A Sneak Peak at the Sermon Today

My text is Luke 15:17 >>

When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!

And here is a sneak peak:

The truth is: We are all bent inwards to self. Martin Luther, as well as St Augustine, Karl Barth and others used a Latin Phrase to describe sin in the human life:

Incurvatus in se

Which means: The Curvature of the Soul.

Like the nautilus shell, we are each turned or curved inward on oneself. No matter who far we travel, left to our own devices, we always curve towards self. And selfishness.

There is a Winnie the Pooh Story where Pooh and Rabbit are walking in the Hundred Ache Wood. Trying to find their way out. But no matter which way they go, they always come back to the same spot. Like A.A. Milne’s classic: No matter how much we travel in life, we always come back to the same spot: Ourselves.

Incurvatus in se

Is there a way out? Is there a way forward? Is there a way for the younger brother to get out of the Pigsty?

Isaiah 1:18 >>

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

Yes there is.

In A.A Milne’s story, Winnie the Pooh has a suggestion: A counter-intuitive one. He notes: Every time we try to find our way out, we find this spot. We always do the same thing, and get the same result. So he suggests:Let’s try to search for this spot, and maybe we’ll find our way out. Something Rabbit roundly rejects.

The Younger Brother had likely done the same thing for a season. Lived for himself.

Incurvatus in se

And this behaviour led to the Pigsty: a place where he not himself, but a shadow of himself. A failure. A new and counter intuitive action had to take place. He couldn’t just think the same way.

What does Jesus say?

When he came to himself, he said: I will go back to my father.

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This morning:

• 8:30 for Traditional BCP Holy Communion.
• 10:00AM City Church (The Lord's Supper)

See our website for details.

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Pic on Flickr by Mark Coggins.

Sermon Audio: A Sword will Pierce Your Soul (Simeon)

CLICK HERE (or right click to download) a Sermon from yesterday on Luke 2:22-38. My friend Jim does the reading, and then John Mason leads a creed, and the sermon starts 4 minutes in.

In that text, Simeon says to Mary, almost as an afterthought,

Behold, this child [Jesus] is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.

"A Sword will pierce your soul". Heavy. I explore those words. And hear why Comfort comes through Conflict; Peace through Pain, and Resurrection through Death.

Oh, and here is Frederick Buechner on Simeon in 'Peculiar Treasures':

Jesus was still in diapers when his parents brought him to the Temple in Jerusalem ‘to present him to the Lord’ (Luke 2:22), as the custom was, and offer a sacrifice, and that’s when old Simeon spotted him.

Years before, he’d been told he wouldn’t die till he’s seen the Messiah with his own two eyes, and time was running out. When the moment finally came, one look through his cataract lenses was all it took. He asked if it would be all right to hold the baby in his arms, and they told him to go ahead but be careful not to drop it.

‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,’ he said, the baby playing with the fringes of his beard. The parents were pleased as punch, and so he blessed them too for good measure. Then something about the mother stopped him, and his expression changed.

What he saw in her face was a long way off, but it was there so plainly he couldn’t pretend. 'A sword will pierce through your soul,' he said.
He would rather have bitten off his tongue than said it, but in that holy place he felt he had no choice. Then he handed her back the baby and departed in something less than the perfect peace he’d dreamed of all the long years of his waiting.

Tidy.

Listen HERE.

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Sermon Help: The (subversive) Parable of the Whistle-blower

You may already know this reading of Jesus' Parable of the Talents. But I came across it first about 2 years ago: That the Parable upholds as a hero a man who creatively subverts the systemic injustices in a corrupt society by burying his talent, rather than making it grow. He is a Whistle Blower.

I'm preaching on this text on Sunday. I'd like your help. Because I can cut'n'paste it, here is the Wiki entry on the alternative reading:

William Herzog offers an alternative interpretation of the parables of Jesus. According to his interpretive scheme, Jesus employed parables in his verbal engagement with his contemporaries for the purpose of getting them to think about God's justice and their social responsibility. His stories expose the social inequities in Palestinian society that violate the teachings of the Torah and motivate the hearers to live and work for peace and justice.

Herzog's analysis of the parable of the talents focuses on the fact that the "man" of the story is not described as an exemplary person. Much rather, this wealthy man does not deny the claim of the third servant: "thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown". The parable suggests that he is an aristocrat, a rapacious absentee-landlord, whose sole interest is maximizing his financial gain. Only the third servant refuses to participate in the game of increasing his lord's financial wealth "at the costs of the poor."

When he upbraids the third servant, the aristocrat's remark shows that he himself is in violation of the Old Testament laws that Jesus seeks to defend: the third servant has willfully refused to invest the money, which would have resulted in the aristocrat regaining his capital "with interest" (Matt. 25:27). This kind of financial transaction is forbidden in the Torah; see the biblical teaching on usury.

The servant's frank remark shows him to be a 'whistle-blower'. He calls the aristocrat harsh and merciless (which are not God-like qualities). He exposes the sham of what has occurred: the other servants have allowed themselves to be used for exploitative purposes, for which they will also be rewarded by the wicked aristocrat.

According to Herzog's reading, the point of the parable is to show how much it can cost for an underling to expose the truth about injustice in society. Jesus' hearers, for the most part poor villagers, would have asked themselves the difficult question about how they would behave toward an aristocrat's former helper who had become a whistle-blower and had been thrown out of rich man's household ("wailing and gnashing of teeth"). They would also learn from the parable the necessity of not isolating themselves, so as not to play into the hands of the ruling elite.

That is, the parable is not, as it is often read, a parable about doing something positive with what has been given to you, nor even an indictment on the scribes who buried what was given them (the word of God). On those traditional readings, the man who buries the talent is a scoundrel who deserved his punishment.

But on the alternative reading, the servant is a hero, the master a scoundrel, and the 'punishment' a further injustice for any who oppose the evil inherent in the system. The servant stands up, by sitting down. He does something, by doing nothing.

I'm not agreeing with the alternative reading. But I want to hear from you as to your thoughts. So...

• Discuss.
  
• And if you disagree, why?
  
• What, then, is the parable about?

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YouTube is Monty Python's Constitutional Peasant. I am in no way disparaging the view by posting the skit. I just laugh very loudly every time I see this. :)

Sermon Audio: Romans 13:8-14 -- Take on New Debt

Here is a sermon to roast. 25 Minutes on Romans 13:8-14 which begins with "Owe no one anything, except the debt to love one another."

Click (or right click to save) on here:

Sermon Audio: Romans 13:8-14 -- How Shall I live?

One of the great questions a human being can ask himself, or herself, is this: How shall I live? From sun up to sun down, and then from sun down to sun up, what is required of me?

Now, like you, I breathe, I eat, I work, I play, I sleep, I read, watch TV and listen to my iPod. But these are activities I do without much thought. They are things I just do. I do them just because I want to do them. Or because someone else wants me to do them.

But I often do these things without asking the larger question: How shall I live?

Have you realized how few gatherings in this city there are that meet specifically & regularly to answer that question? There are lots of work meetings and training events; there are meetings designed for pleasure, art, networking and sport; there are of places to eat; to gather to sit and soak up the city. You can occasionally go to a self-help seminar, which is kind of about how to live.

But getting up one morning each week and dedicating your heart to how we live? Well, churches are one of the few places that do that.

When I went into the ministry – age 22 -- someone asked me: How do you feel informing people older than you how to live their lives?

And my answer is – I don’t – I don’t feel comfortable. But the truth is that I don’t tell people how to live their lives. Jesus does. And that is why we read the Bible here at Christ Church NYC. And, together with you, I seek to find the Bible’s meaning for life.

And that is what Romans 12-16 is all about.

LISTEN HERE. But first, read the Text Romans 13:8-14.

There is some brief stuff on handling debt there in the early part of the talk. What a troubling verse that is: "Owe no one anything!"

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Pic on Flickr by Debt20.

Sermon Audio: The Minor Prophets Series..

This is a post for me to simply keep all the Minor Prophets Sermons in one place and in order. These were recorded at Christ the Redeemer Church in Post Falls Idaho.

You can read the preparation questions to make sure that you get reading Scripture yourself, rather than just download talks and listen less critically (which is too easy to do in our New Media World).

Right Click to Download, or simply Click to listen:

AMOS: In Defense of God's Wrath.
The Prophet HOSEA: In Defense of God's Love.
ZEPHANIAH: In Defense of God's Jealousy.
HABAKKUK: In Defense of God's Timing.

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Sermon Audio - HOSEA: In Defense of God's Love

This is the THIRD in a series of FOUR on the Minor Prophets. Click for online sermon:

The Prophet HOSEA: In Defense of God's Love.

Here is a brief introduction to the man:

Hosea prophesied during dark days of Israel's history, the period of the Northern Kingdom's decline and fall to Assyria in the 8thc BC (c750-c715BC). The apostasy of the people was rampant, having turned away from Yahweh in order to serve the calf idol (8.4-6) and Baal, a Canaanite god of fertility (11:2).

All of that is interesting. But here is the bizarre thing: Hosea has the dubious honor of being the only prophet told to marry a prostitute...!

Find out why by doing some reading.

FOR YOUR PREPARATION:

Read Hosea 1.

• Why is Hosea told to marry a prostitute?
• What is God communicating about Israel?

Read Hosea 3.

• Why is Hosea told to go and 'love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress'?
• How does he 'win her back'?
  
• What is God communicating about himself?

Read Hosea 11.

• Describe the heart of God.
• What do you think it means when God says: "My heart recoils within me"?

Read Hosea 14:1-7.

• What kind of response does this kind of love evoke?

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Pic is of the Hosea Commentary Scroll, from the Dead Sea Scrolls, and includes the text of Hosea 2:8-12.

Sermon Audio- AMOS: In Defense of God's Anger

This is the FIRST in a series of four sermons on four Minor Prophets. This one is a sermon on the Prophet Amos (In Defense of God's Wrath.)

You can listen to the sermon by CLICKING HERE.

Here is a brief introduction to Amos the Man...

Amos was a simple farmer turned prophet of God. He was from the South [Judah], but he spoke to the North [Israel] in 750BC. Amos was a contemporary of Hosea. Israel at the time was high on prosperity and 'security', but low on obedience and faith in God. And Amos was not afraid to point this out. So the ruling elite didn't like him much. He was like a potato farmer from Idaho challenging the elites in Washington DC.

Amos’ word was simply that God is a Lion [1:2] roaring against all sin. God has a strong and settled anger at sin, and wants Israel to know it. God has set a day when he will judge Israel. Here was the problem: Most Israelites thought that 'The Day of the Lord' was going to be a day of vindication. But Amos pointed out that it was to be a day of punishment [5:18-20]. That day initially came for Israel in 722BC when Assyrian army came to pay a visit...

Now, that is a shock to the complacent heart.

One thing that Amos does for us is this: You cannot take God for granted. You cannot take his mercy for granted. God is good, but he will not be mocked with faint praise and idol worship.

In this sermon, I suggest 5 methods of getting 'around' the anger of God! Or at least, 5 ways Israel tried. 5 ways that don't work.

FOR YOUR PREPARATION:

Read Amos 1:1-3:2

• Why is God angry?
• Who is he angry at?
• The book was written to Isreal, but he mentions the sins of Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammonites, Moab, and Judah before he even gets to Israel. Why do you think that the Prophet does this?

Then Read Amos 5:21-24

• What does God think of their religious efforts?
• What do you think is the problem here?

Then Amos 8:11-15

• Does God remain angry forever? (The last word is one of the first positive things said in Amos!)
• How does God deal with his own anger? (Meditate on Christ's work on the Cross)

Can we take God's Kindness for granted?

• Read 1 Corinthians 10:11-12.
• Read Romans 2:4-5.

You download the outline as PDF document by clicking HERE.

Again, you can listen to the sermon by CLICKING HERE.

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Pic on Flickr by DonBaird.

Sermon Audio- HABAKKUK: Three Disciplines in the face of the Problem of Evil

It has been a month since I've posted anything serious. But we had some fun times on vacation. We were in Spokane (Washington State) to speak on a camp with Christ the Redeemer Church. I did some talks that I first started working on in 1994. I keep saying that I will never do them again, but I keep being drawn to the Minor Prophets.

Click HEAR to listen to a message on the whole book of Habakkuk. (Right Click to save and Download.)

The message is the final one from the series. It is called 'Habakkuk: In Defense of God's Timing'. If you want a the ones on Amos, Hosea and Zephaniah, then let me know, and I'll post them too.

Here is a brief introduction to the Habakkuk:

Habakkuk had a problem with God, and wasn’t afraid to say it: Why had God let evil go unchecked for so long? If God could stop evil, and he wants to stop evil, why hadn’t he stopped evil. It’s a great question and one that we all face at some stage. But Habakkuk boldly says it to God: Face to 'Face'.

So Habakkuk can help us as we face suffering and pain in the world. He is best known for beginning his prophecy with bold questions to God. And ending it with a daring statement of faith -- something like this - although 'I see no evidence of the blessing of God, yet I will rejoice in God'. Habakkuk offers us three disciplines in a world of suffering and sin.

In Habakkuk, we have a prophet we can relate to.

In PREPARATION for listening to this sermon:

Read Habakkuk 1:1-2:1.

• What 2 complaints does Habakkuk have with God?
• How does God answer the first complaint?
• What does this passage teach about 'wrestling with God'?

Read Habakkuk 2:1-4.

• What is God's final answer?
• What is Habakkuk (and all people who 'live by faith') required to do?
• What does this passage teach about 'waiting for God'?

Read Habakkuk 3:16-19.

• How does Habakkuk resolve to do?
• What is his 'evidence' for this resolve?
• What does this passage teach about 'relying on God'?

You download the outline as PDF document by clicking HERE.

And, again, click HEAR to listen.

Discuss.

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Pic on Flickr by Truthinreligion.

Sermon: Romans 8:18-30 - Searching for a Better Reality.

Text is Romans 8:18-30.

Let me guess something about you. (I can guess this about you because I know it in me):

Some time in the last week, you’ve daydreamed of simply ‘getting out of here’. You've daydreamed of finding a better reality than you currently have; or of how you can organize yourself to have less pain; or you’ve wondered what you can purchase to make your world a little better.

It’s in the our condition to yearn for a better reality than we currently have.

So when we meet a genuinely contented person, we are surprised - That person is seems like a glitch in the system.

You know someone who’s on a weekend getaway; you’ve checked the internet for travel destinations; maybe you just want to get away from responsibility. So you think about what new work you’d like to do.

Maybe it’s about the city. Your apartment is too small; too expensive; too noisy; too hot. You can’t get up the stairs (if you are in a walk-up); you can’t get the Super on the line (if the elevator is not working); the neighbors are disruptive; and the landlord is a crook. And you wonder if I just got out of the city, then you’d be happy.

‘Getting out of here’ rarely makes the human soul content. For the fact is: YOU always take YOU with you. And YOU take YOU to another part of the WORLD that is ALSO subject to futility.

Or maybe you are tired of being at your Church, you are tired of serving at Church, or volunteering again in service; or you are tired of church not being what you want it to be. So if I try that other church, then maybe I’ll find my ‘home’.

Maybe you are unmarried and you want to be.
Or maybe you’re married and you don’t want to be anymore.

Maybe you don’t have kids, and you would like them.
Or maybe you do have kids, and you would give anything to have a break from them.

So you think to yourself:

• Will I always be want things to be different?
• Will I always want more?
• Will I always be unsatisfied?
• Will I always be perpetually seeking a better reality?

Only to find the better reality wasn’t really what I wanted, so I then go to seek... a better reality. And when someone tells you that you are in a cycle, (which is obvious) you get upset...

...Because you can’t think of living any.other.way.

Now let me say straight up on the authority of God himself -- the Bible does not say that this yearning is wrong. Far from it. The Bible simply requires that we locate those yearnings in the right place.

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Pic from Post Secret.

PowerPoint: It is your destiny

I just received this email from a friend:

I've been thinking (as we all do from time to time) about good communication in sermons, use of PowerPoint etc. Got this from one guy warning about how PowerPoint can rob a presentation of narrative & dramatic impact.

Basically, I have repented of my use of PowerPoint.

Especially after I saw THIS -- The Gettysburg Address on PPT.

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Sermon Audio: Romans 5:1-11 (Plumbing the Depths of God's Love)

Download HERE for an Sermon Audio from Romans 5:1-11. (Right Click to Download file)

I was 15 when they finally found the wreck of the Titanic. Before then, people had a rough idea of the location of the Titanic (the Atlantic), and we knew that the Titanic was grand from the pictures. And we enjoyed the idea of the Titanic.

But on the Labor Day Long Weekend of 1985, they actually found the wreck. They plumbed the depths of the Atlantic, and found the wreck.

And the images that came out on that National Geographic Magazine... They were wonderful.

Suddenly, with my 15 years old own eyes, I could put some real shape on the dimensions of the Titanic as it exists today. I could see how high and wide and deep was the Titanic.

I say all this, because I wonder whether you and I have a similar story with the love of God in our lives.

But for many of us, we know God’s love is there. We know that it’s meant to be grand. And we enjoy the idea of it. Or the theory of it.

And yet we have not plumbed the depths of the love of God, and seen firsthand the sheer enormity of his grace.

Romans 5:5>

God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

A friend of mine says: the reason most people have such a shallow experience of God’s love is that they narrow the activity of God down to a few years: The few years of my Christian life.

God’s love is bigger than your experience of it. And the narrative of God’s love is greater than the narrative of your life. And yet, God has poured his love into our hearts by his Spirit.

Romans is a book giving us that narrative of the Titanic Love of God.

Question then: HOW DO WE PLUMB THE DEPTHS OF GOD’S LOVE?

(Sermon is on Romans 5:1-11. And the Link to the sermon is HERE.)

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The Wordle Test for your Sermon...

MPJ did a Wordle on his Blog for his D.Phil thesis on Martyrdom. So I wondered if a good sermon ought always to have Jesus at the center of a Wordle created from that sermon. I know that simple word count is very different to coherent Christ-focused content. But still...

I tested my theory out on my sermon on John 3, (it took 3 seconds) and above is the Wordle.

So I guess I passed.

(Click on the picture to see the Wordle properly.)

Sam asked me in the comments about how my theory holds for Old Testament. Hmmm. This one is from Deuteronomy 6 -- I guess its still Trinitarian, since Jesus is in the center...



Test your sermon...

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Sermon Audio: John 3:1-21.

I Blogged the sermon from John 3:1-21 last week. I Blogged it when the sound guy told that the recording didn't work. But last week, he pressed the right button, and now I have a recording. I'm pleased about that, because it is a record of the sermon at Junior's Baptism -- something that he can listen to years later (should he desire).

Click HERE to listen.

(Right Click to download. It's 21 minutes.)

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Pic by Yvette Gallardo D'Elia

Born Twice #10: What are the effects of New Birth?

CHRIST CHURCH NYC Sermon (From 18th of May 2008)
This is the final post. Read all posts HERE (from the bottom)

And what effect does New Birth have on a person's life?

Well, there are millions of wonderful effects -- being rescued by God is but one of them.

But one mentioned here in John 3 is that a person in Christ has the chance to be radically honest about their life and sin. They can radically pursue a New Life, starting up their life in a fresh way. V17- They know that Jesus did not come bent on condemning them. But on saving them. And they have Jesus as a demonstration of this.

And because they can rest in the knowledge that they are loved and accepted by the one who matters most, they can let their lives be 'exposed'.

Oscar Wilde once said:

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

A person in Christ is able to take off their mask, and still tell the truth. At least, they ought to!

They are able to say to God - 'Tell me how you want me to live my life. I've been determining how to live my life. But now, you determine it.'

V20-21 - A Christian does not have to avoid the light. But they can come to the light, knowing that what they do will be acceptable to the God who has dealt with their life.

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NOW -- I can't take away the cultural cringe factor, and the ‘alien factor’ may remain. But it's important to know that a Christian is not just a sincere person, nor a person who simply contributes to society. And pays her taxes. And is nice to other people. They may be all of that.

But a Christian is a person who says: What happened to Junior last Monday, that has happened to me - I have been anew born from God.

And that has changed and shaped and colored everything!

Fin.

Are you still reading?
Comments? (Thanks Benjamin -- I will respond soon!)

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Pic on Flickr by !!sahrivi!!.

Born Twice #9: How does God bring about New Birth?

CHRIST CHURCH NYC Sermon (From 18th of May 2008)
John 3:1-21 (Sermon is from the NRSV)

Two questions:

First, How does God do that? How does he bring about New Birth?

The answer in our text is in John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

It is the radical grace of God - in the giving of his Son - that gives a person a new birth.

The word 'so' means 'in this way'? The ESV offers a translation "For this is how God loved the world...". In what way?

The illustration that Jesus uses for how he 'gave' his one and only son is in V14:

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Jesus chooses an obscure text in Numbers 21. The Israelites, because of their sin, were bitten by poisonous snakes, and God commands Moses to make a bronze snake, put it up on a pole, lift it up and when the people looked at it, they were healed.

Jesus draws the parallel to his own death. Just as the snake was lifted up, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.

Lifted up onto the cross.

Just as a mother hurts and bleeds and struggles to give birth to a child (I saw it on Monday), so Jesus hurt and bled and struggled in order to give new life. When we stare at Christ and his death, and his new birth in Resurrection - that is, when we believe in him - we will be healed.

What happened to Nicodemus?

In John 19:39, Nicodemus' goes to the cross to collect Jesus' Body. He goes to were Jesus was 'lifted up'. And we must go there too in repentance, and faith.

What does the Apostle Peter (in Acts 2) say on the day of Pentecost - to people cut to the heart.

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

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Pic on Flickr by BullyRook.

Born Twice #8: All of God. All of Grace.

CHRIST CHURCH NYC Sermon (From 18th of May 2008)
John 3:1-21 (Sermon is from the NRSV)

Third Conclusion - a New Birth is an activity only of God!

What do we mean by that?

Did Junior choose to be born? There is an obvious answer to that. No, he didn't! Of course not.

Have you thought about this? The most basic reality in our life - the breath in our lungs, and the life we have - this is not something we chose. Laurel did all the work with Junior. We talk regularly about controlling our lives, but at its foundation, life is a the choice of another.

Not one person alive in this room chose to be alive.

And so it is with being born a second time: God reaches lives and HE rescues US. We do not rescue ourselves. Indeed we cannot rescue ourselves.

What does Psalm 40 say?

He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and he set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.

Only God can save a person.

It is all of grace.

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And yes, that is a self take from Wife just before she gave birth. She calls it: "The Belly and The Boy".

Born Twice #7: To not Trivialize Sin.

CHRIST CHURCH NYC Sermon (From 18th of May 2008)
John 3:1-21 (Sermon is from the NRSV)

Here is the Second Conclusion -- a New Birth ceases to trivialize the deep reality of sin that is at the core of every human heart.

Comedian Dennis Miller was asked if he was 'Born again'. He said:

No, I'm not. Excuse me for getting it right the first time.

The Bible said that no one gets it right the first time. Everyone born is part of the problem. We all know pain. We have experienced pain. We have inflicted pain. It always hurts.

See, we tend to think of sin at best as a flu that needs a little treatment. Or at worst, that sin is a cancer presently eating away at the body.

But Sin is like a cancer having already claimed a life. Even as we live, we are already 'dead in our sins', the Bible says. And the only way out of it is a whole new birth: a Resurrection with Jesus.

Sin, therefore, is treated with the seriousness that it 'deserves'.

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Pic by Word Freak. Only a few St Ives people will 'get' why I chose a bent fork as the pic! :)

Born Twice #6: The Blue Screen of death

CHRIST CHURCH NYC Sermon (From 18th of May 2008)
John 3:1-21 (Sermon is from the NRSV)

Let's draw 3 conclusions, and ask 2 questions. This may help us all to know what it means to for someone to be Christian.

First conclusion - This is deeply radical!

The Christian is not simply getting a little religion to round off a good life. The Human life is not 'an otherwise good product' that needs a lick of paint.

The human life needs to be completely remade. And this is radical.

If I can switch metaphors to make the same point: Sin has turned the human heart into the 'Blue Screen of Death'. And the computer needs a new hard drive, not just a dust down.

It's important to note that Nicodemus is a good man: No doubt he pays his taxes, contributes to the economy, and is sincere. He is moral and religious. But Jesus says: "You too need to be born again".

We tend to think of 'born again' people as people who claim religious or moral ground. But Jesus comment is a challenge to morality and to religion, not an affirmation of it. Nicodemus has morality and religion in spades, but Jesus says - Even YOU need to be born from above!

No matter what you are or what have done, you have to start at Ground Zero with God. It’s one of the beautiful things about Christianity: It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter if you are Jew or Gentile; male or female; slave or free; black or white; rich or poor; Republican or Democrat -- every has to start at the beginning.

And that's radical.

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Personally, I think its incredible that 'Blue Screen of Death' has a HUGE Wikipedia Entry. Don't you?

Born Twice #5: From the Outside In, and from the Inside Out

CHRIST CHURCH NYC Sermon (From 18th of May 2008)
John 3:1-21 (Sermon is from the NRSV)

And then the punch in V10: Jesus answered him,

Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

Jesus is saying - if you had understood your Jewish Bible, you'd understand this: In Ezekiel 36:24-27, God promised that for his people to be saved (for them to see the Kingdom), they would need to have their sins washed with water(Symbolized by baptism) and they need to have God's Spirit placed in them.

That is, they would need a new forgiveness coming from 'Outside In' (God's washing of sins). And they would need a new motivation coming from the 'Inside Out' (God giving new hearts moved and ready to obey him).

And coupled this with Ezekiel 37:11-14, where God describes the Resurrection promised to Israel (A second birth for the nation), Nicodemus ought to have known what Jesus was referring to.

To be sure, Junior went through birth for the first time last Monday. And I went through it some 30+ years ago.

But according to Jesus, neither Junior nor I will ever see the powerful and beautiful rule of God; the love of God, nor the justice of God without also having a birth from above.

This is an astounding thought. It's a sobering thought.

Let's draw 3 conclusions, and ask 2 questions, and this may help us all to know what it means to for someone to be Christian.

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Pic by Peter Kim.

Born Twice #4: A late night decaf coffee with Jesus

CHRIST CHURCH NYC Sermon (From 18th of May 2008)
John 3:1-21 (Sermon is from the NRSV)

Nicodemus (V1) comes to Jesus under the cover of night (Perhaps a little afraid of being seen with Jesus.) So they get together for a late decaf coffee. Nicodemus is a good man who keeps the law (a Pharisee). He says V2: "We know that you are from God". The plural ‘we’ suggests that he is representing a group who think that Jesus is also moral and good. So he is there perhaps to make a deal with Jesus, since Jesus is getting popular. Nicodemus is therefore diplomatic and generous: V2

Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher from God.

Jesus in virtually interrupts him and shoots straight. It's late, and there's no point in chit-chat. V3

Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.

Jesus clearly says "Being born from above" - i.e. being born of God. But Nicodemus just hears that he has to be born. So he assumes that it is again. V4

"How can a senior citizen like me re-enter my mother's birth canal and uterus?! I can't even get into the backseat of a taxi without help these days, and you want me to be born all over again?!"

It is doubtful that Nicodemus actually took Jesus literally. He's poking fun at Jesus' comment.

If Jesus detected the shtick, he lets it slide and so repeats what he had just said in V5. He expands on it, making clear he's talking about a re-birth from the Spirit.

As he was talking, a gust of wind slams the door and so Jesus says, V8 "Did you hear that? The wind blows here and there, but you never really know where it comes from, or where it may go next. God's Spirit is like that, Nicodemus. He is uncontrollable. Sometimes he comes with gale-force strength, sometime with breeze. But when the Spirit blows into your heart, you are made new from the inside out- Fresh and young like a newborn baby."

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Art by F. Alexandre Bida.