Your Redemption is Drawing Near

Luke 21:25-36 (click to display NIV text)
December 2, 2012 (First Sunday in Advent)
Pastor Dwight A. Nelson

“When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

What was it like to be a follower of Jesus in the early years of the church? The disciples and others watched him be crucified in the year 33. Soon after the beginning of the church, they began to experience opposition and persecution, from the Jewish leaders, then from local communities, and finally from the Romans. During the 60’s there were rebellions, and messianic figures came predicting the end of the world and calling the people to arms. Then in 70, the Romans formed a siege around Jerusalem and waited for them to starve. They destroyed Jerusalem and burned the temple. Josephus wrote of the burning of the temple, “Now many who were emaciated and tongue-tied from starvation, when they beheld the sanctuary on fire, gathered strength once more for lamentations and wailing.” This was a very difficult time to live, filled with anxiety and deep grief. They felt the earth shaking, their security was torn away, and it seemed like all hope was lost.

Just before Jesus was crucified, when he came into Jerusalem, he went to the temple and spoke very honestly about what was to come. In 20 B.C., Herod the Great began the project of rebuilding the temple, doubling its size and making it an astonishing building with gold, marble and precious stones. When Jesus went to the cross, the building project was over 50 years old, and yet it would not be completed until A.D. 64. So it was just 6 years old when the Romans destroyed it, and it had been built for the ages. Jesus then speaks very honestly about what is to come. Read more

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The Justice of God

II Thessalonians 1:3-11 (click to display NIV text)
November 25, 2012 (Christ the King Sunday)
Pastor Dwight A. Nelson

“God is just. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.”

II Thessalonians begins in the same way as the first letter, giving thanks for a church that is faithful to the Lord, even during times of persecution. They are people of faith, hope and love. Now we learn that not only are they standing firm, but their faith is growing and their love increasing. Paul is confident that they will be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God. He is also aware of their suffering. He assures them that God is just, so there will be a time when things are set right. Those who trouble God’s people will be punished and those who are troubled will find relief. They will experience the presence and the glory of the Lord.

The judgment of God displays the justice of God. An essential part of the Christian faith is the firm conviction that God is just. In contrast to the gods of the Greeks and Romans, who were vindictive, jealous, vengeful and thoroughly immoral, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is just, righteous, holy and fully and consistently committed to the fulfillment of his will for the creation.

Mary expressed her confidence in the justice of God. Just before Jesus was put to death, the great injustice that revealed the justice of God, Mary anointed Jesus with a costly perfume, a costly gift that showed her faith that even in the cross, God would vindicate his son, God would show his justice. In the justice of God such a gift is affirmed, it is recognized as one part of God’s plan that points to the cross and to the resurrection. Mary, knowing God’s justice, acted in faith to offer a costly gift to the Lord.

The justice of God comes to us as grace and mercy. But to those who oppose God, it comes as judgment: in the justice of God all secrets are laid bare, all attitudes are revealed, all hostility to God is exposed. Read more

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“We Always Thank God”

I Thessalonians 1:1-10 (click to display NIV text)
November 18, 2012
Pastor Dwight A. Nelson

“We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Gladdie Greenfield was the first one to catch it. The menu board on Pancake Night last Wednesday said, “Dinner for Breakfast.” It is a phrase that came from a children’s book we used to read, “The Man who Wanted to Save Time.” It told of a man who was always late in the morning, so he tried to save time by eating breakfast before he went to bed. But then in the morning he was hungry, so he had lunch. Then at noon he had dinner, and so forth. He never saved any time, but he ended up having “dinner for breakfast.”

So when I wrote out the menu board last week, I wrote, “Dinner for Breakfast.””Then I waited to see if anyone would catch it. But no one did; at least no one said anything, perhaps because they were too polite, or because they were not paying attention, or maybe it looked normal to them. Maybe they did not stop to read it. But Gladdie did, and she knew right away it was wrong, it was mixed up, it was backwards. I do know someone who enjoys a piece of cold pizza for breakfast, but mostly we do not like to have dinner for breakfast; that is mixed up for us.

The Thessalonian church was one that did not get their words mixed up when they came to faith in Christ. They caught a lived faith from Paul. So they both understood the Gospel and they lived it fully with faith, hope and love. Read more

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“Set Your Hearts on Things Above”

Colossians 3:1-17 (click to display NIV text)
November 11, 2012
Pastor Dwight A. Nelson

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

Why does Paul write about the quiet virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience? I am aware that our culture does not really promote these virtues, that the culture is more interested in aggressive, goal oriented people hurrying on to their full potential. But we see enduring value in the quiet virtues, and sometimes that makes us seem out of step with the life that whizzes by us.

Did these virtues speak to Paul’s personal experience? I think so. I think Paul really discovered them after his conversion. Prior to Paul’s conversion in Christ, he placed zeal as the highest quality in life. The most important thing in life was to serve God with all one’s strength, and that meant the willingness to be violent if needed. It meant a willingness to persecute people so they would see the error of their ways. It meant the willingness to put Christians in jail or to see them stoned. After Paul’s conversion, he replaced zeal with love as the highest priority. In I Corinthians 13 Paul calls love “the most excellent way.” He still served with zeal. He still gave his energy, his best thinking and his full attention to his task as an apostle to the Gentiles. But now love always had priority over zeal. Because of that, the quiet virtues of compassion, kindness, gentleness, humility and patience came into his life in a much deeper and fuller way. If love is to be the highest priority, then these are necessary in one’s personal life. Read more

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“The Hope Stored Up for You”

Colossians 1:3-14 (click to display NIV text)
November 4, 2012
Pastor Dwight A. Nelson

“We always thank God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven . . .” 

Here is a picture I have shared with you before; it comes from Halloween many years ago, but in my mind has always been more about All Saints’ Day. I was at a high school football game in the town where we lived, and it was Halloween and also the last game of the season. In our town the football team never seemed to be the champion, but was never last place either. This night the team finished a 3 and 5 season with a dispirited loss. They seemed not to have much energy or enthusiasm for the game. Afterwards the crowd trudged away and headed home, with an attitude of both resignation and discouragement. Another season ended and not much hope for next year.

For some reason I stayed at the field with maybe ten other people as the band came out to play a final song. They were all dressed in Halloween costumes, the kind of creative costumes that only high school kids can come up with from attics and thrift stores. And they began to play, with no one there, they played for the sky above and they played every song they knew. On and on they went, and they never sounded better – beautiful, energetic, hopeful and fun music. I have never heard a band play any better than they did that night, and for a time that muddy, lonely field came to life.

Life is difficult. We do not always win. Sometimes we lack energy and enthusiasm. We trudge along, not really expecting things will improve. The hurricane and the floods on the East Coast this week left many people discouraged, hopeless, wondering what to do next. A major flood takes a great toll. There is a great deal of physical work to be done: cleaning, restoring, rebuilding. That can be exhausting. But the greater toll is emotional and spiritual. People will feel this for many months to come. The only way through it is faith, hope and acts of love. Read more

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