might not work the way God created them to work, often learn greater grace and appreciation. I think of people like Joni Tada Eareckson who was paralysed after an accident, or Helen Keller who is blind and deaf, and how their faith grew because their physical bodies were hurt or didn’t develop the ways other bodies do as they focused on Jesus and who he is calling them to be. In many ways, the church is like this, we wrestle with hurts or brokenness, and yet together as the body of Jesus, we support and encourage each other, walking together, sometimes learning new ways of being church together. The Holy Spirit will guide us, if we’re open to the Spirit, guiding us to be one as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one essence even as they’re three persons.

Just like the Holy Spirit gave life to Adam, Jesus’ Spirit gives life to the church. The coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost was like getting a blood transfusion, bringing new life. Dr. Paul Brand tells of a woman in an accident who had lost most of her blood. She was almost dead and pale white. Once they started a blood transfusion, colour returned to her skin and her life was restored. This is what Paul’s getting at here, “That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” The Spirit works in us as the body of Jesus, pointing us to who Jesus is, and working in us to make us more like Jesus, renewing our minds and making us more righteous and holy.

What does this look like in the church? Partly it’s about holding common beliefs, which is why we have creeds and confessions based on Scripture. This is why educating our youth and new believers is so important because it joins us together. This is why we’ve developed mentoring relationships in our youth ministry. Learning together, mentoring others is part of how we put on the new self so we become mature and aren’t tossed around like ships in a storm without a rudder, helpless and grabbing onto any life-line for safety. As we work towards living in unity together in our faith, we also learn to walk in holiness and righteousness together as Jesus’ body set apart to be a witness to the world to who Jesus is.

Holiness and righteousness are revealed through the relationships found within the church. John puts it this way in his first letter, “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.” In Jesus’ prayer in the garden, he prayed that we would be one in him so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Unity in the church helps the world to believe that Jesus has been sent by God; that Jesus is the Son of God who has come to save the world! We can be different and diverse in our gifts and talents and still be unified in our faith and beliefs, focusing on working together in order to reveal to the world who God is.

But unity is hard. Pride, arrogance, selfishness, anger, and more can break the church and relationships with God and each other because they lead to a lack of faith and forgiveness, showing we haven’t accepted Jesus’ forgiveness. This leads to brokenness. It comes down to how well we listen to and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, allowing the Spirit to flow into and through us. This means taking the time to listen to the Holy Spirit as we pray, to listen to the wisdom of the Spirit as we study God’s Word together, as we do works of service within the church and our community to grow stronger together. There’s something about working together that draws people closer together. Talk to people who serve in various organizations and you will often hear how their closest friends come from among the people they serve with. The key is combining our works of service with Jesus’ humility and love and sharing who Jesus is.

Paul writes, “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” How do you speak to or of others? Are you focused on building them up, being an encouraging presence? Or do you enjoy talking about others in negative ways? Paul calls us to “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Another way of saying this is, “live in love, speak with grace, offer forgiveness easily, because in Jesus we’ve received unmeasurable grace.” This is Spirit-filling shaping ways of living, echoing the fruit of the Spirit encouragement Paul gives the Galatians.

Unity and growing mature together is hard work, but anything precious takes effort and sacrifice to achieve. Anything Jesus prays for is precious. Unity is not something we achieve in our own strength; this is why Paul reminds us of the need for the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Will it take sacrifice to focus our lives and rhythms around these things? Yes, but you’ll discover the blessings of the Holy Spirit’s life blood building us into a stronger and blessed body of Jesus who bring glory to God and life to the places where we live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rooted and Grounded - Ephesians 3:14-19

                          

Thank you, cadets, for leading our time of worship. Thank you for sharing what being a cadet is all about; reminding us that we’re all called to live for Jesus. Paul, who wrote the letter where our verses come from, wants the same thing, praying that God our Father will make our hearts and souls strong through the Holy Spirit so that Jesus can live in our hearts. The Holy Spirit helps us to live as Jesus’ people, just like our code does; reminding us that a cadet is reverent, obedient, compassionate, consecrated, trustworthy, pure, grateful, industrious, and cheerful! I loved studying the cadet code with you this fall so that we can live for Jesus together.

Paul wants us to be rooted and established, or grounded in love. Paul reminds me of growing up on my uncles’ farms, of my parent’s huge garden, and later working as a landscaper. I was taught when I was about your age, how important it was to make sure the soil was ready for planting by making sure it was full of healthy nutrients for the seeds so they would have good food and grow up strong and healthy and produce lots of food and grain. Because my uncles had farms, we used lots of manure, but even then, there would be some types of fertilizers that we still be used to create rich soil so the roots would grow strong and healthy. Paul is praying that our hearts will be rooted and grounded in love so that we’ll grow strong in our faith and relationship with God.

Good roots help plants grow good fruit. It’s the same with us, if our spiritual roots are strong, we’ll be healthy followers of Jesus; becoming more like Jesus. What are some of the things that help us grow as Christians?

Paul tells us that we need to grow the fruit of the Spirit in us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Did you hear the first part of the fruit; it’s love. Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 7 and 12 that good trees make good fruit and good works and good deeds show that their hearts are good and they’re producing good fruit. The good works and good deeds don’t save us from our sin; they come from the work of the Holy Spirit in us, guiding us to be more like Jesus, showing that we are rooted in the love of God. When we look at Scripture, we find that the word that’s translated "good" means that it’s pleasing to God.

Love is the foundation of our relationship with God. Jesus talks a lot of love; one of the most important things he taught us about love is that all the commandments boil down to two laws, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself.” It’s kind of powerful that Jesus tells us that the two most important things we need to focus on is to love God and to love our neighbours. Jesus even calls us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. That’s a hard kind of love to do, this is why Paul tells us that we need to be rooted in Jesus’ love because that’s the only way we can love people the way Jesus wants us to.

Because loving others can be really hard to do, Jesus told them a parable about how important it is to stay connected to him. In John 15, Jesus taught them, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Jesus gives us life, keeps us strong, when we stay connected to him because his roots are love and he is the strong vine that gives us life.

I learned how important it is for branches to stay connected to the main vine when I was a landscaper. My boss sent me and Andy to go to a house whose gardens were pretty wild and overgrown. When we got there, Andy took a look at all the work that had to be done and told me to begin on a side of the house that had beautiful ivy growing up and covering the side of the house. My job was to trim it back a bit and to mix some manure into the soil and to clean up the plants that had gotten out of control. By the end of the day, I had trimmed back the ivy so it looked neat and tidy again, leaving us to concentrate on the rest of the yard and gardens the next day.

As we drove up to the house the next morning, Andy mentions that the ivy on one half of the house looks kind of wilted so I should water the ivy and flowers and then join him on the back yard gardens. It’s like in Psalm 1 where it talks about, “a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.” Water is important, so I gave it a good watering and thought nothing of the ivy for the rest of the day. As we were packing up our tools for the day, we took a look at the ivy and it looked terrible. Andy and I got down on our knees to try and find out what was wrong and it didn’t take long to discover that the main vine had been cut and now half the vines were dying because they had no connection to their roots. Oops, I knew who had done that cut!

We’re the same way with Jesus, if we allow things to cut us off of from our connection to Jesus, our hearts and souls start to die and we begin to wither away as people. When we start withering as people, it looks like not caring about other people as much, it looks like being more selfish, it looks like becoming more angry or bitter. To be healthy and strong as cadets, and as followers of Jesus, to do what is right and good, we need to stay connected to Jesus.

If we’re supposed to be rooted in love, we need to learn what love is and where to find that love. The word that Paul uses for love here is the Greek word “agape.” Agape love is one of the attributes of God, meaning that it shows us what God is like. Love is a key part of who God is, what his nature is. Agape love is the perfect description of the relationship between God and us that is reflected in the Christian community, in our relationships with God, and with each other. Agape love is nurtured in us by the Holy Spirit, who is living inside us and the church, always reminding us of who Jesus is and pointing us back to him when we drift away. This is why love has been the essential characteristic of Christian discipleship and Christian ethics.

We learn about God’s love for us by studying the Bible and the stories of God’s relationship with his people right from Adam and Eve, all the way to John’s revelation in the last book of the Bible. We quickly learn that even though we might turn away from following God and listen to other voices instead of God’s, he never gives up on us and he keeps coming after us. We see God’s love in Jesus as he leaves heaven to become a person just like us. He grows up and spends three years teaching everyone about God our Father and how we should live with each other and God. Jesus then goes to the cross where he takes our sin on himself and dies, but he doesn’t stay dead because God shows his love by raising Jesus from the grave. When Jesus returned to heaven, he gave us the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts and remind us of who Jesus is and to remind us that God is always close to us.

Jesus teaches us what a life of love looks like, especially in places like the Sermon on the Mount or Plain in Matthew and Luke. This is why Jesus tells us that if we love him, we will keep his commandments. We keep Jesus’ commandments because we trust in his love for us, that he wants us to be strong and faithful and become who God has created us to be; strong and filled with power.

When we grow our roots deep into love, into Jesus’ love, we learn how to love each other, even those who are really hard to love and we begin to understand just how much Jesus loves us; how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus. I pray that you know this deep in your hearts today.